Gerard Johnson the elder (died 1611) is the Anglicised form of Gheerart Janssen, an English sculptor who operated a
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...
workshop in
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
and
Jacobean England and the father of
Gerard Johnson the younger, who is thought to have created
Shakespeare's funerary monument
The Shakespeare funerary monument is a memorial to William Shakespeare located inside Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the church in which Shakespeare was baptised and where he was buried in the chancel two days afte ...
. He and
Cornelius Cure became the leaders of the so-called Southwark school of monument design, which dominated the English market in the late-sixteenth century.
Life
Johnson was born in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
. He became an English citizen in 1568 and Anglicized his name. Forbidden as an
alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
to live in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, he settled across the
Thames River
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
in
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
in the
Bankside
Bankside is an area of London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance befor ...
area, in which communities of Dutch and Flemish refugees flourished. Johnson married an English woman, Mary (or Marie), and had a family of five sons and a daughter. Two of the sons, Nicholas and Gerard, became sculptors and continued their father's monument business.
Johnson's workshop became a major monument supplier. In 1593 his workshop employed four journeymen and an apprentice, as well as an English assistant.
He died in 1611 and was buried on 30 July at
St Saviour's, Southwark. Although it is known that he made some garden sculptor and a chimney piece, none of which survives, in his will he described himself as a "tombemaker".
Notable works
![Monument to the fourth Earl of Rutland, d](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Monument_to_the_fourth_Earl_of_Rutland%2C_d._1588_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1409890.jpg)
Johnson's clientele included several important patrons, such as the
earls of Rutland
Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...
, the
earls of Southampton
Earl of Southampton was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England.
The first creation came in 1537 in favour of the courtier William FitzWilliam. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death in 1542.
The se ...
, and
Sir John Gage, the Tudor politician, in 1595.
![Firle Church Sir John Gage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Firle_Church_Sir_John_Gage.jpg)
In 1591, Johnson was commissioned, ostensibly by
Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland
Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland (6 October 1576 – 26 June 1612) was the eldest surviving son of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland and his wife, Elizabeth ''nee'' Charleton (d. 1595). He travelled across Europe, took part in military ca ...
, but in practicality his mother, to erect two monuments in
St Mary the Virgin's Church at
Bottesford, Leicestershire
Bottesford is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir and forms part of the Borough of Melton, as its largest village, on the borders of Leicestershire with Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
Locati ...
, commemorating the 3rd and 4th earls,
Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
and
John Manners. The surviving financial papers paint a detailed picture of how such commissions were negotiated and carried out. Johnson received £200 plus expenses for the complete job. The monuments were made in the Southwark yard, carried by ship to
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...
, and from there transported on 15 carts to Bottesford. Johnson and his son Nicholas stayed in Bottesford to supervise the assembly of the monuments from late September, using local carpenters and masons to alter the church floor and walls to accommodate the structures. He was paid off in November. John Matthews, a painter from
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, was paid £20 in installments from February through November 1592 for "inricheinge" the two tombs.
[Llewellyn, Nigel. ''Funeral Monuments in Post-Reformation England''. (2000) ]Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, p. 139. .
Nicholas Johnson
His son Nicholas (died 1624) was co-executor of his father's estate and worked with him on the Southampton memorial at Titchfield. He collaborated with other tombmakers on major commissions: with Nicholas Stone the elder in 1615 on the tomb of
Thomas Sutton
Thomas Sutton (1532 – 12 December 1611) was an English civil servant and businessman, born in Knaith, Lincolnshire. He is remembered as the founder of the London Charterhouse and of Charterhouse School.
Life
Sutton was the son of an official ...
at the
Charterhouse School
(God having given, I gave)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, president ...
and in 1618–19 with William Cure the younger on the tomb of Bishop Montague in Bath Abbey. In 1618-19 he built the third tomb at Bottesford for the Rutlands commemorating
Roger Manners, the fifth earl, and his wife. He died in 1624 and was buried on 16 November at St Saviour's, Southwark.
References
*Whinney, Margaret. (1988) ''Sculpture in Britain 1530-1830''. 2nd ed. Penguin Books. pp. 45–51. .
*White, Adam
"Johnson (Janssen) family (per. c.1570–c.1630)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 16 Feb 2013.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Gerard
1611 deaths
English sculptors
English male sculptors
Dutch emigrants to the Kingdom of England
Artists from Amsterdam
Year of birth unknown