![Jan Baptist Xavery - Marble Relief with Playful Putti 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Jan_Baptist_Xavery_-_Marble_Relief_with_Playful_Putti_2.jpg)
Jan Baptist Xavery or Jan Baptist Xavery (30 March 1697, in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, – 19 July 1742, in Antwerp) was a Flemish sculptor principally active in the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
.
[Jan Baptist Xavery]
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
He produced portrait busts, large scale statues for residences and gardens, church furniture, wall decorations, tomb monuments as well as small scale statuettes in boxwood, lime wood, ivory and terracotta. The latter were made for elite collectors who liked to admire such objects in the privacy of their homes.
[Jan Baptist Xavery, ''Bacchus and Pan'']
at Sotheby's He worked on various projects for
William IV of Orange-Nassau
William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 until his death in 1751. During his whole l ...
, the
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands.
The title ...
who later became the
Stadtholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
. He is regarded as the leading sculptor active in the Dutch Republic in the first half if the 18th century.
[L.J. van der Klooster, 'Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742). Documentatie over enkele van zijn werken']
Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 21 (1970), pp. 99-138
Life
He was the son of the sculptor
Albert Xavery and Catharina Maria Herry (Herri). He had a younger brother called
Gerardus Josephus who became a painter. His father probably taught him before he entered the studio of
Michiel van der Voort the Elder
Michiel van der Voort the Elder, Michiel van der Voort (I) or Michiel Vervoort the Elder, nickname Welgemaeckt (Antwerp, 3 January 1667 – Antwerp, buried on 8 December 1737) was a Flemish sculptor and draftsman, who is best known for the Baroq ...
.
[ Van der Voort operated a large workshop in Antwerp which produced Baroque church furniture for the principal churches in Flanders. He stayed in the van der Voort workshop until moving to ]Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1719.[Dennis de Kool, 'Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742): een veelzijdig tuinkunstenaar']
Bulletin KNOB 110 (2011), pp. 59-67
From there he went to Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
where he was in Rome. Instead of returning to his home country he settled in The Hague in the Dutch Republic. He likely arrived in The Hague in 1721 where he is recorded as paying in June 1721 his half master's money as a sculptor to the local artists' guild, the Confrerie Pictura
The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague (the Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there.
History
The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed a ...
. His decision to settle in this city may have to do with the activities of the French architect Daniel Marot
Daniel Marot or Daniel Marot the Elder (1661–1752) was a French-born Dutch architect, furniture designer and engraver at the forefront of the classicizing Late Baroque Louis XIV style. He worked for a long time in England and the Dutch Republic ...
. Marot was at that time leading many construction and decorative projects in The Hague for which he hired many artists from abroad. There were no sculptors of quality in the city which meant Xavery had hardly any competition.[
In 1725 he obtained the citizenship of The Hague and married Maria Christina Robart, a daughter of the goldsmith Claude Robart. The couple had three daughters and three sons. His sons ]Frans
Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''.
Given name
* Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplomat ...
and Jacob
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
would go on to become painters. His three daughters were reportedly all painters but their work is not known.[Dennis de Kool, 'De verloren strijd van Mars. De beeldhouwkunst van Jan Claudius de Cock en Jan Baptist Xavery in Breda']
Jaarboek 'de Oranjeboom' 70 (2017), pp. 161-173 In November 1725 he became a full member of the Confrerie Pictura
The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague (the Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there.
History
The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed a ...
in The Hague.[
From 1725 the first known works he created in the Dutch Republic can be identified. His studio was located in his home on the Zuidoost Buitensingel.][ In initially he created garden statues, an activity he would continue throughout his career.][Reinier Baarsen (ed.), ''Rococo in Nederland, Catalogus behorende bij de tentoonstelling Rococo, Nederland aan de zwier'' pp. 231-234 ] In 1633, he was one of the artists who worked under the direction of Daniel Marot on the refurbishment of Huis ten Bosch
Huis ten Bosch ( nl, Paleis Huis ten Bosch, ; English: "House in the Woods") is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and ...
