WILLIAM CURTIS BRANGWYN

(1837 - Cardiff, 1907)

A British designer and decorator.

William Brangwyn embarked on a career in London as a designer for religious buildings and interiors, in a studio located on George Edmund Street.

In 1865 Brangwyn came to Bruges with his wife Eleonore Griffits and their daughter Edith. He was noticed by the Guild of St Thomas and was appointed to help carry out the decoration of the Holy Blood Chapel (Bruges) in neo-Gothic style. He also decorated the now disappeared chapel of the Sint-Juliaangesticht (1870) in the Boeveriestraat. He also designed the neo-gothic extension of the Sint-Vedastus church in Zerkegem (1868) and the town hall of Kruibeke (1860). He made murals for the former parish church of Sint-Michiels. He would also have played a role in the reconstruction of the parish church of Sint-Andries.

The versatility of his activities was confirmed by the silver medal he received at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867 for a banner he designed. This banner, with satin embroidery, is now kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In Bruges he also focused on designing textiles for liturgical use.

During the stay in Bruges, Ellen, Frank and Philip were born. In 1872 the family moved back to England, where Cuthbert and Lawrence were born.

Brangwyn took care of the training of his sons, of whom two became interior designers, Philip in Canada and Cuthbert in America, alongside Frank Brangwyn, who gained fame as an artistic person of many talents.

After returning to England, Brangwyn went to work in the studio of architect Sir Horace Jones (1819-1887).

Gothic Memorials, 1861 (a book about late medieval burial monuments and graveyard art published and illustrated by William Curtis himself). It can be found digitally at books.google.com

Source: Wikipedia