Daniel Hisgen
Daniel Hisgen (April 10, 1733 probably in Nieder-Weisel, Hesse, Germany – February 19, 1812 in Lich) was a German painter of the rococo period who worked as a church painter in Upper Hesse, specializing on cycles of paintings decorating the front of the gallery parapet in churches with an upper gallery. His discreet cycles demonstrate the modest prominence expected of Lutheran art in German churches of his day, taking a middle route between the large and prominent images in Catholic churches, and the complete absence of images in Calvinist ones.
Life and family
The ancestors of the Hisgen (meaning "little house") family fled as Huguenots from France to the Netherlands and then distributed to the area near Montabaur, Wetzlar and Lich. Daniel Hisgen was the oldest son of the Protestant pastor Johann Georg Hisgen (August 30, 1707 - June 2, 1769) and his wife Johannetta Judith Budoin (Johanna Budi) (February 4, 1706 - February 23, 1765). Daniel's godmother was an unmarried sister of his father.[1] Johann Georg was a native of Wetzlar and pastor at Nieder-Weisel (Butzbach) for 37 years from 1732 to his death. Daniel grew up in the village of Nieder-Weisel where his parents are still buried in a crypt in the Protestant church. When the church records of Nieder-Weisel were destroyed by fire in 1761, Johann Georg and the villagers created a new church book from memory for the years from 1690 to 1761. Nieder-Weisel citizens and Johann Georg went all the way to the Reichskammergericht (highest court in the Holy Roman Empire) on a dispute about building defects.
On November 28, 1769 Daniel Hisgen married Philippina Louisa Stiehl (baptized August 8, 1747 - August 8, 1820) from Alten-Buseck. A penance was imposed on both because the first daughter Johannetta Catharina (December 21, 1769 - March 3, 1834) was born just four weeks after the wedding.[1] Daniel settled in Lich and the marriage produced five children. The oldest daughter remained unmarried, the others were Friedrich Wilhelm (March 22, 1773 - March 1, 1853), Maria Elisabetha (Born May 5, 1775), Christian Wilhelm (April 13, 1777 - May 27, 1839) and Johann Heinrich (born June 30, 1780). Godfather of the latter was Daniel's brother Johann Henrich Hisgen, who is documented as a "Kauf- und Handelsmann in Wetzlar" (tradesman in Wetzlar).[2]
The oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, a government secretary in Hungen, was married to Catharina Margartha Rouge (born January 6, 1786). The couple had 14 children including a son called Georg Konrad (April 20, 1820 in Lich - March 16, 1898), who emigrated without his wife Katharina Preiss (1819-1898) to America. Daniel's fourth child, Christian Wilhelm, also became a painter and a merchant and grocer. He married Katharina Elisabeth Hornivius (1775 - April 13, 1859) and had six children, including Johann Conrad Hisgen (August 9, 1810 - May 26, 1897). Johann Conrad, painter and varnisher, was in his first marriage married to Anna Margarete Jung (August 14, 1815 - June 5, 1836). After her death he married Juliana Barbara Völnele. In his third marriage he had four children. He emigrated to America and left a half year old child in
Work
Hisgen emerges primarily as a church painter in
Until 2015 twelve upper Hessian churches (all heritage listed) have been identified as having pictures with biblical scenes by Hisgen. In general there is the same number of pictures from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Illustrations of the
As a church painter Hisgen also painted church ceilings and other works. A first activity as a painter can be traced on a bill from Nieder-Weisel in 1754.
List of works
In many cases authorship is based on attributions and style comparisons. Preserved paintings put on the parapets of galleries can be found in the following churches:
Year | Location | Church | Description | Picture |
---|---|---|---|---|
1765 | Bobenhausen II | Protestant church | 48 unsigned parapet-paintings (oil on canvas): 4 evangelists, 12 apostles and an illustrated cycle from Creation of the world to Pentecost | Selling of Joseph
|
1767 | Atzbach (Hesse) | Protestant church | 43 parapet-paintings with 18 scenes of the Old Testament and 25 of the New Testament; Hisgen's authorship is proven[12][13] | The Good Shepherd
|
1770 | Oberkleen
|
St. Michaelis | 25 parapet-paintings with biblical scenes from Creation to Pentecost, also a large ceiling painting and 4 evangelists on the panels of the pulpit; Hisgen's authorship is proven[14][15] | |
1770s | Ettingshausen | Protestant church | 6 out of twelve parapet-paintings were preserved after a church renovation, a seventh was presented to Oberkirchenrat Petri from Darmstadt, an eighth was enlarged and painted over by Kurt Scriba; Hisgen's authorship is assumed,[16] he painted the church,[17] in the same style 12 paintings of the apostles on the panels of the pulpit | |
