Jean de Bodt (1670 – 3 January 1745) was a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

of the 18th century.

Biography

Bodt was born in Paris to French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

parents, but his father came from Mecklenburg. He studied architecture, but was forced to flee from France after the

Edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (18 October 1685, published 22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to prac ...

to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

. In 1688 he came in the entourage of

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

to London. He was promoted to a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the British Artillery and Engineer Corps. In 1699 he moved to Berlin to accomplish the construction of the

Zeughaus The Zeughaus (, ''Arsenal'') is a listed building and the oldest structure on Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte (locality), historic centre of Berlin. Erected from 1695 to 1706 according to plans by Johann Arnold Nering, Martin Grünberg, ...

(arsenal), which was now largely influenced by the French and British style of the late 17th century. Bodt also worked at the Palaces of

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

and Schlodien, and completed the construction plans of the tower of the Berlin Parochialkirche in 1715. Then he was sent to the Wesel citadel to improve the fortification of the city. In 1719 he became governor of the city Wesel.Die Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften: Ihre Mitglieder und Preisträger ... By Werner Hartkopf, p. 34
/ref> In 1728 he switched into Saxonian service, where he became general intendant of civil and military buildings as successor of Count Wackerbarth and he received the title of ''General of the Infantry'' in 1741, but worked exclusively as an architect. Together with Pöppelmann and Longuelune he converted a small country house into the Japanese Palace at Dresden. He founded the Dresden Engineer Academy in 1742. Bodt died in Dresden.

Buildings by Jean de Bodt

File:Zeughaus und Neue Wache.jpg, Berlin Zeughaus and Neue Wache File:Berlin Aussicht vom Humboldt Forum asv2023-02 img03.jpg,

, Berlin File:Schloss Schlodien Sammlung Duncker.jpg, Schlodien Palace (East Prussia) File:Schloss Friedrichstein.jpg, Friedrichstein Palace (East Prussia) According to his drafts, it was built under the supervision of John von Collas for Count Dönhoff. File:Berliner Tor in Wesel, 2010.jpg, Berlin Gate at

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-1125-002, Dresden, Japanisches Palais, Museum für Völkerkunde, Landesmuseum.jpg, Dresden, Japanisches Palais, Museum für Völkerkunde, Landesmuseum

Literature

* Hans-Joachim Kuke: ''Jean de Bodt 1670–1745. Architekt und Ingenieur im Zeitalter des Barock''. Verlag Werner, Worms 2002, * Klaus-Ludwig Thiel: ''Staatsbauentwürfe Jean de Bodts für Friedrich I. in Theorie und Praxis''. Kleikamp, Köln 1987

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodt, Jean De 1670 births 1745 deaths Architects from Paris 18th-century German architects 18th-century French architects

Biography

Buildings by Jean de Bodt

See also

Literature

References