Sigismund Goetze (British painter) 1866 - 1939
Goetze was born in Britain of German ancestry. He painted in oil and watercolour. His pictures were inspired by religious and mythological subjects, though he also produced landscapes (e.g. scenes from Wales and Scotland). During the First World War (1914-1918) Goetze offered to paint a series of murals for the Foreign Office (now the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) as a gift. The murals were completed in 1921 and they now surround the Grand Staircase of the Foreign Office. There is a Goetze Memorial Chapel at St. Mark's Church, Maida Vale, London. The Chapel includes a number of War Memorial panels painted by Goetze that show Christ in Glory with musicians, and flanking panels of Saints George, Andrew, Patrick and David, with figures representing the Services below. At the entrance to London Zoo in Regents Park, London there is a small statue of a boy on a bear, in memory of Goetze. The sculptor William McMillan RA (1887-1977) created the Goetze Memorial Fountain, with triton and dryads, in Regents Park (1950). A photo exists of a garden party given by a Mrs Sigismund Goetze (who may, or may not, be the artist's wife) at Grove House, Regents Park, London which was attended by Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), consort of King George VI of England.
