Johann Heinrich Riesener
Johann Heinrich Riesener ( Jean Henri Riesener ) (born July 4, 1734 in Gladbeck , † January 6, 1806 in Paris ) was a German cabinet maker who worked in France.
Life
Riesener was born as the second of three sons of the married couple Jan Hermann Riesener and his wife Margaretha, née Brahms, in the farming village of Gladbeck in Vest Recklinghausen in the Electorate of Cologne , which at the time had only 1,800 inhabitants . In addition to his day-to-day work as a kötter, his father worked as a chair turner and earned extra income as the “official front office ” of the archbishop's office of the Cologne prince-bishop. In 1755 Johann and his brother decided to emigrate to France . How Riesener came to Paris, whether as a wanderer or through protection, is unclear. The meager farm at today's Oberhof, where Riesener was born, inherited the youngest brother.
In Paris he became an apprentice to his compatriot, the “court furniture artist” or “ébéniste du roi du gobelins” Johann Franz Oeben . He was also the protégé of Madame de Pompadour .
Oeben's death was followed by a dispute between Johann Heinrich Riesener and Jean-François Leleu, a formerly simple worker from Saint-Antoine , over the favor of the widow Oebens and thus the successor to the workshop in which Riesener prevailed. On August 6, 1767, he married the widow of his teacher, Françoise Oeben, née van der Cruse, in Paris (daughter of the Parisian cabinet maker François van der Cruse and sister of the well-known furniture artist Roger van der Cruse ) and became workshop manager in the Arsenal (Paris) . He received the longed-for championship title on January 23, 1768. From this marriage comes Henri François Riesener , born October 19, 1769 in Paris , who became a famous painter.
Leleu, offended by the rejection, tried twice to take revenge on Riesener: He stamped a toilet and desk that can be clearly assigned to Oeben. On the other hand, a report by Riesener to the police office in Châtelet documented that Leleu beat him on the street on August 12, 1765, his hat thrown into the mud and trampled on.
- "[...] out of hatred of the plaintiff, who runs the business of the widow Oeben in the arsenal, for whom the said Leleu worked, he was insulted several times by his wife [...] when he spoke yesterday at about six o'clock in the evening When he returns home laden with two boards, he meets Leleu and his companion, who both approach him, and the said Leleu hits him several times on the head [...] "
After the death of his wife Françoise around 1776, Riesener married Anna Marie Grezel in 1783, the minor daughter of a Parisian citizen.
His furniture was very popular with the nobility until it lost its prominent position due to the events of the French Revolution and the associated stylistic change. In the time that wanted to free itself from all signs of monarchy, the works of Riesener were no longer valued.
Despite his good connections with the nobility, it appears that he came to terms with the ruling regime . Together with the painter Jacques-Louis David - Jacobin and member of the National Convention - as well as Hubert Robert , he became a member of a commission in 1793 that compiled expert reports on the confiscated furniture of the nobles for the revolutionary auctions. His competence and knowledge were still valued after the revolution, as he was often named as an arbitrator in the industry's internal commercial court.
In 1801 he closed his workshop in the arsenal, moved to rue Saint-Honore no. 2 and lived there in a pavilion on the Jacobin property. The once celebrated Ebenist withdrew more and more and died impoverished on January 6, 1806 at the age of 71. His grave is unknown, but his descendants have placed a memorial stone for him in the Pére Lachaise cemetery .
Works and afterlife
Mention should be made of the desk he started by Oeben, the " Bureau du Roi " in the Palace of Versailles with secret compartments and a push-button roller shutter he invented, which Riesener completed in 1769 and for which he received 62,775 livres. Between 1774 and 1784 Riesener is said to have earned 938,000 livres (according to today's value two million euros). A journeyman cabinet maker earned a maximum of two livres a day.
In his hometown Gladbeck there is a Riesener-Gymnasium, a Riesenerstraße and a Riesener-Brunnen.
literature
- Rudolf Bergau : Riesener, Jean-Henri . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, p. 582.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Riesener, Johann Heinrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German cabinet maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th July 1734 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gladbeck |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 6, 1806 |
| Place of death | Paris |