Anton Anreith
Encyclopedia
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
in Breisgau
Breisgau
Breisgau is the name of an area in southwest Germany, placed between the river Rhine and the foothills of the Black Forest around Freiburg im Breisgau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, which partly consists of the Breisgau, is named after that area...
, Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, who arrived at the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
as a soldier in the service of the Dutch East-India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
in 1777. Although he was a trained sculptor, his was initially employed as a carpenter but in 1780, the Lutheran community commissioned him to carve a pulpit for their new church in Strand Street, Cape Town. He also carved the door of the neighbouring parsonage. In 1786, he was appointed master-sculptor to the Dutch East India Company.
From 1781, he worked closely with the architect Louis Michel Thibault
Louis Michel Thibault
Louis Michel Thibault , was a French-born South African architect and engineer who designed numerous buildings in the Cape Colony...
. His first project with this architect was the Cloete wine-cellar at Groot Constantia
Groot Constantia
Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and national monument in the suburb of Constantia in Cape Town, South Africa."Groot" in Dutch and Afrikaans translates as "great" in English.-History:...
for which he designed an elaborate baroque pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, The Rape of Ganymede
Ganymede (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...
, a depiction of the myth of the youth, abducted by Zeus in the form of an eagle, who became cup-bearer to the Greek Gods. In 1789 they were joined by Hermann Schutte, an architect and builder from Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
and the three of them had a profound influence on the development of Cape Town architecture in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
His works include the De Kat Balcony "Kat" is a Dutch term for a transverse wall. It dates from Roman times when it also meant a seat of authority or place of command on a battlefield. (References: Cape Town Highlanders http://www.cthighlanders.co.za/castle/voorplein.htm, Dirk Teeuwen (2007) Kasteel De Goede Hoop http://www.rendez-vous-batavia.nl/photogallery/south-africa/castle-of-good-hope.pdf) at the Castle of Good Hope
Castle of Good Hope
The Castle of Good Hope is a star fort which was built on the original coastline of Table Bay and now, because of land reclamation, lies nearer to the Cape Town city centre in South Africa.-History:...
, the Koopmans-De Wet House, and the Huguenot Memorial Museum
Huguenot Monument
The Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek, South Africa, is dedicated to the cultural influences that Huguenots have brought to the Cape Colony after their immigration during the 17th and 18th centuries....
in Franschhoek.
In addition to his sculpture and plaster-work, Anreith made a living teaching life drawing and geometry. He was also head of the first art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
in South Africa which was founded by the Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
. He became a Freemason in 1797 as a member of the Loge de Goede Hoop. He died in Bloem Street, Cape Town, unmarried and in poverty.