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Felix Fiigenschou was born in 1628 and became a very important portrait painter of the 1630..s.
This profile is made to honour this famous cat and the story of his short, but eventful life.
To most people, this might seem like an impossible story, but in 1968 the discovery of a strange collection of paintings made during the refurbishing of the top floor apartment in Kjell O. Dahls gate/street in Oslo revealed a story so amazing, and so controversial, that lifes were at risk, and the history of our civilization had to be changed.Last year (2005) a grand exhibition of Felix Fiigenschou..s works were showed at Haugesund Billedgalleri, a public artgallery in Haugesund, Norway. More than 1000 people came to take a closer look at these strange pieces of art.The curator of this selection of works was the Norwegian artist Jan Terje Rafdal from Etne. He has been busy restoring a lot of the works in his studio and has also accumulated all the information available. (He is denying all the allegations that he has fabricated the whole plot!) His research is still been carried out and next year a new large show will be put up at the Sult Gallery (Galleri Sult) in Stavanger opening on the 3rd of May.
This exhibition will show some recently discovered pieces along with some important works from public and private/collections.So, who was he, the cat artist?
Felix was born in Oslo (then called Christiania, after the Danish King who ruled Norway) in 1628. He came from a somewhat prosperous family, but chose to brake up and move to Holland to chase his dream of becomming a portait painter. This made his father, Mauritz Fiigenschou furious as he ment that Felix was destined to become the new leader of their family business.
The stay in Amsterdam at the art academy of Hartzfleichische Kunstmaalengeshaft was far from pleasant. Felix never felt that his talent was appreciated amongst his tutors. Nevertheless, when he made his urgent move back to Norway, he had gathered enough knowledge of fine art to become the one of the most famous painters in Scandinavia. The reason for this sudden journey back, was the fact that his father was dead, possibly murdered after a series of mysterious events following a trial.
According to Felix..s diary, he was looking forward to enjoy the prosperous outcome of his inhertiance after his father, but Fortuna was not on his side this time, nor in the rest of his life. His father was in great debt to Fredric Feline, a scrupulous, corrupt and greedy prosecutor that made an inside deal with Mauritz to get him out of the lawsuit and to keep his mouth shut after obtainig information about a bribe made by Mauitz to one of the court judges, Sylvester Jhammerkath.
In the end of the day, Mauritz lost the trial and at the same time he had to pay off Fredric Feline.Having nothing to loose, Mauritz probably made an attempt to reveal the truth, but someone had him thrown in the river Akerselva in the heart of Christiania in June, 1631.Felix was stuck with his father..s debts and had to sell out the family estate to cover the lawsuit. However, he also had to pay Fredric Feline. Having no money left he, Fredric suggested he could work on a series of familyportaits to pay down the debts.Did Felix have any choice?
No, and this was the start of the famous "Feline-collection"The works by Felix Fiigenschou that exit today include many oilpaintings ranging from small miniatures to large oversized works, like the famous "A mounted Portrait of Cato von Haagendchs" Please look at the photosection to wiew this huge masterpiece.His works on paper have also been a much sought after on the art market. One of the most impressive items among the works on paper, is the sketch book that has been restored after beeing found in a terrible state of preservation. This book contains many small studies of cats, animals and a few landscapes. Also a large number of cathematic (Cat-mahtematics) formulas and theories and some studies for invetions like the paw-claw mousetrap. Please look at the photosection to wiew examples from this sketch book.One of the most peculiar items, is the Fiigenschou dalar/thaler. A large silver coin that resembles the likeness of an ordinary Norwegian Speciedaler from the reign of Christian the Fourth, the Danish King that ruled Norway in the 1630..s
Although this coins has no historical relation to Felix Fiigenschou, it has been know as the Fiigeschou dalar after beeing the discovery of a large accumulation of this scarce coin among the paintings in Kjell O. Dahl Street in Oslo.
The coin is almost identical to that of Christian IV, but the portrait has an unmistakably likness of a lion, know as the royal cat according to Fiigenschou..s diary and two drawings in his skecthbook.We hope that you will enjoy the world of Felix Fiigenschou and that you will carry out the knowledge of this stange historical character that made such a grand impact on our way of understanding the world history.Per Formansen
