Campanas de México

Bellfounders Fremy in Amsterdam 1680-1699

Thirteen years after the death of François Hemony (1609-1667), his brother bellfounder Pieter Hemony (born 1619) died on February 17, 1680. However, the work in his Amsterdam foundry was temporarily continued by his cousin Mammes Fremy (1651-1684), one of the three sons of Mammertus Fremy who was a travelling bellfounder from northern France. The family settled in Amsterdam and all three sons became bellfounders.1

The eldest son Jan (1642-1705) started a family in Amsterdam. In 1679, he moved to Woensel near Eindhoven to start his own business. The third son, Mammes, got his professional training in the city foundry of Amsterdam, which was directed at the time by the bellfounders François and Pieter Hemony respectively. In private correspondence Pieter Hemony refers to the apprenticeship of his cousin Mammes, describing him as a "good molder and one of the best workers I ever had".2 It can be assumed that the second son, Claude (1646-1699) also trained with the Hemony brothers although there is no known source to support this assumption.

MEILINK-HOEDEMAKER, Laura J.

Laura MEILINK (00-00-2014)