Sigismund Goetze

Sigismund Christian Hubert Goetze (24 October 1866 – 24 October 1939) was an English painter and art patron, born in London.

Goetze was the son of Rosina Hariet (née Bentley; d. 1877) and James D. Goetze (d. 1911). His sister Violet married the politician Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett. He was educated first at University College School, then received a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1885 and from 1888 was exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy and at the Paris Salon.

In 1907 Goetze bought Grove House, a villa in Regent's Park built by Decimus Burton, at auction. He decorated the music room with scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses and held philanthropic activities in the garden. He is said to have had a particular fondness for Regent's Park and set aside a sum of money, the Constance Fund, to enable gifts of sculpture to parks in London as a memorial to his wife in the event of her death.

In 1898 he painted a mural for the Royal Exchange, London The Crown offered to Richard III at Baynard’s Castle

Between 1912 and 1921 Goetze painted a mural scheme for the Foreign Office depicting the Origin, education, development, expansion and triumph of the British Empire. Goetze had offered to create the works free of charge. They were executed in the spirit fresco technique on canvas and then attached to the walls. Goetz undertook a European tour to study frescoes in France and elsewhere in preparation. He was especially influenced by the work of Puvis de Chavannes and Frederic Leighton. The original plans were altered following the war to culminate in the international Covenant of the League of Nations, leading to the inclusion of emblematic figures of France, America and other nations.

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