Jean-Baptiste de Bethune
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jean-Baptiste Charles François Baron de Bethune | |
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Jean-Baptiste Charles François Baron de Bethune |
| Nationality | Belgian, |
| Birth date | 25 April 1821 |
| Birth place | Kortrijk, Belgium |
| Date of death | 18 June 1894 |
| Place of death | Marke, Belgium |
| Work | |
| Significant buildings | Castle of Loppem (in collaboration with E.W. Pugin) |
Jean-Baptiste de Bethune (or: Jean-Baptiste Bethune) was a Belgian architect, artisan and designer who played a pivotal role in the Belgian and Catholic Gothic Revival movement. He was called by some the "Pugin of Belgium"[1].
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[edit] Life
He was born in Kortrijk in 1821 in a wealthy Flemish family of French origin. He and his relatives were fervent Catholics, and most were active in politics and civil service. The family which was originally called "Bethune" was granted nobility by the Belgian King and as a result added the preposition "de" to underline their new noble status. de Bethune first studied law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and later embarked on a career in politics civil service at the provincial council of West-Vlaanderen in Bruges. He received his basic artistic training at the "Academie voor Schone Kunsten" in Kortrijk (his teachers were L. Verhaegen and Jules Victor Génisson). Paul Lauters introduced him to landscape painting while the sculptor C. H. Geerts (1807–1855) - himself a pioneer of the Gothic Revival style - made him familiar with sculpture. In 1842-1843 and in 1850 he visited England and met Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852) the advocate of the Gothic Revival in England and an enthusiast Catholic as well.
The encounter with Pugin and his creations further stimulated Bethune's interest in architecture and applied arts. In imitation of Pugin and his followers, Bethune developed the idea that an artistic revival of the arts of the "Christian" world of the Middle-Ages could inspire a new profoundly Christian/Catholic society. At home Bethune was encouraged by canon C. Carton to become involved in the creation of genuinely ‘Christian Art’. Gradually he began to make designs himself. In 1854 he even set up his own stained-glass workshop, advised by J. Hardman (1812–67), Pugin’s stained-glass manufacturer.
In 1862 he was a co-founder of the Saint-Luke schools. These schools were opened as a catholic counterpart to the official Academies and trained architects in the religious spirit of the Gothic tradition. The first permanent Saint-Luke school opened in Ghent in 1863. These schools also offered an education for artisans that could work with stained glass, wood carving, painting, gold- and silverwork... The aim was to train craftsmen that could cope with the overall decoration of a newly build, fully decorated, Gothic church. As a teacher and as a patron of the archaeological society of the "Gilde de Saint-Thomas et de Saint-Luc" founded in 1863, Bethune had a decisive influence on the evolution of the Gothic Revival style in Belgium. Among those he taught or influenced were the architects Joris Helleputte and Louis Cloquet. Abroad, he maintained contacts and was appreciated by contemporaries such as Pierre Cuypers, Edward Welby Pugin, August Reichensperger and Edward von Steinle.
[edit] Work
In his architectural creations de Bethune adopted the formal vocabulary of the typical late medieval brick architecture of Flanders, and specifically Bruges. Trough his influence and teaching he introduced this stance by many of his followers. This, together with his strong Catholic inspiration and his association with the Gothic Revival movement in England, marks the difference between his school and the Neo-Gothic architecture advocated in Belgium by the Academies and the followers of Viollet-le-Duc. The latter school was more interested in restorations, while their new creations were mostly inspired by the French and Brabantic Gothic architecture. In general their creations were more inspired by a civil romanticism and lacked the religious and social idealism of Bethune and his Saint-Luke schools.
Apart from architectural projects his very extensive oeuvre includes designs for practically all the plastic and decorative arts. From Belgium his designs found their way to most other European countries. The quality of his work can best be judged from his integrated building projects, which combine all forms of art, such as the Castle of Loppem, the complex in Vivenkapelle (including a church, a presbytery and a convent school) and the large complex of the Maredsous Abbey. Bethune’s designs show a strong architectural, archaeological and didactic character. With his stained-glass windows (f.e. in the cathedrals of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Tournai), his mural paintings, (f.e. in the castle of Maaltebrugge, 1862–1864), and his mosaics (Aachen Cathedral 1872) he contributed significantly to the revival of these art forms. Among his most important realisations as a designer of gold- and silverwork are the "Belgian Tiara" offered to pope Pius IX in 1871, the Charles-the-Good Shrine in St. Salvator’s Cathedral in Bruges (1883), the Saint Lambert Shrine in the St. Paul’s Cathedral in Liège (1884).
[edit] List of Works
a selection:
[edit] Architecture
All architectural projects include the designs for decoration and furnishings.
- Castle of Loppem, 1859-1862.
- Church, presbytery and schools in Vivenkapelle near Damme, 1860-1870.
- Maredsous Abbey, 1872-1889.
- Church Sacré Coeur of "Le Trieu" in Courrière, 1872-1873.
- Church of the beguinage of Sint-Amandsberg near Ghent, 1874.
- Chapel of Our Lady at the Jesuit Convent 'Oude Abdij" in Drongen, 1877.
- Convent of the "Clarisses de l'Epeule" in Roubaix, France
- Ecole de Saint-Luc (Saint-Luke school) in Tournai
- Church Saint-Joseph in Roubaix, France
- Church of Fontenoy
[edit] Designs for applied arts
- Design for the "Belgian Tiara" donated to Pope Pius IX in 1871.
- Design for the mosaic decoration of the dome of Aachen Cathedral. (executed by the workshop of Antonio Salviati 1879-1881.
- Funeral monument of Monseigneur Gravez, bishop of Namur, in Namur
- Funeral monument of the Lefèvre family in Sclayn
- Design for a Shrine to contain the relics of Charles I, Count of Flanders, in Bruges Cathedral, 1883-1885
- Design for the Shrine of Saint Lambert in the Cathedral of Liège, 1884.
- Church of Dinant: Main altar and other religious furniture.
- Interior decoration in the Castles of, Denée, Gesves and Spontin
[edit] References
- ^ W[illiam] H[enry] J[ames] Weale, in: Building News, XXXVI, 1879, p. 350
[edit] Bibliography
- Devliegher,L., ‘Bethune, Jean de’, in: Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek, I, Brussels, 1964, columns 188–191.
- Uytterhoeven,J., ‘Baron Jean-Baptiste de Bethune en de neogotiek’, in: Handelingen van de Koninklijke Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Kortrijk, XXXIV, (1965), pp. 3–101.
- Sabbe,D., ‘J. B. Bethune, promotor van de neogotische beweging’, in: Handelingen van de Koninklijke Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Kortrijk, LXVIII, (1979), pp. 267–355.
- van Cleven,Jean, ‘Vlaamse neogotiek in Europees perspectief’, in: Vlaanderen, XXIX/174, (1980), pp. 3–15.
- De Maeyer,Jan (ed.), ‘Neogotiek en neogotismen: De neogotiek als component van de 19de eeuwse stijl in België’, De Sint-Lucasscholen en de neogotiek, (ed. J. De Maeyer), Leuven, 1988, pp. 16–55.
- Van Cleven,Jean, Van Tyghem,Frieda, de Wilde,Ignace, a.o., De Neogotiek in België, exhib. cat.: Ghent, Bijlokemuseum, 1994,
Lannoo, Tielt, 1994.
- Vandenbreeden,Jos, Dierkens-Aubry,Françoise, The 19th Century in Belgium. Architecture and Interiors, Lannoo, Tielt, 1994.
