Joseph Christian Lillie

Joseph Christian Lillie, also known as J.C. Lillie, (March 20, 1760- January 29, 1827) was a Danish neoclassical architect and
interior designer. His early career was in Denmark, where he is mainly known for his interior designs and furniture production. His later career was in Schleswig-Holstein, where he is known for his independent architectural works.

Early life and training

He was born in Copenhagen to master cabinetmaker Georg Friederich Lillie and wife Maria Eva Schils. He is presumed to have trained as a cabinetmaker.

He was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Art ca. 1774-1780, and was a student of Caspar Frederik Harsdorff, then Director of the Academy and Denmark’s leading architect in the late 18th century, now referred to as “The Father of Danish Classicism”. He won both the Academy’s little silver medallion and the large silver medallion in 1775. He won the little gold medallion in 1777, and the large gold medallion in 1779, the same year as fellow architecture student Christian Frederik Hansen won his gold medallion. He and Hansen became friends, and Lillie worked closely with him during his career.

Early career in Denmark

He worked as a substitute teacher in the Academy’s building class 1781-1782, and in 1783 he took on a fulltime position there as teacher, but never as a professor, which meant that he could not become a member of the Academy.

In early 1784 the Cabinetmaking Guild tried to prevent his getting a license to drive the family cabinetmaking workshop, which his recently deceased mother had run as a widow after the death of his father. The Guild did not recognize him as having Guild rights, because he had not received Guild recognition on a submitted work for approval. The Academy, under Johannes Wiedewelt’s leadership, supported Lillie’s request for a trade license as a cabinetmaker in Copenhagen. The Chancellery awarded him all Guild rights, because he had won the Academy’s large gold medallion in 1779. He received his trade license that year, and ran the workshop 1784-1799.

That same year, on Harsdorff’s recommendation, he was hired by new Director Carsten Anker as inspector and designer at The Royal Furniture Storehouse ("Det kongelige Møbelmagasin"), replacing Georg Roentgen from Neuwied. The Storehouse was a national institution with the aim of improving domestic furniture production by creating model production facilities, supporting new master craftsmen, and selling furniture in its own store.

He married Rebekka Marie Clausen June 25, 1784.

His talents were also used for the interior design of apartments at Christiansborg Castle. His first large work was the decoration of the suite at the castle for the newly married Princess Louise Augusta and Christian Friedrich of Augustenborg in 1786.

In 1787 he was cited for negligence of duties as a teacher at the Academy, and was refused a travel stipend, which should have been his due as recipient of the gold medallion eight years prior. Fellow gold medallion winner that same year and friend C.F. Hansen had also been refused a travel stipend, but was able to travel on account of direct financial dispensation from Dowager Queen Juliane Marie and King Christian VII.

In 1788 he applied for the job of City Architect i Copenhagen, but to no avail.

He married his second wife Julie Meinier (Meunier) in France.

In 1790 Lillie did the interior design for Crown Prince and Regent Frederik’s apartments both at Christiansborg Castle, and at Frederiksberg Palace. On November 3, 1790 he was appointed Interior Designer to the Danish Court.

He travelled in Norway 1793.

The interior decoration in 1794-1795 of various apartments in Schack's Palace (today commonly referred to as Christian IX’s Palace) at Amalienborg, then the home of the Crown Prince and his family, are also attributed to him.

The Christiansborg fire of 1794 destroyed much of his work at the castle, although some individual pieces survived.

Later career in Lübeck

Economic conditions were hard for artists at the turn of the century, with shriveling funds from the public coffers due to, among other things, the loss of Christiansborg, the setting up of new residences at Amalienborg, and pending war which was realised in the early 1800s. After a bankruptcy in 1798 he left Copenhagen and Danmark, and moved to Lübeck, where the second half of his career began.

His second wife died July 21, 1804 in Lübeck.

He became resident architect for C.F. Hansen with the establishment of Kastorf and Kramonshagen in Holstein 1801-1802.

He became the Director and Professor of Architecture, Perspective and Geometry at the "Freie Zeichenschule", Lübeck in 1804. He continued at the school until 1827.

He lived with Johanna Catharina Haak starting in 1805.

Lillie became Lübeck’s Chief Architect in 1813. He died in Lübeck 1827, and is buried at St. Jürgen Friedhof cemetery.

Other works

* Furniture for Marienlyst Palace near Helsingør (1791)
* Interior decoration for Liselund Palace on the Isle of Møn (1792) is attributed to him
* The coffin for Queen Dowager Juliane Marie (1796)
* Interior design of the main building at Brede in Lyngby-Taarbæk (1797)
* Behnhaus in Lübeck, now an art museum within Lillie's Interior design in the World Heritage Site city (ca. 1800)
* "Linde'sche Villa" in Lübeck, today the city’s wedding registry. The house and garden is also important in the art of Edvard Munch, and later became the domicile of Munch collector and patron Dr. Max Linde (1804)
* The mausoleum for Hereditary Princess Helene Paulowna, Ludwigslust (1804-1806)
* The first "Kurhaus" in Travemünde, there are still some elements of his interior decoration in the later building, which has reopened as a hotel in 2005 (1819-1820)
* The manor house in "Schönfeld" near Mühlen Eichsen in Mecklenburg (1820)
* The manor house for the "von Bülow" family in Gudow near Mölln (1824- 1827)

Further reading

*Ilsabe von Bülow: "Joseph Christian Lillie (1760-1827)." (In German language) Berlin 2008. ISBN 9783422066106

References

* [http://www.kid.dk/ KID Kunst Index Danmark ("Art Index Denmark")]
* [http://runeberg.org/dbl/ Danish Biographical Encyclopedia ("Dansk biografisk Leksikion")]