Hendrik Gijsmans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hendrik Gijsmans or Egidius Gijsmans[1] (c. 1552 in Mechelen – c. 1611/12 in Frankenthal) was a Flemish painter, draftsman, tapestry designer and mayor.[2] After training in his native Mechelen, he moved to Antwerp where he probably worked in the workshop of Gillis Mostaert. As a Protestant he left Antwerp after the fall of the city to the Spanish in 1585. He settled in Frankenthal in 1586 where he joined a large group of other Flemish émigré artists. He later became the mayor of Frankenthal.[3] The artist's work has only recently been rediscovered after he was identified with an anonymous artist referred to as Anonymous Fabriczy of whom a collection of about 50 drawings are held in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.[4]
Hendrik Gijsmans is believed to have been born in Mechelen. After training in his native Mechelen, he moved to Antwerp where he probably worked in the workshop of Gillis Mostaert.[3]
He is known to have travelled to Milan and Rome where he drew topographical views around 1570. He also created topographical drawings of some of the places that he visited during his trip to and from Italy including from the Rhône region and Lyon.[5]
He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1580, a citizen of the city in 1581 en was still documented in the city in 1585.[2] He left the Southern Netherlands after the fall of Antwerp in 1585. He moved to Frankenthal in 1586 where he was a member of a large community of Flemish artists and merchants who had also emigrated from Flanders. Many of the Flemish artists who moved to Frankenthal were landscape painters. They were later referred to as the school of Frankenthal.[2] The school of Frankenthal included the painters Gillis van Coninxloo, Pieter Schoubroeck, Anton Mirou and Hendrik van der Borcht the elder and the latter's son. In Frankenthal these artists could count on Flemish art dealers such as Cornelis Caymox who had settled there earlier and had built a network of patrons for Flemish art. Gijsmans and his son are recorded as having supplied Caymox with paintings on cloth.[6]
Gijsmans was successful and thrived in his adopted new home and became the mayor of Frankenthal in 1609/1610.[2] He may have been the teacher of Anton Mirou, another Flemish émigré artist.[7] He remained in Frankenthal until his death in 1611–1612.[3]
