Petrus Augustus de Génestet:
(Amsterdam, 21 November 1829 – Rozendaal, 2 July 1861).
Dutch poet and theologian.
Petrus Augustus de Génestet lost his parents at a young age, after which he was taken in by his uncle and guardian, the painter Jan Adam Kruseman. He also received financial support from the writer Johannes Kneppelhout for some time. He trained as a minister at the Amsterdam Atheneum and the Seminary of the Remonstrant Brotherhood. In December 1852, he became a minister in Delft, the city where the Génestetkerk, named after him, still stands today. In the same year, he married Henriette Bienfait in Bloemendaal. They had four children together.
No freedom without seriousness, no seriousness without her, for she alone makes seriousness sincere and true.
The author means that true freedom cannot exist without seriousness, and that seriousness, in turn, is only valuable when it is supported by freedom. Seriousness gives depth and responsibility to freedom, so that it does not become superficial licentiousness, while freedom prevents seriousness from becoming rigid or dishonest. Only in the mutual relationship between freedom and seriousness can sincere and true seriousness arise, and with it meaningful freedom.
