Jean-Edouard de Castella

Jean-Edouard (or Jean-Edward) de Castella (1881 in Lilydale, Australia – 1966 in Fribourg), was a Swiss painter and illustrator .

Biography

Born in Australia in 1881, Jean-Edouard de Castella moves to Switzerland with his father Hubert de Castella and his family in 1886. In 1901 he enters the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich where he meets Paul Klee with whom he will then travel to Italy. He attends to Ferdinand Hodler's classes together with his sister Nathalie at the Technicum in Fribourg where he studies also with Raymond Buchs, Hiram Brülhart or Oswald Pilloud. In 1903 he goes to the Académie Julian in Paris. He regularly attends to the Salon fribourgeois of the Swiss Society of Painters, Sculptors and Architects. In 1932 he created an art gallery in Fribourg, the Salon d'art permenent du Capitole where he mainly exhibits works by Swiss artists. He is unfortunately not as successful as he expected and closes the gallery two years later.

He made lots of stained glass windows for public buildings as well as churches. In 1918 he made a cycle of windows for the chapel of Our Lady of Bourguillon close to Fribourg. He will then also collaborate with Alexandre Cingria and Eugène Dunand. He also illustrates fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and Perrault.

Works in public institutions

• Art Nouveau stained glass windows for the chapel of Our Lady of Bourguillon (Fribourg), 1918

References

• Hodler und Freiburg. Die Mission des Künstlers. Hodler et Fribourg. La Mission de l'artiste, exhibition catalogue, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Fribourg, 1981
• CLERC, Philippe, Un carrefour artistique, in: La Gruyère dans le miroir de son patrimoine, Une région en représentation, t.5, Editions Alphil, 2011, p. 14

External links

• "Jean-Edouard de Castella". SIKART dictionary and database.