Sigismund christian hubert goetze biography for kids

English painter and philanthropist (–)

Not to be confused with Sigismund von Götzen.

Sigismund Christian Hubert Goetze (24 October – 24 October ) was an English painter and philanthropist, born in London.^[1]

Early life

Goetze was the son of Rosina Hariet (née Bentley; d.

) and James D. Goetze (d.

Sigismund christian hubert goetze biography for kids ages Finding Art UK useful? Mural Painting in Britain Image and Meaning. These grand historical and emblematic works were influenced both by his early training under Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema , his time in France, and a preparatory tour of Europe. Goetze sued Spencer for libel.

).^[2] His sister Violet married the politician Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett.^[3] He was educated first at University College School, then received a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art.^[4] He entered the Royal Academy Schools in and from was exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy and at the Paris Salon.^[1] In he married Constance Schweich the only daughter and heiress of Leopold Schweich of Paris.^[5]

In he and his wife bought Grove House, a villa in Regent's Park built by Decimus Burton, at auction.

He decorated the music room with scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses^[6] and held philanthropic activities in the garden.^[7] He is said to have had a particular fondness for Regent's Park and set aside a sum of money, the Constance Fund, to enable gifts of sculpture to parks in London as a memorial to his wife in the event of her death.^[8]

In he painted a mural for the Royal Exchange, LondonThe Crown offered to Richard III at Baynard’s Castle.

Empire murals

Between and , Goetze painted a mural scheme for the Foreign Office depicting the Origin, education, development, expansion and triumph of the British Empire.^[1][3] Goetze had offered to create the works free of charge.^[9] They were executed in the spirit fresco technique on canvas and then attached to the walls.

Goetze undertook a European tour to study frescoes in France and elsewhere in preparation. He was especially influenced by the work of Puvis de Chavannes and Frederic Leighton.^[9] The original plans were altered following the war to culminate in the international Covenant of the League of Nations, leading to the inclusion of emblematic figures of France, America and other nations.^[9]

The canvases were installed against the wishes of the Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, who objected to them, supposedly because of their display of naked flesh.^[3] It has been suggested that it was the political content of the images that really offended Curzon, as they ran counter to his vision of the Empire.^[9]

The antisemitic writer Harold Sherwood Spencer became obsessed with the idea that Goetze's paintings were part of a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the British Empire.

In Spencer attacked Goetze in the journal Plain English, calling him "a foreign Jew" who was "an alien in Common Law and a perpetual enemy of this Christian empire". Goetze sued Spencer for libel.

Sigismund christian hubert goetze biography for kids free: Sigismund Goetze. Goetze d. Retrieved 19 September Clarke, Bridget.

Spencer was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment.^[10]

Philanthropy

In Goetze and Constance donated the eastern gates for the gardens of the Inner Circle of Regent's Park, in they donated the southern or jubilee gates to be installed for the re-opening of the gardens as Queen Mary's Gardens in ^[11]

Following the death of his friend, sculptor Sir Alfred Gilbert, in Goetze assisted the National Art Collections Fund in acquiring Gilbert's collection and dispersing it to various public collections.^[1]

Goetze and Constance also donated two bronze sculptures by Albert Hodge, The Lost Bow ()^[12] and A Mighty Hunter (),^[13] which were probably commissioned for Grove House.^[14]

Following his death in , Constance made a number of donations to various museums including: a 15th-century manuscript of Pseudo-Augustine, now in the Henry Davis Collection at the British Library and a series of religious sculptures to the Fitzwilliam Museum.^[5]

The Constance Fund

In , in order to honour her husband, Constance established his Constance Fund, which she administered until her death in ^[8] The fund was dedicated to "the encouragement of Ideal Sculpture and its setting for Parks and Public Places in conjunction with the settings and surroundings"; Goetze had stipulated that its Committee consist of three sculptors, an architect, a horticulturalist and "a few laymen".^[15] In the Triton and Dryads fountain, designed by William McMillan in , was at last installed in Queen Mary's Gardens with an inscription commemorating Goetze as a "Painter[,] Lover of the Arts and Benefactor of this Park".^[16] In the Constance Fund commissioned the Dianain the Trees Fountain in Green Park^[17] and its final commission, in , was the Joy of Life fountain in Hyde Park.^[18]

References

Bibliography

• Ward-Jackson, Philip (), Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume 1, Public Sculpture of Britain, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press