Abraham Roentgen

Portrait of Abraham Roentgen

Abraham Roentgen (* the 30th January 1711 Mülheim on the Rhine , † 1. March 1793 Herrnhut ) was a German Ebenist and cabinet makers (cabinet maker) and founder of the famous Roentgen furniture manufacturer in Neuwied.

life and work

Dresser by Abraham Roentgen, around 1750

Early years and wandering

Abraham Roentgen was born in Mülheim (since 1914 part of Cologne ) in 1711 as the son of the "Kistler" ( chest or box maker, i.e. carpenter ) Godfried Roentgen (1675 / 1680–1751) and his wife Elisabeth Hermans (1681–1751 ) from the Bergisches Land . 1751) born. After learning the carpentry trade from his father, Abraham Roentgen set out on a journey as a journeyman craftsman at the age of 20, as was customary at the time. He first worked for Dutch cabinet makers in The Hague , Rotterdam and Amsterdam , whose work set the style for Europe at the time. Roentgen then traveled to London . From John Channon , one of the leading cabinet makers of his time, who had a large workshop in St. Martins Lane, Roentgen learned to decorate furniture with engraved brass inlays and marquetry . In 1737 in London, Abraham Roentgen made the acquaintance of Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf , the founder of the Moravian Brethren , a Protestant free church . In 1738 Roentgen joined the Herrnhutern family and traveled back to Germany.

In London, Roentgen had acquired important technical and business knowledge and learned how to effectively design work processes with the series production of modules . What he learned proved to be decisive for his later furniture production. Roentgen's sumptuous furniture, although rooted in the Rhenish tradition, is characterized by inlaid brass lines and other inking as well as ivory and mother-of-pearl inlays in the English style.

Marienborn and Herrnhaag Castle

Back from London, he worked in the workshop of the Herrnhuter Community at Marienborn Castle near Eckartshausen (Büdingen) , which Zinzendorf had leased from the Counts of Ysenburg and Büdingen in Marienborn to enable the Herrnhuter Community to freely practice their religion according to the Büdinger Edict of Tolerance . On April 18, 1739, Abraham Roentgen married Susanna Maria Bausch, who was six years younger than Moravian. He moved with her to the Herrnhaag . A year after the wedding, the couple boarded the emigrant ship John & Mary to America, Roentgen wanted to work as a preacher and missionary in the English colony of North Carolina . Susanna Maria Roentgen had to stay behind in the Netherlands because of pregnancy problems, her first child was stillborn on Texel . The ship never arrived in America, but ran into distress off Ireland and stranded at Bray Head , County Wicklow . Abraham Roentgen was saved and moved with his wife to the s'Heerendijk settlement of the Brethren near the Dutch town of IJsselstein .
In 1742 the Roentgen couple returned to Herrnhaag and Abraham opened their own workshop under very simple conditions in the Moravian settlement, which was still under construction. On August 11, 1743, his son David Roentgen was born, who was not only to continue his work, but later to elevate it to special craftsmanship.

From Herrnhaag, Abraham Roentgen supplied the surrounding aristocratic houses with furniture that was manufactured according to the principles of the Moravian family of the highest quality at a fair price. One of the most important customers was Count Ernst Casimir zu Ysenburg and Büdingen in Büdingen . Roentgen also sent the Frankfurt fair , where he was soon able to win customers from the highest circles, u. a. acquired Goethe's father Johann Caspar a table and four chairs.

Neuwied

Roentgenhaus in Neuwied, Pfarrstrasse

After the death of Count Ernst Casimir in 1749, his son and successor Count Gustav Friedrich (* 1715; † 1768) expelled the Herrenhuter from the Isenburg region in 1750. 41 Moravians , including the Roentgen family, moved to the town of Neuwied, which had only been founded 100 years earlier , at the invitation of the religiously tolerant Count Friedrich Alexander zu Wied- Neuwied .

In October 1750, Abraham Roentgen moved into a workshop in the newly built or still under construction Herrnhut district in Pfarrstrasse (opposite today's Roentgenhaus, the building is no longer preserved). In the years that followed, skilful rococo furniture was produced there in technical perfection for the houses of Schönborn , Walderdorff and Wied, as well as the Elector of Trier, who temporarily resided on the Ehrenbreitstein . Precious furnishings, masterful workmanship and sophisticated mechanisms soon turned the furniture from Neuwied into coveted and highly priced luxury goods. The clientele expanded to include royal and princely houses across Europe . In 1763/64 Abraham Roentgen built a new, representative house with a workshop in the classicist style on Pfarrstrasse. Johann Michael Rummer from Handschuhsheim was one of his apprentices at that time .

