Jean-Baptiste Bethune

Jean -Baptiste Bethune ( born April 25, 1821 in Kortrijk, † June 18, 1894 in Kortrijk brand) was a Belgian architect, artist and designer as well as a central figure in the renewal of the Belgian and Catholic Gothic. He was referred to by some as " Pugin of Belgium".

Life

Jean -Baptiste Bethune was born the son of a wealthy Flemish family of French origin. He and his family were professing Catholics and employed mostly in politics and in public service. The family " Bethune " was knighted by the Belgian king and led since then the "de" in the name.

Jean -Baptiste Bethune first studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven and afterwards joined as a provincial council of West Flanders in Bruges in the Civil Service. He received his artistic training at the " Academie voor Schone Kunsten " in Kortrijk (his teachers were L. Verhaegen and Jules Victor Génisson ). Paul Lauter introduced him to landscape painting, while the sculptor CH Geerts (1807-1855) made ​​him familiar with the art of sculpture.

In the years 1842 and 1843 as well as 1850 Bethune visited England and met Augustus Welby Pugin ( 1812-1852 ), proponent of the revival of Gothic architecture in England and also a staunch Catholic. The encounter with Pugin and his creations reinforced Bethune's interest in architecture and the arts anwandten. Based on Pugin and his followers developed Bethune the idea that a revival of the arts could form a new Christian society "Christian" world of the Middle Ages as well.

Back in Belgium, Bethune was encouraged by the canons C. cardboard to engage with "real" in the development of Christian art. Gradually he began to make his own designs, and in 1854 he even founded, supported by the color glass manufacturer J. Hardman ( 1812-67 ), his own stained glass workshop.

1862 Bethune was a co-founder of the Saint- Luc Schools ( Niederländ. Sint- Lucasscholen ), Catholic counterpart to the official academies, the architects trained in the religious spirit of the Gothic tradition. The first of these schools, which also trade skills for stained glass work, wood carving, painting and gold - mediated and silver work, was opened in Ghent in 1863. They wanted to ensure that artisans were able to deal with the entire decoration of a newly built Gothic church.

As a teacher and as a patron, founded in 1863 Archaeological Society " Guild de Saint -Thomas et de Saint -Luc " Bethune had a decisive influence on the revival of the Gothic style in Belgium. Among those he taught or influenced were the architects Joris Helleputte and Louis Cloquet. He also had contacts upright abroad and was highly appreciated by contemporaries such as Pierre Cuypers, Edward Welby Pugin, August Reichenspergerplatz and Eduard Jakob von Steinle.

Work

In his architectural work Bethune took over the formal vocabulary of the typical late-medieval brick architecture in Flanders and in particular the city of Bruges. His students and his followers took over and spread this attitude that is characteristic together with Bethune's strong Catholic inspiration and connection to England for the difference to the Neo-Gothic architecture, which was defended by the academies and the followers of Viollet -le- Duc in Belgium. The latter school was more interested in the restoration, while new designs were largely influenced by the Gothic architecture of France and Brabant. These designs were more worn by civilian romance, and lacked the religious and social idealism Bethune and his Saint -Luc schools.

Apart from the architectural work, the extensive oeuvre Bethune includes designs for a virtually all performing and decorative arts. His designs are found in many European countries. The level of his work can best be seen in projects in which all art forms are represented. This includes, for example Loppem Castle, a complex of Vivenkapelle ( comprising church, presbytery and convent school ) and the large complex of Maredsous Abbey. Bethune's designs have strong architectural, archaeological and didactic embossed character. Its stained glass windows (eg in the cathedrals of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Tournai ), its wall paintings (eg in the Castle of Maaltebrugge, 1862-1864 ), and its mosaics (Aachener Dom, 1872 ) contributed significantly to the revival of this art forms with. Under Bethune's gold - and silver work are particularly worthy of mention: the " Belgian Tiara " for Pope Pius IX in 1871, the shrine of Charles the Good in the Cathedral of St. Salvator in Bruges (1883 ), the shrine of Saint Lambert in St. Paul's Cathedral in Liège ( 1884).

Selected works

Architecture

Architectural works including decoration and equipment:

• Loppem Castle, 1859-1862.
• Maredsous Abbey, 1872-1889.
• Sacré Coeur Trieu in Courrière, 1872-1873.
• St. Mary's Chapel at the Jesuit Monastery of the " Oude Abdij " ( Old Abbey) in Drongen, 1877.
• Covenant of " Clarisse de l' Épeule " in Roubaix, France.
• École de Saint -Luc in Tournai.
• Church of St. Joseph in Roubaix, France.
• Church of Fontenoy, in the belg Prov. Hainaut.

Applied Arts

• Mönchengladbach, Münster church of St. Vitus, medieval stained glass windows, restoration and supplementary work, 1860-1863.
• " Belgian Tiara " for Pope Pius IX. , In 1871.
• Dome mosaic for the Aachen Cathedral, executed by the workshop Antonio Salviati in 1880 / 81st
• Grave monument for Gravez Monseigneur, Bishop of Namur, in the Cathedral of Namur.
• Grave monument of Lefèvre family in Sclayn.
• Shrine for the relics of Charles I, Count of Flanders, in the cathedral of Bruges, 1883-1885.
• Shrine of Lambert of Liege in the cathedral of Liege, 1884.
• Church of Dinant is the main altar and other religious facilities.
• Decoration of the interior in the castles of Denée, Gesves and Spontin.

Bibliography

• Jules HELBIG, Le Baron Bethune, fondateur des Écoles Saint- Luc. Étude biographique, Lille -Bruges, 1906.
• J. Uytterhoeven, ' Baron Jean -Baptiste de Bethune en de neogotiek ', in: Trade Ingen van de Koninklijke Geschied -en Oudheidkundige Kring van Kortrijk, 34, 1965, p. 3-101.
• D. SABBE, ' J. B. Bethune, promotor van de neogothic beweging ', in: Trade Ingen van de Koninklijke Geschied -en Oudheidkundige Kring van Kortrijk, 68, 1979, p. 267-355.
• Jan de MAEYER (ed.), De Sint- Lucasscholen en de neogotiek, ( Kadoc - Studies, 5), Louvain, 1988.
• Jean Van Cleven, Frieda VAN TYGHEM et al., De Neogotiek in België, Tielt, 1994.
• Jos VANDEN Breeden & Françoise Dierkens - AUBRY, The 19th Century in Belgium. Architecture and Interiors, Tielt, 1994.
• Véronique VAN Caloen, Jean Van Cleven & Johan Braet (ed. ), Le château de Loppem, Zedelgem, 2001.
• Wolfgang CORTJAENS Jan DE MAEYER & Tom Verschaffel (ed.), Historism and Cultural Identity in the Rhine -Meuse region. Tensions in between Regionalism and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century, ( KADOC Artes - 10), Leuven University Press, 2008, passim ad
• Wolfgang CORTJAENS, Amis gothiques. The correspondence from August Reichenspergerplatz and Jean -Baptiste Bethune, 1858-1891 Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission Royale d' Histoire, (collection in-8 ° ), Brussels, 2011. ISBN 978-2-87044-005-6.