Charles Geefs
Charles Geefs (born January 1, 1829 in Antwerp , † April 5, 1911 in Schaerbeek ) was a Belgian sculptor and painter .
Life
family
Charles Geefs had three brothers and three half-brothers. All seven brothers were well known sculptors.
From the first marriage of his father Joannes Geefs (April 25, 1779 - December 3, 1848) to Joanna Theresia Verbruggen (November 8, 1775 - January 14, 1822), the half-brothers are:
- Guillaume (Willem or Wilhelm) Geefs (September 10, 1805 - January 19, 1883); Guillaume Geefs was married to Fanny Geefs (May 2, 1807 in Brussels - January 23, 1883 in Schaerbeek)
- Joseph Germain Geefs, also Jozef Geefs (December 23, 1808 - October 9, 1885)
- Aloys Geefs (1817 - August 31, 1841)
The brothers are from the father's second marriage to Dymphna Vermeulen (July 24, 1788 - June 22, 1843):
- Jean Geefs (April 24, 1825 - May 9, 1860)
- Theodore Geefs, (1827-1867)
- Alexandre Geefs (January 1, 1829-1866), his twin brother.
Charles Geefs married Marie Joseph Aimée Barbiaux (February 23, 1835 -?), Widow of his twin brother Alexandre, in July 1871. She was married to Alexandre from 1858 to 1866. Alexandre Geefs and Marie Joseph Aimée Barbiaux had a son Adrien Charles Geefs (February 10, 1866 to 1896), who was also a painter.
Career
Charles Geefs initially lived in Brussels with his older brother Guillaume, who also taught and worked with him. He studied from 1845 to 1853 and 1857/58 together with his twin brother Alexandre at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles , where he was a pupil of Louis Jéhotte and in 1849 received first prize for historical composition. In the meantime he attended the Académie royale des beaux-arts d'Anvers (1852) and probably his brother Jean in London (approx. 1858). He later lived in Paris , but returned to Brussels after Alexandre's death in 1866, married his widow and adopted the children. He taught at the Royal Academy in Brussels. Thomas Vinçotte was one of his students .
Work
Charles Geef's work includes both individual statues and groups of figures, using marble , terracotta and plaster as materials . Besides well-known personalities of the sculptors were repeatedly his family members model . Of the latter, he also painted a few portraits and a self-portrait.
The statue of Sylvain van de Weyer
Sylvain van de Weyer (January 19, 1802 in Leuven - May 23, 1874 in London ) was a Belgian statesman. In 1831 he became the first Belgian Foreign Minister and he was Prime Minister of Belgium from July 30, 1845 to March 31, 1846 .
Shortly after his death, the city council of Leuven decided to have a statue made by van de Weyer. It was supposed to be the first statue in lions. For the young state of Belgium it was important to increase the national feeling, and so many monuments were created across the country.
The choice of van de Weyers was not without controversy. At the time of his death, he had taken British citizenship. There have also been efforts to instead honor other lion-related celebrities through a memorial, such as Pope Hadrian VI. who studied in Leuven from 1476 and obtained his master's degree in philosophy here in 1478, or the painter Quentin Massys .
The inauguration of the statue took place on Sunday, October 1st, 1876, in the presence of the whole royal family and the King of the Belgians Leopold II .
The first location was the Bahnhofsplatz (today Martelarenplein ). After the First World War , however, the war memorial (today the Peace Monument ) was erected here in 1925 , and the statue was placed on the People's Square (today Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein ). There, too, the heavy statue had to give way due to the construction of an underground car park and came to Kapucijnenvoer after a short stop in the city park . Renovation work began there in 2010, and the statue is now in a municipal warehouse.
The statue has repeatedly been the subject of ridicule. On February 20, 1879, students painted them brightly. During her time on the Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein , she had her back to the university library . The citizens of Löwen said that this was so so that van de Weyer would not have to see Maria , who trampled an eagle, the symbol for Germany.
Other works (selection)
He exhibited at various international exhibitions. For example in 1858 a sleeping Cupid at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition , in 1880 in Brussels the marble statue of a young slave and in the Brussels Salon in 1884 a group The Kiss .
During a restoration of the Brussels City Hall, Charles Geefs created portraits of the mayors Charles de Brecht (1885) and Adrien Taye (1888).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Uta Römer: Geefs, Charles (Karel) . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 50, Saur, Munich a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-598-22790-6 , p. 525.
- ^ What met het beeld van Sylvain Van de Weyer?
- ↑ General Lexicon of Fine Arts / From Antiquity to the Present, edited by Ulrich Thieme, Leipzig, 1920
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Geefs, Charles |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Geefs, Karel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian sculptor and painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 1, 1829 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Antwerp |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 5, 1911 |
| Place of death | Schaerbeek |