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Terwen, Jacobus Johannes

    Full Name: Terwen, Jacobus Johannes

    Other Names:

    • Jacobus Johannes Terwen

    Gender: male

    Date Born: 27 June 1916

    Date Died: 19 October 1998

    Place Born: Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands

    Place Died: Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands

    Home Country/ies: Netherlands

    Subject Area(s): architecture (object genre) and sculpture (visual works)

    Career(s): engineers


    Overview

    Engineer; architectural historian. Terwen studied architecture at Delft University of Technology. In 1950 he married the art historian Jeanne de Loos (1910-1973), the daughter of the art historian Jeanne de Loos-Haaxman. In 1952 he was an adviser for the exhibition on the Leiden architect Willem van der Helm (ca 1628-1675), held in the Municipal Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, at the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the “Oud Leiden” Society. Terwen provided drawings for models of three city gates designed by Van der Helm. In 1953 Terwen began teaching the history of architecture at Leiden University. In addition he joined the new department of the history of photography of the Leiden Prentenkabinet, founded by Henri Van de Waal. In 1965 he obtained a professorship of the history of architecture at Delft University of Technology. His inaugural lecture dealt with the function of the history of architecture in the training of architects. He was particularly interested in the impact of the treatises of Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi on Dutch Classicism. In 1971 Terwen returned to Leiden University, where he was appointed professor of the history of architecture. His inaugural lecture in Leiden dealt with the buildings of Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679). Between 1973 and 1981 he headed the editorial board of the Leids Jaarboekje, the annual publication of the Vereniging Oud Leiden. In 1980, at the Palladio exhibition in Vicenza, he delivered a lecture on the influence of Palladio on Dutch architecture. In Leiden, as a member of the Committee of Monuments, he made an inventory of the nineteenth- and twentieth- century buildings of the city. It was published in 1982 in Stadswerk. He retired from Leiden University in 1983 and honored with a Festschrift Bouwen en in Nederland in 1985. With Koen Ottenheym he co-authored, in 1993, a monograph on the Dutch architect Pieter Post, Pieter Post (1608-1669): architect. In his farewell lecture from Leiden University Terwen returned to the topic of the connection between the Italian architects Palladio and Scamozzi and Dutch Classicism, which had occupied him for many years. He came to the conclusion that Scamozzi’s influence on Dutch architecture was of greater importance than Palladio’s.


    Selected Bibliography

    [bibliography] “Lijst van publicaties van J. J. Terwen” in Bouwen in Nederland. Vijfentwintig opstellen over Nederlandse architectuur opgedragen aan Prof. Ir. J. J. Terwen. Delft: Delftsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1985, pp.. 555-556; “De fotocollectie van het Prentenkabinet der Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden” Focus 5 (1957); Over de functie van de architectuurgeschiedenis bij de bouwkundige opleiding: rede uitgesproken bij het aanvaarden van het ambt van gewoon hoogleraar in de geschiedenis der bouwkunst aan de Technische Hogeschool te Delft op Woensdag 15 December 1965. Delft: Waltman, 1965; “Vincenzo Scamozzi’s invloed op de Hollandse architectuur van de zeventiende eeuw” Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 65 (1966): 129-130; “The buildings of Johan Maurits van Nassau” in Van den Boogaart, E., Hoetink, H. R., and Whitehead, P. J. P. (eds.) Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen 1604-1679: a Humanist Prince in Holland and Brazil. The Hague: Johan Maurits van Nassau Stichting, 1979; “Il Palladianesimo in Olanda” in Della Valle, Anna. Palladio, la sua eredità nel mondo: Vicenza, Basilica Palladiana, maggio-novembre, 1980. Venice: Electa Editrice, 1980; “De tuinen van het Mauritshuis” in Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 1980, 31, Bussum: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1981, pp. 104-121; “Mag de bouwkunst van het Hollands classicisme ‘palladiaans’ genoemd worden?” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 1982, 33, Bussum: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1983, pp. 169-189; “Monumentenlijst van 19de- en 20ste- eeuwse gebouwen in Leiden” Stadswerk 2 (1982); [Farewell lecture Leiden University:] Het Hollands klassicisme: Palladio en Scamozzi. Leiden: Prentenkabinet/Kunsthistorisch Instituut der Rijksunversiteit Leiden, 1983; “Het mathematisch systeem van de gevel” in Meischke, R. and Reeser, H. E. (eds) Het Trippenhuis te Amsterdam. Amsterdam – Oxford/New York: Noord-Hollandse Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1983, pp. 171-181; and Ottenheym, Koen. Pieter Post (1608-1669): architect. Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1993.


    Sources

    Van der Goes, Bernadette, De Heer, Ed, Van Moorsel, Paul, and De Nooij, Anja (eds) “Voorwoord” Bouwen in Nederland. Vijfentwintig opstellen over Nederlandse architectuur opgedragen aan Prof. Ir. J. J. Terwen. Delft: Delftsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1985, p. vii; Marcus – de Groot, Yvette. Kunsthistorische vrouwen van weleer. De eerste generatie in Nederland vóór 1921.Hilversum: verloren, 2003, p. 379; Ekkart, Rudi. “Henri van de Waal: Meester van weleer” in Henri van de Waal. Bundel ter gelegnheid van zijn honderdste geboortedag. 3 maart 1910 / 3 maart 2010. Leiden: Coördesign, 2010, p. 11; [obituary:] Ottenheym, Koen. “Jacobus Johannes Terwen” Leids Jaarboekje (1999), pp 46-47.



    Contributors: Monique Daniels


    Citation

    Monique Daniels. "Terwen, Jacobus Johannes." Dictionary of Art Historians (website). https://arthistorians.info/terwenj/.


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