The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) stagnated the sale of luxury furniture and resulted in debts. Roentgen turned to the Brethren for support, but they refused a guarantee. On April 18, 1764, Roentgen acquired the citizenship of the city of Neuwied, with the privilege not to be subject to the guild compulsory but to be able to continue his work independently. From 1766 there were further tensions with the heads of the Moravian Brethren, and the rift deepened. The reason for this was a certain urbane lifestyle that the Roentgen family had acquired through dealing with their prominent customers, and which the introverted religious community was suspicious of.

Susanna Maria Roentgen died in 1771. Further economic difficulties followed as the sale of Roentgen furniture stalled. The reasons were the economic recession in Europe after the end of the Seven Years' War, but also the change in style from Rococo to Classicism . Roentgen had the idea of ​​downsizing the company and giving some of the orders to the carpenter's workshop of the Brethren. At the urging of his son David, however, he decided to sell part of the inventory at a lottery in Hamburg instead, a measure to increase liquidity that was quite common among business people at the time . It gave the company temporary financial relief. In addition, the lottery made Roentgen's name widely known with its high publicity. This led to the final break with the reluctant Herrnhutern people. Abraham Roentgen now left the business more and more to his son David. This was accompanied by a change in style with the move away from heavy, overloaded Rococo furniture to lighter, more classicist forms with a refined simplicity.

In 1772, at the age of 61, Abraham Roentgen irrevocably handed the company over to his son David, but continued to work in the company for a while. In 1784 he moved to the widower's choir house in Herrnhut , where he died on March 1, 1793. He is buried in the Herrnhuter Gottesacker (Herrnhut, Berthelsdorfer Allee).

Appreciation

The investigation and appreciation of the craftsmanship of Abraham Roentgen has so far not been widespread in research. The common consideration of Abraham and David Roentgen outweighs the workshop concept. The publications by Manuel Mayer represent a first, noteworthy attempt to supplement the collectivist approach with the individual examination of Abraham Roentgen furniture.

Roentgen furniture in collections

Transformation table by Abraham Roentgen for Elector Johann Philipp von Walderdorff; around 1760

Several hundred pieces of furniture, boxes, clocks and slot machines come from the Roentgen workshop. Because of the high value of the pieces at the time they were made, many of them are still preserved in castles, museums and private collections, but are now scattered all over the world. X-ray furniture are u. a. can be visited in the following museums:

• District museum Neuwied, now Roentgenmuseum (Neuwied, Raiffeisenplatz 1a): Probably the most extensive collection of furniture by Abraham and David Roentgen, a. a. a front door and two Rococo chests of drawers by Abraham Roentgen, the so-called Apollo clock for Catherine II , writing cupboards , transforming and salon tables, caskets, clocks and seating
• Metropolitan Museum of Art ( New York City ): chest of drawers owned by Louis XVI. , Tea box and grandfather clock with inlays from the Roentgen workshop
• Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna) : desk cabinet for Prince Karl Alexander of Lorraine and art cabinet with clock by Peter Kinzing
• Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin : Neuwieder Kabinett , desk cabinet for Friedrich Wilhelm II. (Prussia) (1777/79)
• Museum of Applied Art ( Frankfurt am Main ): writing and transformation tables
• Hermitage (Saint Petersburg) : folding desk (so-called Apollo Bureau) and a desk for Catherine II.
• Rijksmuseum Amsterdam : Writing office for Johann IX. Philipp von Walderdorff , Elector of Trier
• Musée des arts et métiers ( Paris ): Mechanical music machine ( harpsichord player ) for Marie Antoinette , mechanics by Peter Kinzing
• Louvre (Paris): Rolling desk for Louis XVI. and jewelry box
• Victoria and Albert Museum ( London ): desk by Abraham Roentgen, oval table by David Roentgen, writing cabinet with marquetry and bronze fittings