, the residence in The Hague of William IV of Orange-Nassau
William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 until his death in 1751. During his whole l ...
, the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands.
The title ...
who later became the Stadtholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
. In that project he was responsible, among other things, for the wood carvings in the White Dining Room.[ He would later also create chimney pieces.][Reinier Baarsen, 'Sculptor and chairmaker? Throne chairs from the workshop of Jan Baptist Xavery]
', in: Furniture History, vol. 43, 2007, pp. 101–113. JSTOR. Accessed 8 May 2021 One of these, representing ''Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl'' was later removed by the French occupiers and later moved to the Trippenhuis
The Trippenhuis is a neoclassical canal mansion in the centre of Amsterdam. It was built in 1660–1662 for the wealthy Amsterdam weapons traders Louis and Hendrick Trip. Many references to weaponry can be seen on its facade. Since 1887 it has be ...
in Amsterdam. He also interceded on behalf of Jacob de Wit
Jacob de Wit (19 December 1695 – 12 November 1754) was a Dutch artist and interior decorator who painted many religious scenes.
Biography
Jacob de Wit was born in Amsterdam, and became famous for his door and ceiling paintings. He lived on ...
for a commission to paint a chimney piece, the frame for which was carved by Xavery.[ Xavery made marble busts for Prince ]William IV of Orange-Nassau
William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 until his death in 1751. During his whole l ...
in 1733 and for the Prince's wife Princess Anne of Hanover in 1736 (Mauritshuis
The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...
, The Hague). Although he clearly worked on various commissions for the Prince of Orange, no documents which show that he was officially appointed in the service of the Prince have been traced to date.[M.D Ozinga, ''Jan Baptist Xavery als decoratief-architectonisch ontwerper'', in: H. Miedema e.a., Miscellanea J.Q. van Regteren Altena, Amsterdam 1969, p. 168 ]
In addition, he was able to obtain commissions from the civil authorities. He was involved in the decoration of the Old City Hall of The Hague for which he created allegorical figures of Prudentia and Justitia. In the same city hall he made the marble overdoor pieces of the alderman's and justice rooms.[ He was also active as a dealer in garden statues created by other artists.][ In 1739 he obtained the commission for a chimney piece for the residence in ]Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
of Diederik Baron van Leyden, the regent of Leiden.[Dennis de Kool, ''Creatief samenspel van Jan Baptist Xavery en Jacob de Wit'']
in: Oud-Leiden-Nieuws, Jaargang 8, Nummer 4, (2020), pp. 17-19
There is some evidence, too, that he worked briefly around 1737 for Frederick I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Frederick I ( sv, Fredrik I; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and King of Sweden from 1720 until his death and (as ''Frederick I'') also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730. He ascended the throne f ...
.[
In 1641 and 1642, Xavery was paid for various works he had made for ]Breda Castle
Breda Castle is a castle in the city of Breda, in the Netherlands.
History
In the 12th century, a fortress was located at Breda. The city of Breda came into existence near the fortress. In 1353, the Duke of Brabant sold Breda to Jan II of Polanen ...
, owned by the Stadhholder family. One of the works was a statue of Mars, that stood on the ridge of the stairs in the courtyard of the castle. He reportedly injured himself while placing this statue of Mars and not long after on 19 July 1742 he died in his native city of Antwerp where he was staying with family.[ His widow continued the business after his death and the workshop is known to have produced throne chairs into the 1750s.][
The sculptor ]Pieter Xavery
Pieter Xavery (name variations: Pieter Saverij, Pieter Savoriex, Pieter Xaveri, Pieter Xaverii) (1647 in Antwerp – after 1674 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque sculptor whose principal known works were made during his residence in the Dutch Re ...
who worked in Leiden was his great-uncle.[ His brother ]Gerard Joseph
Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
was an etcher and painter who was also active in the Dutch Republic.Gerardus Josephus Xavery
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
Willem Hendrik van der Wall and Olof Arenius
Olof Arenius (16 December 1701 – 5 May 1766) was a Swedish portrait painter.
