Peter Mathiesen
{{short description|Danish clockmaker}}
{{for|the American novelist|Peter Matthiessen}}
Peter Mathiesen (1696{{ndash}}1768) was a Copenhagen-based Danish clockmaker. He was a co-founder of the city's Clockmakers' Guild in 1755 and served as the guild's third alderman in 1758–60. His workshop was located on Vimmelskaftet.
Biography
Mathiesen was born in 1696 in Dollerup, Grumtoft Parish, Schleswig-Holstein. It is not known where he was trained as a clockmaker but Gottorp was an important centre for artists and artisans at the time. He worked for clockmaker Christian Christensen in Hillerød in 1724. He was later by the crown charged with maintaining two large clockworks at the royal palaces. On 15 December 1724, he was accepted into the Smiths' Guild without having submitted a masterpiece.{{cite web|url=https://www.taarnurmageren.dk/HTML-sider/Peter%20Mathiesen.htm|title=Peter Mathiesen|language=Danish|website=taarnurmageren.d|accessdate=17 August 2020}}
Mathiesen established his own workshop on Vimmelskaftet. It developed into one of the largest of its kind in the country. In 1729–54, it employed 18 trained clockmakers and some 30 apprentices. In 1755, Mathiesen was a co-founder of the Clockmakers' Guild in Copenhagen.{{cite web|url=http://www.uhrmagerlauget.dk/oldermaend.html|title=Oldermænd|language=Danish|publisher=Urmagerlauget i København|accessdate=17 August 2020}} He served as the guild's third alderman in 1758–60. He specialized in tower clocks and longcase clocks.
Notable works
Buildings with Peter Mathiesen tower clocks include the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen (1737), Frederiksberg Church in Frederiksberg (1739), St.Nicolas' Church in Åbenrå, St. Nicolas' Church in Holbæk and Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde (1741){{cite web|url=https://www.taarnurmageren.dk/HTML-sider/Roskilde%20Domkirke.htm|title=Roskilde Domkirke|language=Danish|website=taarnurmageren.d|accessdate=17 August 2020}} He also made a donation of a clock for Grundhof Church in his home town.
The Karen Blixen museum at Rungstedlund contains a Peter Mathiesen longcase clock.{{cite web|url=https://sn.dk/Ugebladet-Hoersholm/Urmager-tager-Blixens-300-aar-gamle-ur-under-kaerlig-behandling/artikel/1097502|title=Urmager tager Blixens 300 år gamle ur under kærlig behandling|language=Danish|website=sn.d|accessdate=17 August 2020}}