literature

• Manuel Mayer: The realization of a piece of furniture. Abraham Roentgen's writing secretary in the Würzburg residence. In: Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Kunst. Vol. 70, Archive of the Historical Association for Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Vol. 141, Würzburg 2018, pp. 239–259, ISBN 978-3-88778-555-0 .
• Manuel Mayer: The founding father's art. A new look at the complete works of Abraham Roentgen. Lecture from June 13, 2019 as part of the conference for young scientists in the field of furniture and interior art, Technical University Cologne, 13-14. June 2019, in: ArtDok. Publication platform for art and image studies at Heidelberg University, pp. 1–22.
• Heinrich Kreisel: Furniture by Abraham Roentgen. In: Home art and household items, then and now. Vol. 5, Darmstadt, undated
• Claus Bernet :  Abraham Roentgen. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 , Sp. 1177-1181.
• Andreas Büttner , Ursula Weber-Woelk, Bernd Willscheid (ed.): Noble furniture for the highest circles - Roentgen's masterpieces for Europe's courts. Catalog of the Roentgen Museum Neuwied, Neuwied 2007, ISBN 3-9809797-5-X .
• Andreas Büttner: Roentgen. Furniture art in a class of its own. Edited by the city of Neuwied. Kehrein, Neuwied 2007, ISBN 978-3-934125-09-4 .
• Melanie Doderer-Winkler: Abraham and David Roentgen (1711–1793; 1743–1807). In: Rheinische Lebensbilder. Vol. 17, ed. by Franz-Josef Heyen, Cologne 1997, pp. 57-78.
• Dietrich Fabian: Abraham and David Roentgen. From the carpenter's workshop to the art furniture manufacture. Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1992, ISBN 3-922923-87-9 .
• Detlev Richter, Bernd Willscheid: Purity, Fire & Shine - Stobwasser and Roentgen. World-class handicrafts. Catalog of the Roentgen Museum Neuwied, Neuwied 2013, ISBN 978-3-9814662-5-6 .
• Peter Prange:  Roentgen, Abraham. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 730 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Wolfgang Thillmann, Bernd Willscheid (ed.): Furniture design - Roentgen, Thonet and the modern. Catalog of the Roentgen Museum Neuwied, Neuwied 2011, ISBN 978-3-9809797-9-5 .
• Petra Krutisch: World famous and in great demand: Furniture from the Roentgen Manufactory in the collection of the Germanic National Museum . Nuremberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-936688-25-2 .

Web links

Search for Abraham Roentgen in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation

Commons : Abraham Roentgen  - Collection of Images

• Website of the Roentgenmuseum Neuwied

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Denise Steger: "Abraham Roentgen - Kunstschreiner (1711–1793)" on www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de
2. ↑ Christopher Gilbert, Tessa Murdoch: John Channon and Brass-Inlaid Furniture, 1730-1760. Yale University Press 1994, ISBN 978-0-300-05812-3 , pp. 25-29
3. ↑ Bernhard Gondorf, Rosemarie Schütz, Bernd Willscheid: Abraham and David Roentgen - Furniture from the Neuwied Manufactory. Catalog for the exhibition in the Neuwied District Museum from October 18 to November 2, 1986, self-published in 1986
4. ↑ Liselotte Sauer-Kaulbach: Products from earthly valley of tears for the kingdom of heaven . Ten-part series of articles in the Rhein-Zeitung (RZ) on the 300th birthday of Abraham Roentgen, RZ from February 23, 2011, p. 20
5. ^ Hans Huth: Furniture by David Roentgen, Verlag Franz Schneekluth, Darmstadt 1955, p. 8
6. ↑ Irish Shipwrecks [1] , Journal: The Political State of Great Britain, John Baker (Ed.), London, from May 1740 (Volume 60)
7. ↑ Ulf Steffenfauseweh: The eventful life of Abraham Roentgen , Rhein-Zeitung No. 51 of March 1, 2018, p. 12
8. ^ Lieselotte Sauer-Kaulbach: Graf supports the establishment of the workshop. In: Rhein-Zeitung of March 10, 2011, p. 20
9. ↑ Dietrich Fabian: Roentgen furniture from Neuwied - life and work of Abraham and David Roentgen. International Academy for Cultural Studies, Bad Neustadt / Saale 1983
10. ^ Lieselotte Sauer-Kaulbach: Furniture lottery as a last resort from dire need. In: Rhein-Zeitung of May 11, 2011, p. 20
11. ^ Lieselotte Sauer-Kaulbach: Handover under the sign of the change of times. In: Rhein-Zeitung of May 17, 2011, p. 20
12. ↑ Baedeker Travel Guide Saxony, Mair-Dumont Verlag, Ostfildern 2003, p. 253, ISBN 978-3-89525-123-8
13. ↑ Manuel Mayer: The realization of a piece of furniture. Abraham Roentgen's writing secretary in the Würzburg residence. In: Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch für Kunst und Geschichte, Archive of the Historical Association for Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Bd. 141 . tape 70 . Spurbuchverlag, Würzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-88778-555-0 , p. 239-259 .
14. ↑ [2]