Jean Geefs

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Still of Dirk Martens on the Great Market in Aalst by Jean Geefs

Joannes Geefs , also Jean Geefs and Jan Geefs (born April 24, 1825 in Antwerp , † May 9, 1860 in Brussels ) was a Belgian sculptor .

Life

Jean Geefs had three brothers and three half-brothers. All seven brothers were well known sculptors.

Jean is the eldest son from the second marriage of his father Joannes Geefs (April 25, 1779 - December 3, 1848) with Dymphna Vermeulen (July 24, 1788 - June 22, 1843). His three younger brothers are Theodore Geefs (1827-1867), Charles Geefs (January 1, 1829 - April 5, 1911) and Alexandre Geefs (January 1, 1829 - 1866).

His eldest half-brother Guillaume (Wilhelm) Geefs (September 10, 1805 - January 19, 1883) is considered the most important representative of the family.

From 1839 to 1841 Jean Geefs studied art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels . In 1842 he went to the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten ( Royal Academy of Fine Arts ) in Antwerp, where his half-brother Joseph (23 December 1808 - 9 October 1885) was a teacher.

In 1846, Jean Geefs won the Rome Prize for his work Aaron's staff turns into a snake . Ten years earlier, in 1836, his half-brother Joseph had also won the Rome Prize in Sculpture. Years later, in 1879, his cousin Eugène Geefs (January 6, 1854 - March 7, 1925), Joseph's son, won the Rome Prize for Architecture.

Before Jean Geefs went to Italy, he studied for a year at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris . From 1852 to 1859 he stayed regularly in London. Queen Victoria ordered Love and Malice from him as a birthday present for her husband Prince Albert on August 26, 1859.

In 1851 he won the competition organized by the city of Aalst for a sculpture in honor of Dirk Martens (also: Thierry Martens, Thierry Maertens or Theodoricus Martinus), the first book printer in the southern Netherlands. The bronze statue was completed in 1854 and inaugurated on July 6, 1856 on the Großer Markt.

After a painful illness, he died in 1860 at the age of almost 35.

Works (selection)

  • Queen Louise d'Orléans , plaster, 1850 (now owned by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels).
  • Bust of Baron Frédéric de Reiffenberg (1795 in Mons - 1850 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode) commissioned by Jean Geefs on March 3, 1851 (now owned by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels).
  • The Water Queen , plaster, London, 1854, with the inscription: The Queen of The Waters Tuning Her Harp To Celebrate The Alliance Of The Western Powers (now owned by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Brussels).
  • Dirk Martens , bronze, 1856, Great Market in Aalst (Belgium)
  • Triumph of Love , plaster of paris, 1857 (now owned by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels).
  • Love and Malice , marble, 1859, (now in the Royal Collection UK , a copy is also in the possession of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels).
  • Together with his brother Theodore Geefs, he made the sculpture Der Sieger (bronze statue in the garden of the Palace of the Academies, Brussels)
  • the stations of the cross in the church of Saint Jacques de Coudenberg in Brussels

Picture gallery

  • Way of the Cross in Saint Jacques de Coudenberg, Brussels

  • The winner bronze statue in the garden of the Palace of the Academies (Le Vainqueur - Jardin du Palais des Académies) Brussels

Web links

Commons : Jean Geefs  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Civil registry, Belgium, Antwerp, births 1825, record nr 836
  2. ^ Civil registry, Belgium, Brussel, deaths 1860, record nr 1882
  3. ↑ Biography of Guillaume Geefs at Web Gallery of Art
  4. ↑ https://www.rct.uk/collection/2051/love-and-malice
personal data
SURNAME Geefs, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geefs, Joannes; Geefs, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH Antwerp
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 1860
Place of death Brussels