George Robin

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The St. Gangolfs collegiate church in Mainz, which was demolished in 1814 (right) and the office (left)
The university church (new church) in Würzburg, built from 1586 according to Robin's design. The interior with modified vaults in 1880

Georg Robin , actually Joris Robijn , also Giorgio Robin d'Ipri (* 1522 in Ypres , † 1592 in Mainz ) was a Flemish architect. In 1575 he was appointed court architect of the Archbishop of Mainz, was an advisor to the Würzburg Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn and was one of the most respected builders of Renaissance architecture in Germany.

life and work

Georg Robin probably learned the craft of sculpture from the Ghent master Jan De Heere .

Robin then worked as a sculptor in Ypres between 1547 and 1552. In 1553 he completed a model of the fortifications of Thérouanne near Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais). Until 1573 he was busy in various places and with several projects, including 1556 in Ronse (Renaix) in East Flanders with a rood screen and 1559/60 in Brussels with a high altar in a sacrament chapel of St. Gudula .

From 1573 to 1575 he worked at the Heidecksburg Castle, which burned down in 1573, via Rudolstadt for Count Albrecht VII von Schwarzburg.

On February 28, 1575, Robin was appointed court architect (master builder, sculptor and painter) to the Archbishopric of Mainz by Archbishop Daniel Brendel von Homburg . He held this position until his death.

One of Robin's main works in Mainz was the new construction of St. Gangolf's Church, which took place from 1575 to 1581, as a castle church for the nearby archbishop's residence in Martinsburg . It was a three-aisled hall church with galleries and high tracery windows in the so-called "church style", which is also known as post-Gothic . The building was demolished in 1814. At the same time, Robin also built the office to the north of the church.

1575 Robin also dealt with tags at the Würzburg Marienberg Citadel , the plans for the Juliusspital in Würzburg and the local university church whose artistic role models were probably Venetian Renaissance churches Robin during a (by Giorgio Vasari ) testified stay in Italy before 1567 met had. In 1576 the foundation stone for the uranium plant of the Juliusspital, completed in 1585, was laid according to his plans. A rectangular complex was built around a courtyard north outside the inner city as the first modern hospital building in Germany.

At the beginning of August 1575, Robin also drafted the first plans for a new palace in Langenburg for Wolfgang II von Hohenlohe . In 1576 he continued to work on the model of the planned new palace in Langenburg, the final expansion of which was only carried out in the years from 1610 to 1615 largely based on the Robins model.

After the University of Würzburg was founded , Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn commissioned Robin to plan and select the location in 1582. From 1582 to 1586 Robin frequently visited Würzburg for the planning and construction supervision of the university church . At the same time he was in charge of construction for the Dalberg house in Höchst. From 1586 the large-scale square ensemble of today's Old University with the new church in the south wing was built by Wolf Behringer according to his plans.

Georg Robin's brother, Johann Robin or Jan Robijn (1525–1600) also created works of art in the new church from 1583 to 1589. Georg and Johann Robin had a nephew, Peter Osten († 1575), who, on behalf of Julius Echter, had designed an imposing tomb, completed in 1578, for the young legal scholar and non-cleric Sebastian Echter von Mespelbrunn, Julius' older brother, in the Würzburg Cathedral.

Sources and literature

  • Max Hermann von Freeden : On the life and work of the builder Georg Robin. in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, Volume 11, Issue 1/2, 1943–1944, pp. 28–43.
  • Reinhard Helm: The Würzburg University Church 1583–1973. On the history of the building and its equipment. Neustadt an der Aisch 1976.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576–678 and 942–952, here: pp. 589 f. and 943.
  2. ↑ a b Robin, Georg . In: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE) . 2., revised. and extended edition. tape 8 : Poethen – Schlueter . De Gruyter / KG Saur, Berlin / Boston / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-094025-1 , p. 459 ( books.google.de - limited preview).
  3. ↑ von Freeden, p. 29.
  4. ↑ von Freeden, p. 30.
  5. ↑ Stefan Kummer: Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. 2004, pp. 589-596.
  6. ↑ M. Hahn: Overall Langenburg Monument Preservation Value Plan, Stuttgart Regional Council, Monument Preservation Department of June 11, 2008, accessed on August 29, 2018
  7. ^ Leo de Ren: Joris Robijn (1522 - 1592), architect, sculptor and Jan Robijn II (1525 - 1600) . In: Grove Art Online. August 1996; published online ( Oxford index ) January 1998.
  8. ↑ Stefan Kummer: Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. 2004, pp. 596-599.
personal data
SURNAME Robin, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1522
PLACE OF BIRTH Ypres
DATE OF DEATH 1592
Place of death Mainz