Henri Leeuw sr.

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Henri Leeuw sr. (1819–1909)
Lion statue in Kronenburkpark, Nijmegen. Joint effort with his son Henri Leeuw jr. (1886)

Jean Henri Leeuw or Henri Leeuw sr. (Born March 28, 1819 in Arcen ; † October 13, 1909 in Nijmegen ) was a Dutch sculptor.

life and work

Leeuw was a son of Pierre Francois Leeuw and Megtilde van Daelen. In 1839 he went to Paris, where he took lessons from François Jouffroy and François Rude at the École des Beaux Arts . Leeuw received several commissions from the French court, he was commissioned by Louis-Philippe I of France to look after the marble sculptures on the graves of the royal family in the church of St-Louis de Dreux in Dreux . In the years 1842 to 1848 he restored in various churches, including under the direction of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the Notre-Dame Cathedral and in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. In 1844 he married Joséphine Alexandrine Aimée Thubeuf, the marriage remained childless, Joséphine died in 1847. In 1848 Leeuw returned to the Netherlands, where he settled in Roermond . There he worked for some time in the Cuypers / Stoltzenberg studio. From his second marriage, which he concluded with Anna Amelia Hubertina Raemaekers in 1860, the children Henri Leeuw jr. (1861–1918), painter and sculptor, Oscar Leeuw (1866–1944), architect, and Rosa Elisa Leeuw (1868–1937). The latter married the painter and graphic artist Paul Bodifée (1866–1938) in 1896 .

He worked with Pierre Cuypers on the restoration of the Munsterkerk in Roermond. An example of one of his own early works is the Guillon Engels Monument in Panningen , created in 1856 , which is now a Rijksmonument ("Reichsmonument" in the sense of a national monument ). Leeuw created a wood carving for King Willem III in 1857 . with a portrait medallion of the king. Apparently the work was so popular that Leeuw was knighted in the Order of the Oak Crown . He was awarded the Leopold Order in 1865 for a bust of Leopold I of Belgium . From 1866 Leeuw is mentioned with its own studio. In the same year he made a portrait medallion of Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and in 1879/1880 one of Queen Sophie of the Netherlands .

In 1882 Leeuw had to declare bankruptcy . In 1887 he moved with his family to Nijmegen, where his son Henri jr. at that time already lived. Together with him, he had already made the limestone statue of the lion in Kronenburgerpark there in 1886 , which is now a listed building as a Rijksmonument. The lion, over two meters high, consists of Savonnières on a two-meter high base. The seated lion has opened its mouth and turned its head to the left. Its tail runs forward along its left hind leg. A cartouche between the legs shows the coat of arms of the city with the double-headed eagle.

Leeuw's second wife died in 1893, he himself died at the age of ninety in 1909 and was buried in Nijmegen.

literature

  • Peter Nissen: De beeldhouwer Jean Henri Leeuw (Arcen 1819-Nijmegen 1909). First aanzet tot een biography . Cahiers van de Historische Werkgroep Arcen-Lomm-Velden 5 (1982), pp. 73-84.
  • Lidwien Schiphost: Een toevloed van werk, van wijd en zijd. De beginjaren van het Atelier Cuypers / Stoltzenberg, Roermond 1852 - around 1865 . Ede University Press, Nijmegen 2004, pp. 78-80, ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Henri Leeuw sr.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Kunstenaarsfamilie Leeuw on the website driemaalleeuw.com (Dutch), accessed on November 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ Lidwien Schip Host: Een toevloed van factory, van wijd en zijd. De beginjaren van het Atelier Cuypers / Stoltzenberg, Roermond 1852 - around 1865 . Ede University Press, Nijmegen 2004, pp. 78-80, ( digitized version ).
  3. ^ A b Peter Nissen: De beeldhouwer Jean Henri Leeuw (Arcen 1819-Nijmegen 1909). First aanzet tot een biography ', fie . Cahierss van de Historische Werkgroep Arcen-Lomm-Velden 5 (1982), pp. 73-84.
  4. ↑ Rijksmonument 525,607 in the Dutch list of Rijksmonumenten (Dutch), accessed on 18 November 2018th
  5. ↑ To Sophie's medallion on dbnl.org (Dutch), accessed on November 18, 2018.
  6. ↑ Rijksmonument 522960 in the Dutch directory of Rijksmonumenten (Dutch), accessed on November 18, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Leeuw, Henri sr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leeuw, Jean Henri (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Arcen
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1909
Place of death Nijmegen