Frans Geffels

Frans Geffels
The Relief of Vienna
Born1625
Died1694
NationalityFlemish
Known forPainting, architecture, printmaking
MovementBaroque
Patron(s)House of Gonzaga, Mantua

Frans Geffels, known in Italy as Francesco Geffels (25 August 1624 – 18 February 1694), was a Flemish painter, printmaker, architect, stage designer and designer of ephemeral structures for solemn and festive occasions.[1][2] After training in his native Antwerp, he was mainly active in Mantua, where he was prefetto delle fabbriche to the Duke, a role that gave him the direction of the artistic and construction activities undertaken by the Ducal court.[3] He worked also on projects for the local aristocratic class of Mantua. In addition, he completed projects for the Liechtenstein princes and for the imperial court in Vienna.

He was both a canvas and fresco painter. He created portraits, history subjects, military scenes, architectural scenes and genre art, in particular merry companies.[4] Geffels is mainly remembered as the designer of some of the key examples of Baroque architecture in Mantua.[5]

  1. ^ Miroslav Kindl, Die niederländischen Künstler der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts in Diensten der Fürsten von Liechtenstein in Feldsberg (Valtice), in: Liechtensteinisch-Tschechische Historikerkommission (Hrsg.), 'Die Liechtenstein und die Kunst' Band 3, Vaduz, HWFL, 2014, pp. 172-173 (in German)
  2. ^ M. Pigozzi, Gli apparati effimeri di Geffels e la collaborazione con Andrea Seghizzi, in: Il Seicento nell’arte e nella cultura con riferimenti a Mantova, Mantua 1985, S. 186–195 (in Italian)
  3. ^ Roberta Piccinelli, The Position of Artists at the Gonzaga Court (1587-1707), in: The Court Artists in Seventeenth-Century Italy, ed. by. E. Fumagalli, R. Morselli, Rome: Viella 2014, pp. 167-198
  4. ^ Frans Geffels at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
  5. ^ Giulio Girondi, Frans Geffels, Rubens and the Palazzi di Genova, pp. 183–199

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