Biography
Arenius was born in the parish of Bro in Uppland, Sweden. His father was a vicar in Upplands-Bro. After a period of theology studies at Uppsala University, ...
were his pupils.[
]
He was well connected with the literary and artistic circles of his time and his friends included Lambert ten Kate
Lambert ten Kate (23 January 1674 – 14 December 1731) was a Dutch linguist. Specialised in comparative historical linguistics, he was also a well-known art collector.
Early life
Ten Kate was born in Amsterdam to Mennonite parents. He studied at ...
, Hubert Poot, Jacob de Wit, Balthasar Denner
Balthasar Denner (15 November 1685 – 14 April 1749) was a German painter, highly regarded as a portraitist. He painted mostly half-length and head-and-shoulders portraits and a few group portraits of families in interiors. Usually Denner con ...
and Olof Arenius
Olof Arenius (16 December 1701 – 5 May 1766) was a Swedish portrait painter.
Biography
Arenius was born in the parish of Bro in Uppland, Sweden. His father was a vicar in Upplands-Bro. After a period of theology studies at Uppsala University, ...
. When he died poets Jacob Spex and Dirk Smits wrote elegies for him. The Flemish sculptor Johannes Franciscus Maes was a collaborator in his workshop and would continue to work in the Dutch Republic after his death.[
]
Work
Xavery was a versatile artist who worked in marble, terracotta, ivory and sandstone. He portrait busts, large scale statues for residences and gardens, tomb monuments as well as small scale statuettes typically of mythological figures and putti and medallions.[Jan Baptist Xavery, ''A Group of three playful Putti fighting over a Bunch of Grapes'']
at Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge
While working early in his career on projects of Daniel Marot, his style shows similarities with that of Marot.[Iris Kockelbergh. "Xavery, Jan Baptist."]
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 7 May 2021. Even in his early career he showed an interest in developing his own style as shown in the ''Group of three children, allegory of Summer'' of 1726 (Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
, Amsterdam). It shows a lively group of two nude girls and a boy children holding symbols of summer (corn stalks, ears of corn, a sickle) who are connected through scanty draperies. The group shows his interest in achieving a lively interaction between the children and a nice distribution of their attributes.[ His knowledge of the new Rococo style is demonstrated in the decoration of the old The Hague City Hall, in particular in the marble overdoors for the central hall, which are in the form of ]rocaille
Rocaille ( , ) was a French style of exuberant decoration, with an abundance of curves, counter-curves, undulations and elements modeled on nature, that appeared in furniture and interior decoration during the early reign of Louis XV of France. ...
s, a typical decorative element used in the Rococo style. Executed in 1634, this may be the earliest use of rococo architectural elements in the Dutch Republic. His later style became more elaborate, as is seen in works such as the ''Allegory of Faith'' of 1735–9, in the Grote Kerk of Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
.[ His style remained generally closer to Classicism then Rococo, which was likely related to the fact that most of his commissions were made for aristocratic residences or funeral monuments.
Various reliefs by Xavery have been preserved. The marble relief with an allegorical representation under the organ of the Grote Kerk in ]Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
is considered one of his best works. He also made many chimney pieces, only a few of which have survived. In the salon of Huis Dedel in The Hague (now Design Museum Dedel) there was a marble chimney piece with two girls' heads that was probably made by Xavery.[ One of his chimney pieces made for the residence in The Hague of Diederik Baron van Leyden is now in the ]Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
in Amsterdam. He designed the fireplace and the chimney piece, which is a relief representing the mythological lovers Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and Oenone
In Greek mythology, Oenone (; Ancient Greek: Οἰνώνη ''Oinōnē''; "wine woman") was the first wife of Paris of Troy, whom he abandoned for Helen. Oenone was also the ancient name of an island, which was later named after Aegina, daughter ...
