Pierre Cuypers

Petrus Josephus Hubertus Cuijpers, surname commonly used in notation Cuypers, first name also called Pierre ( born May 16, 1827 in Roermond, † March 3, 1921 ) was a Dutch architect and arts and crafts business. He is considered one of the most important architects of historicism. Pierre Cuypers initiated in the last quarter of the 19th century in the Netherlands and other countries, the new construction or renovation of many buildings, especially churches.

Life

Pierre Cuypers was the ninth and youngest child of the couple Joannes Hubertus Cuijpers (1769-1858) and Mara Joanna Bex (1781-1874) was born. His father was a merchant and church painter by profession. After visiting the Stedelijk College in Roermond Pierre Cuypers ran through 1844-1849 a baukünstlerische training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. His teachers included with Frans -Andries Durlet, Frans Stoop and Ferdinand Berckmans pioneers of the Gothic Revival in Belgium. The works of the leading English Neugotikers Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, he learned about Durlet, who was personally acquainted with Pugin know. The final exam consisted Pierre Cuypers in 1849 with a first prize for designs in klassistischen as well as neo-Gothic style and in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. After graduation he returned to his hometown Roermond, where he is still in 1849 with his first wife Maria Rosalia van de Vin, a milliner from Antwerp, became engaged.

Designs for a workers' settlement, which he had worked with his fellow student Peter Dens were in 1850 honored with a cash prize. The prize money Cuypers took a study trip along the Lower Rhine between Xanten and Bonn. On 26 November 1850 he married his fiancée, she already died on 7 November 1855. From this marriage two daughters were born.

The city of Roermond appointed him with effect from January 1, 1851 to their city architect, a position which he held for nearly four years. In 1852 the couple moved into the official residence of the Cuypers city architects in the former Penitentenkloster in Munsterstraat. At one of his first official construction matters related to construction of a new ferry house belonged to the mouth of the river Rur in the Meuse near the Roermonder Christoffelkathedraal. In the same year he entered into a partnership with the Roermonder textile entrepreneur Francois Charles Stoltzenberg senior; they founded a studio for Christian sculpture, later known as Cuypers and Stoltzenberg, studio of Christian sculpture, painting church and church furniture of all styles changed its name (note: transfer company here in German ).

In 1858, the French art historian and archaeologist Adolphe -Napoleon Didron Cuypers and his workshops in Roermond visited. At that time the company employed six signatories. 84 people were employed in the execution of sculptures, altars and other church furnishings.

On March 1, 1859 Pierre Cuypers married again, this time Antoinette Catherine Thérèse Alberdingk Thijm called Nenny. Nenny Cuypers was the sister of his friend Joseph Alberdingk Thijm and dominated the German, Italian, French and English. She was also a talented singer and painter, and worked in the company Cuypers and Stoltzenberg not only in the office but also in the design with. The marriage produced three daughters and two sons were born. The first born son of this union, Joseph Cuypers ( born June 10, 1861 † January 12, 1949 ), also an architect and a close associate of his father, and was after dissolution of the Company with Stoltzenberg, from 1892 a partner in the newly formed company Cuypers & Co..

In 1864 the couple moved with his children to Amsterdam; 1892 then with the two younger daughters back in the province of Limburg, Valkenburg aan de Geul. After the death of his second wife in 1898 Pierre Cuypers moved back to his hometown, the management of the workshops he transferred the same year to his son Joseph ( called Jo ).

Cuypers was also active in the training of arts and crafts and drawing talent. In its instigation in 1891 in Amsterdam, the Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid ( State School of Applied Arts ) and the Rijksnormaalschool before Teekenleraren (state art school drawing teacher ). He worked at both schools as a teacher.

It is believed that Pierre Cuypers was synesthetes.

Honors

The Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht gave Pierre Cuypers 1886 her an honorary doctorate; another honorary doctorate, in 1907 by the Technical University of Delft. Pierre Cuypers was also a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, Grand Officer in the Order of Orange House, Commander in the Order of the Netherlands Lion Grand Cross and Knights of the Order of Orange- Nassau.

Works

→ Works by Pierre Cuypers

The first church designed by Pierre Cuypers realized the church was Oeffelt, North Brabant (1853 ) Province. One of his first major jobs was the restoration of the cathedral church in his home town (1859 ). He also designed, for example, the neo-Gothic church of St. Catherine in Eindhoven ( 1859). During the restoration of the eastern group of the Mainz Cathedral in the 1870s, he had to run this by his own plans in mainly romanisierenden forms. Here he created as a counterpart to the existing west tower the high, rather gothic acting Ostturmhelm which replaced a Gothic bell storey and the iron dome by Georg Moller. Among his most important churches also include St. Boniface in Leeuwarden ( 1882-1884 ).

In a neo-Gothic church buildings themselves Cuypers oriented first stylistically to the early French Gothic, but the buildings had run into brick. From about 1870 he used increasingly stylistic elements of the Dutch Gothic. From the hand Cupyers also originate designs for smaller objects such as houses or chapels.

In 1877 he began the construction of his determination in 1885 passed the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It is seen next to Amsterdam Central Station as the most important work Cuypers. Both buildings are stylistically closer to the Dutch Renaissance and thus not only the function but also on the style, special cases of his work.

The lasting until 1912 restoration of Kasteel de Haar in Haarzuilens at Utrecht followed to a vast palace complex from 1892. The castle in the Middle Ages one of the largest castles in the Netherlands, was only a ruin without a roof. The project for Baron Etienne van Zylen van Nyevelt (1860-1934) and his wife Hélène de Rothschild (1863-1947), which also included the construction of a church and a relocation of the entire village Haarzuilens, became a true major order for Cuypers and his company. Cuypers not only supplied the designs for the buildings and the architectural sculpture, but, apart from the apartment of the Baroness, even for the smallest details of interior design. Furthermore, the furniture has been designed down to the cutlery and the uniforms of the staff through the company Cuypers. Part of the equipment pieces was made of this itself, but also in part as the cutlery, awarded to third parties. The building was home technically equipped according to the latest with heating, electric lighting and a variety of baths. To make the captured areas of the original main castle to independently accessible from each other, was complemented by richly formed encircling galleries around the courtyard. This was covered, so that he could be used as a large, cathedral -like according to the wish of the client hall.

Cuypers wrote: The Cathedral of Mainz. Of architectural drawing ( 1878).

Gallery

Tomb Chapel of Geraedts family in Posterholts at Roermond ( 1865)

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, facade detail of the western courtyard

Kasteel de Haar, Haarzuilens