Flemish painter and architect

Antwerp 1625 – 1694 Mantova (Mantua)

 

Also known as Francesco de Geffels.

 

Pupil of the further unknown Antwerp painter Daniël de Middelaer (1626-1669/70) in the year 1635/1636. The still life painter Cornelis de Bryer also studied under de Middelaer. 

 

Geffels joined the local Painter’s Guild in the year 1645/1646, though he did not stay in Antwerp for a very long time, travelling abroad.

At the end of the 1650s he was recruited in Mantova at the ducal court of the Gonzaga. From 1663 until his death in 1694 he was active as “Prefetto delle Fabriche” (Prefect of the Buildings): that function made him official court painter, architect, construction supervisor, engineer of stage designs for opera’s and structures used on the occasion of important court-related events. He was also free to take private architectural commissions from the local aristocratic class. And because of the marital ties of the Gonzaga with the imperial court and the Liechtenstein princes in Vienna he occasionally also came to work there.

In 1664 our painter was granted citizenship of Mantova.

 

Geffels painted both frescoes and oil paintings. He created portraits, religious subjects, military scenes, architectural paintings and genre scenes (merry companies dancing, dining, playing games or music).