Dirk van de Vijver

Laurent-Benoit Dewez (1731-1812), Architect in the Age of Enlightenment

Designing for Government, Church, and Court in the Southern Low Countries

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Laurent-Benoît Dewez (1731-1812), court architect to Charles of Lorraine, was the most outstanding architect of his time in the Southern Low Countries. After studying in Italy and serving in the eminent office of Robert Adam in London, Dewez developed a personal, classical style that came to embody the "Eglise Belgique" under the Austrian Habsburgs. He designed numerous castles, abbeys, and churches across Belgium, but time has not been kind to his legacy: of his 80 architectural projects, many have vanished. However, the Château de Seneffe, the abbey of Vlierbeek in Leuven, and the churches in Andenne, Floreffe, and Harelbeke still stand as testaments to his remarkable talent. This richly illustrated monograph presents, for the first time, a comprehensive collection and analysis of the complete works of Laurent-Benoît Dewez. Dirk Van de Vijver is associate professor of Architectural History and Conservation at the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Leuven University Press
• Seitenzahl: 304
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. Februar 2025
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 280mm x 225mm
• ISBN-13: 9789462704473
• ISBN-10: 9462704473
• Artikelnr.: 72655015

Autorenporträt

Dirk Van de Vijver is associate professor of Architectural History and Conservation at the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
1 Historiography
1.1. Architectural criticism of Dewez during his lifetime
1.2. Printed and handwritten biographical notes, obituaries, and epigraphs
until 1812
1.3. Dewez's architecture in the published history of the period:
Goetghebuer and Schayes
1.4. Biographic notes, local monograph articles, and syntheses 1850-1965
1.5. Duquenne
2 Architectural Training
2.1. Liège to Rome
2.2. Adam's draughtsman: Rome to London
2.3. Dewez's Italian and English sources through his drawings
2.4. The SCAB drawings rejected
3 Commissions
3.1. Architect of (church and) government
Architect of "Eglise Belgique"
The financial precondition: the origin of the building craze of religious
patrons
Orval, Dewez's call to the Southern Low Countries
Cobenzl and Neny
Abbatial elections
Loan permissions
The decision process within the abbey
Architect of the central government and civil policy issues
Infrastructure at Ostend
Education and the Old University of Louvain
Penitentiary and Vilvorde
Accommodation of governmental institutions
The city administrations of Brussels, Ostend, Binche, and Bouillon
3.2. Court architect
3.3. Private architect
3.4. Dewez challenged and end of career
Some local challengers
Guymard
The end of career
The prison of Vilvorde
Château Charles
Fin
3.5. Conclusion
4 Organisation
4.1. Drawings: from design to detailing
The conserved drawings
Accounts of drawings
Technical drawings
Proportions
4.2. Building costs
4.3. (Permanent) Employees
4.4. Building materials
5 Architectural Typologies and Language: "Le goût antique ridiculement mêlé
avec le moderne"
5.1. Architectural typologies
The palace-abbey
The church
Country houses, hotels "entre cour et jardin", and the "distribution à la
française"
5.2. The architectural language
Antique taste
The orders
Conclusion: a personal style
6 Dewez's Pupils
6.1. Dewez's pupils and their work
6.2. Italo-English architecture in the image of the master
6.3. The case of the Château de Laeken
6.4. Even more English: Montoyer's neo-Palladianism
6.5. Conclusion
Conclusion
Appendices
Catalogue of Works
Religious commissions
Public commissions
Private commissions
Commissions for festive occasions
Attributions
Rejected attributions
Documents
Writings on Dewez. Historical biographical notes on Dewez, from Bedaus to
Goetghebuer. 1762 to mid-nineteenth century
Writings by Dewez
Expertise by Louis 't Kint of the penitentiary of Vilvorde
Notes
Illustration Credits
Sources and Bibliography
Index
Dewez Today by Karin Borghouts