1772 ? | Ebersgöns | Protestant church | 17 unsigned parapet-paintings with biblical scenes, 10 from the Old Testament, 7 from the New Testament[18] | Jacob and Laban Make a Deal
|
1773 | Freienseen | Protestant church | 24 unsigned parapet-paintings with 14 scenes from the Old Testament and 10 from the New Testament, flowers on the panelled parapets of the pews[19] | Creation of the World
|
1774 | Albach (Fernwald) | Protestant church | 33 parapet-paintings with 19 scenes from the Old Testament and 14 from the New Testament, flowers on the panelled parapets of the pews; Hisgen's authorship is proven[20] | |
1775 | Lang-Göns | Jakobuskirche | 20 parapet-paintings with biblical scenes; one painting signed[21][22] | |
1775/1776? | Nonnenroth | Protestant church | 4 unsigned parapet-paintings of the evangelists on the eastern gallery, flowers on the panelled parapets of the pews | |
around 1780 | Burkhardsfelden | Protestant church | 15 unsigned parapet-paintings of the Four Evangelists and of the Life of Christ; also eight figures of the Old Testament on the panels of the pulpit | |
1785/1786 | Oppenrod | Protestant church | 16 parapet-paintings with scenes from the New Testament from Annunciation to the Entombment of Christ, one painting signed; some paintings were probably removed during the installation of the organ gallery.[23]
|
|
1789 | Leihgestern | Protestant church | 26 parapet-paintings with biblical scenes, one painting signed[24] | Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from the Tree
|
1806-1808 | Odenhausen (Lahn) | Protestant church | 27 parapet-paintings with biblical scenes (eight signed) and a large signed ceiling painting showing the Baptism of Jesus; 21 paintings in the aisle, seven on the western gallery;[11] flowers on the panelled parapets of the pews | David and Nathan
|
Further reading
- ISBN 978-3-422-03092-3
- Peter Weyrauch: Die Kirchen des Altkreises Gießen, Mittelhessische Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Gießen 1979
- Heinz-Lothar Worm: Daniel Hisgen, der Maler unserer Emporenbilder, in: Unterstützungsverein der Ev. Kirchengemeinden Dorlar und Atzbach (Ed.): Wenn Gott sich zeigt. 43 Andachten zu den Emporenbildern der Ev. Kirche Atzbach, Kirchengemeinde Atzbach, Atzbach 2012, p. 8–9
External links
- so: Bildtafeln kehren in die Atzbacher Kirche zurück, Gießener Allgemeine, 19. April 2011 (in German)
- Hisgen Family Project
References
- ^ a b Worm: Daniel Hisgen. 2012, p. 8.
- ^ a b Worm: Daniel Hisgen 2012, p. 9.
- ^ Heimatkundlicher Arbeitskreis Lich (Ed.): Lich. Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. 2. edition, Heimatkundlicher Arbeitskreis, Lich 1986, p. 109.
- ^ Gerhard Seib, Volkmar Joestel, Jutta Strehle (Ed.): Luther mit dem Schwan. Tod und Verklärung eines großen Mannes. Schelzky & Jeep, Berlin 1996, p. 129, 152, 155.
- ^ pm: Bilder von Daniel Hisgen landeten als "barocker Kitsch" auf dem Bauschutt, Butzbacher Zeitung, December 7, 2015.
- ISBN 3-8062-0151-X, p. 137–153, here: p. 145.
- ^ Die Evangelische Kirche in Atzbach.
- ^ Hermann Hinkel: Die Emporenmalereien in der evangelischen Pfarrkirche Leihgestern. In: Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Leihgestern (Ed.): 1908–2008. 100 Jahre Kirchweihfest der Evangelischen Kirche Leihgestern. Linden 2008, p. 68–79, here: p. 69.
- ^ a b c Unbekanntes Bild von Hisgen entdeckt, Gießener Zeitung, December 4, 2015.
- ISBN 3-7957-1330-7, p. 609.
- ^ a b Weyrauch: Die Kirchen des Altkreises Gießen. 1979, p. 144.
- ^ Die 43 Emporenbilder der Ev. Kirche Atzbach.
- ^ Evangelische Kirche Atzbach, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen (Hesse State Conservation).
- ^ Erwin Glaum, Hans Gerhard Stahl: Die evangelische St. Michaelis Kirche zu Oberkleen. (= Oberkleener Heimathefte; Bd. 3). 3. edition. Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Oberkleen, Oberkleen 2015, p. 80–83.
- ^ In 2015 the heritage and history society Oberkleen (Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Oberkleen) published a large-format wall calendar with 25 images of parapet-paintings of St. Michael in Oberkleen.
- ^ Das Altarbild in der Rimbacher Kirche.
- ^ Hartmut Miethe, Werner Viehl, Förderkreis Kunst – Mensch – Kirche (Ed.): Chronik der Pfarrei Ettingshausen und Hattenrod. (= Kirchengeschichtliche Hefte aus dem Archiv der Pfarrei Ettingshausen-Hattenrod 2). Ettingshausen 1995, p. 48.
- ^ Emporengemälde in Ebersgöns.
- ^ ja: Eintauchen in Kirchengeschichte, Gießener Anzeiger, December 10, 2015, p. 12.
- ^ Weyrauch: Die Kirchen des Altkreises Gießen. 1979, p. 6.
- ^ Weyrauch: Die Kirchen des Altkreises Gießen. 1979, p. 105, assumes 1724 as date of origin; in this year the pulpit was renewed.
- ^ Daniel Hisgen als Maler der Emporenbilder nachgewiesen.
- ^ Weyrauch: Die Kirchen des Altkreises Gießen. 1979, p. 149.
- ^ Lokalhistorisch bedeutungsvoller Fund, Gießener Allgemeine, July 14, 2008.