Makers

The kettle and the rack are believed to be made by Albert Kniep (1844-1923), a blacksmith who was a member of the St. Bernulphusgilde. The St. Bernulphusgilde was heavily involved with the expansion of the O.L.V Basiliek in 1870s, especially when the main designer, Friedrich Wilhelm Mengelberg, was a key member of the guild. Kniep was another artist from the guild who contributed towards the expansion project, and is known to have been a craftsman who supplied metal work objects to the Basilica. Thus, although the names of the maker of the lavabo kettle and rack were not recorded, it is likely that both were created by him.

Kniep also probably created other objects in the church, including the wrought-iron lever of the font, the candle-holders under the statues of Christ and Mary in the choir, the candle sticks at the transept, and the wrought-iron fencing located in the Cecilia room. Some of these objects were created with a similar style as the iron rack of the lavabo, with the same twisted pattern and polychrome colour scheme. Unfortunately, not much information on Kniep himself survives, however it is known that he was an artist from Voorst, who was probably recruited to the Guild by Gerard van Heukelum, its founder.[1] His work was often of great quality, and was displayed at the Amsterdam World Exhibition in 1883, along with the works of ‘Utrecht’s Quartet’ of the guild – the sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Mengelberg, the architect Alfred Tepe, the glazier Heinrich Geuer and the goldsmith Gerard Barteld Brom, as representatives of the St. Bernulphusgilde. [2]

The stone basin is believed to have been made by the stonemason Lambert te Riele (1840-1898) from Deventer. Te Riele was also responsible for making the stone components in the altar, including the suppedaneum and the altar tomb. [3] Once again, not much information on Te Riele survives other than that he was a family member of the Dutch architect Wolter te Riele (1867-1937). [4] Wolter te Riele had collaborated with Van Heukelum and other artists from the St Bernulphusgilde, so, perhaps, it is not surprising that Lambert te Riele was responsible for some of the stonemasonry in the church. [5] The stones used were produced by factories near the Ijssel, some of which were owned by Van Heukelum’s father, who was a brick manufacturer. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the Ijssel area was home to a number of brick/stone factories and became one of the most important brick-making centre in the Netherlands. [6]

Sources

Pictures:

Members of the St. Bernulphusgilde visiting the ruins of Belgian abbey of Villers-la-Ville in 1900. Wolfgang Cortjaens and Tom Verschaffel, Historism and Cultural Identity in the Rhine-Meuse Region: Tensions Between Nationalism and Regionalism in the Nineteenth Century (Leuven University Press, 2008), 168.
Kerkcollectie digital (lavaborekken, lavaboketels [accession number 10495-209]; accessed on October 20, 2021)

[1] Arjen Johan Looyenga, ‘De Utrechtse School in de Neogotiek: de Voorgeschiedenis en het Sint Bernulphusgilde’ (Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, 1991), 349.

[2] Looyenga, ‘De Utrechtse School,’ 369.

[3] Kerkcollectie digital (Altaren, Hoogaltaren [accession number 10495-1]; accessed on October 23, 2021)

[4] Ibid.

[5] Fred Gaasbeek, ‘Geloven en bouwen in Wijk bij Duurstede : Katholieke Kerken, Kloosters en Kapellen na de Reformatie’, 2000, 125–62.

[6] Ronald Stenvert, Biografie van de baksteen: 1850-2000 (Zwolle: WBooks, 2012), 19-20.

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