Godefried Guffens
Godefried Guffens (born July 22, 1823 in Hasselt , † July 11, 1901 in Schaerbeek ) was a Belgian painter .
Guffens formed in community with Jan Swerts at the Academy in Antwerp under Nicaise de Keyser , then went with Jan Swerts to Italy , where they studied Michelangelo and Raffael , and from there to Germany .
With the intention of introducing monumental painting in Belgium , both artists got to know the creations of Cornelius , Overbeck , Schnorr and Kaulbach and, following these masters, tried to imitate the ideal style of the New German classics in wall paintings after their return.
Their first joint work was the decoration of the church of St. Nicolas near Antwerp with a cycle of pictures from the life of Mary and other dogmatic compositions, which were supposed to glorify the message of salvation and redemption against the law.
Guffens also painted 14 pictures with the stations of the cross in the chapel of St. Ignatius in the Jesuit college in Antwerp. His and Swerts' main work is the painting of St George's Church in Antwerp (1859–71), an extensive cycle of pictures that deals with the life of Jesus and redemption and is entirely in the spirit of Van Cornelius and Overbeck. In the courtroom of the hall in Ypres , Guffens depicted the entry of Philip the Bold into Ypres in 1384, and in the courtroom of the town hall in Courtrai, the departure of Count Baldwin of Flanders for the fourth crusade in 1202 (1873 to 1875). The last few years include not only decorative ones Paintings for a private house in Antwerp, the painting of the baptistery in St. Quintin's Church in Hasselt and the choir of St. Joseph's Church in Leuven .
Guffens lived in Brussels until his death .
literature
Riegel, history of wall painting in Belgium since 1856 (Berl. 1882)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Guffens, Godefried |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Guffens, Gottfried; Guffens, Godfroid; Guffens, Egide Godfried |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 22, 1823 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hasselt |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 11, 1901 |
| Place of death | Schaerbeek |