. Paris is shown engraving the name of his beloved on a tree. There are two drawings by his friend and frequent collaborator Jacob de Wit
Jacob de Wit (19 December 1695 – 12 November 1754) was a Dutch artist and interior decorator who painted many religious scenes.
Biography
Jacob de Wit was born in Amsterdam, and became famous for his door and ceiling paintings. He lived on ...
that probably served as designs or sources of inspiration for the relief. De Wit's artistic influence on Xavery sheds an interesting light on their working relationship in Leiden.[
]
Xavery was a prolific maker of garden ornaments and statues. Dutch garden art flourished in the first half of the eighteenth century. Such art works were not regarded as independent objects but as part of a larger decorative project fusing greenery and garden ornaments into one harmonious composition often based on a well thought-out decorative programme or a specific world view.[
Xavery made several bust portraits. One impressive work is the marble bust of Don Luis da Cunha, ambassador of Portugal (1737, Rijksmuseum). Don Luis da Cunha (1662-1749) was ambassador to the kingdom of Portugal between 1728 and 1736. The bust shows the ambassador as a stately figure wearing a ]cuirass
A cuirass (; french: cuirasse, la, coriaceus) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The word probably originates from the original material, leather, from the French '' cuira ...
and cloak. Even though the sitter was already 75 years old at the time of the bust, Xavery gave him a vital face. This was likely the result of the artist not dwelling on the details in the face and clothing of the ambassador. Xavery made bust portraits of other prominent personalities such as William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
William VIII (10 March 1682 – 1 February 1760) ruled the German Landgraviate Hesse-Kassel from 1730 until his death, first as regent (1730–1751) and then as landgrave (1751–1760).
Life
Born in Kassel, he was the seventh son of Charles I, La ...
, Frederick I of Sweden
Frederick I ( sv, Fredrik I; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and King of Sweden from 1720 until his death and (as ''Frederick I'') also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730. He ascended the throne f ...
, the Duke of Marlborough
General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an Engl ...
and Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...
.[Frits Scholten, ''Het Portret Van Don Luis Da Cunha Door Jan Baptist Xavery (1737)'']
in: Bulletin Van Het Rijksmuseum, vol. 42, no. 2, 1994, pp. 107–119. JSTOR, Accessed 8 May 2021 Xavery also made a portrait bust of François Fagel, an important personality who served as servant of the States General for more than sixty years.[ His various funeral monuments also include busts or full-length portraits of the deceased persons. These include the funeral monuments of Johannes Graaf von Lilljenstedt (1732) in the Marienkirche in ]Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...
, Johan Theodorus baron von Friesheim (1733) in the Grote of Sint-Catharinakerk in Heusden
Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged with ...
, Sicco van Goslinga (1737) in the Hervormde kerk in Dongjum and Count Oswald III van den Bergh (1741) in the Sint Petrusbasiliek in Boxmeer
Boxmeer () is a town and former municipality in upper southeastern Netherlands. Boxmeer as a municipality incorporated the former municipality of Beugen en Rijkevoort and that of Vierlingsbeek. In Overloon is the Overloon War Museum.
Boxmeer, ...
. Some of the funeral monuments such as that of Reinhart Vincent von Hompesch in Linnich
Linnich is a town in the Düren (district), district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Rur, River Rur (Roer river), approx. 10 km north-west of Jülich.
Economy
Linnich is the home of Schweizeris ...
have been lost while of that of Johan van Welderen only the bust portrait has survived.[
Xavery was also known for his small-scale ivory sculptures. His ivory ''Medallion portrait of Maria Louise van Hessen-Kassel'', the mother of Prince William IV of Orange, made in 1731 was likely the first contact between the artist and the Prince.][
]
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xavery, Jan Baptist
1697 births
1742 deaths
Flemish sculptors (before 1830)
Flemish Baroque sculptors
Artists from Antwerp
Ivory carvers
Dutch male sculptors
18th-century Dutch sculptors
18th-century Dutch male artists