Adolf Friedrich von Olthof

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Adolf Friedrich von Olthof , also: von Olthoff (* September 7, 1718 in Strelitz ; † June 30, 1793 in Stralsund ) was a Swedish-Pomeranian government councilor and patron of the arts.

Adolf Friedrich von Olthof. Oil portrait by Georg David Matthieu

Life

Adolf Friedrich (von) Olthof was the son of Lucas Anton Olthoff († 1752), who was raised to the Swedish nobility in 1752, page master from 1715 and finally archivist in Strelitz, the residence of the still young (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz . He attended high school in Stralsund from 1728 to 1734 . He then studied at the Universities of Halle and Greifswald law . In Greifswald he was a member of the German Society . In 1738 he became an assistant to his father and in 1742 secretary of the knighthood of Swedish Pomerania . In 1744 he became Land Syndikus , succeeding his father. From 1747 to 1756 he stayed mainly in Stockholm on behalf of the Swedish-Pomeranian knighthood , where he acquired knowledge of Swedish constitutional and administrative law.

Royal Swedish Mint Director

Together with the Stralsund merchant and banker Joachim Ulrich Giese (1720–1780), he leased the then newly established Stralsund Mint in 1757 . Meanwhile, v. Olthof resigned his office as state lawyer, was appointed to the chancellery and devoted himself to legal matters and contact with the authorities in Stockholm, the government of Swedish Pomerania in Stralsund and the state estates . When Sweden entered the Seven Years' War in 1757 , v. Olthof appointed to the Swedish War Commissioner. At the end of October 1759 he was taken prisoner in Prussia in Demmin , from which he was released at the beginning of 1760. In the same year he acquired the Darz and Zargelitz farms near Zirkow on Rügen . In 1762 he bought the Boldevitz estate (now part of Parchtitz ) on Rügen, which he kept until 1780.

In order to ward off inferior Prussian money, the mint directors received v. Olthof and Giese obtained permission from the Swedish government in 1761 to follow the Prussian coinage rate . In return, they pledged to support the government with advances that were later to be repaid. Simultaneously with the decline in the quality of coins in Swedish Pomerania, the profits of the two shareholders increased.

Commissioned by the Swedish King Adolf Friedrich to negotiate peace with Prussia, Olthof concluded the peace of Hamburg with the Prussian representative Johann von Hecht at the end of May 1762 . In July of the same year he was appointed real councilor. In 1763 he resigned his seat and vote in the Swedish-Pomeranian government in order to be able to devote himself entirely to his business activities.

Art patron

Georg David Matthieu : Portrait of Olthof's sister Anna Regina as a bacchante

Baron v. Olthof allowed himself a generous lifestyle, which was also reflected in a considerable patronage . In the Boldevitz manor , which he had acquired in 1762, he gathered a group of relatives and friends and was active as a patron of the arts. In the same year, the painters Georg David Matthieu and Jakob Philipp Hackert accepted his invitation to “die Ihn [v. Olthof] with furniture and new furnishings in his house ”. as well as the writer Johann Caspar Lavater . Hackert probably furnished a hall in Olthof's town house (today Ossenreyerstraße 1 ) with architectural and landscape images . In the Boldevitz manor house, six large-scale landscape wallpapers were created for the large ballroom. For the first time, motifs from the Rügen landscape were also shown. Hackert accompanied v. Olthof and Giese on a trip to Sweden in 1764. Balthasar Anton Dunker , Olthof's nephew, became a student of Hackert and went to Paris with him in 1765 for further training .

Freemasons

In 1762, Olthof co-founded the Stralsund Johannisloge Zur Eintracht and became its deputy master of the chair. The box was closely connected with the establishment of the Stralsund theater .

Financial decline

After the minting contract expired in 1763, the mint ceased operations. After several years of checking the invoices to determine the claims of Gieses and v. Olthofs of over 160,000 Reichstalers to the Swedish government, the two received a little more than 72,000 Reichstalers in crown bonds in 1766. However, that was not enough to cover the debts, as Olthof and Giese had lived far beyond their means.

In March 1773 Olthof was by the Swedish King Gustav III. reappointed government councilor. Half of the annual salary was immediately attached by the creditors. In 1775 Giese and v. Olthof against bearer bonds with a total value of 15,000 thalers with a term of 20 years, of which 750 thalers were paid out annually, on all claims against the Swedish government. In addition, the two received licenses to hold a lottery and to operate a pawn shop.

In August 1777, the Greifswald court opened bankruptcy over the assets of Olthof. Only half of the 100,000 Reichstalern debt was covered by the assets. In 1779 he submitted his departure to the government.

In 1787 he was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Greifswald , for which he received a professorship. He sold the concession for a pawn shop in 1792 in return for compensation for himself and the widow of Gieses.

Adolf Friedrich v. Olthof died impoverished, unmarried and childless. He was buried in the St. Jürgen cemetery .

In an obituary it says about him: "A wise man, nurse of science, friend and admirer of virtue, a patriot, humble, open, gentle, he was always the same in happiness and unhappiness."

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who published a biography of Hackert in 1811, mentioned the estate under the name "Bolwitz".
  2. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Hamburg edition . In: Goethe's letters and letters to Goethe . tape 4 : Letters from 1821-1832.
  3. ^ Matthias Müller: The emergence of new open spaces: pleasure and sociability in Stralsund and Reval in the 18th century. (=  Publications of the Historical Commission for Pomerania . Volume 51 ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-412-21807-2 , pp. 164 .
  4. ↑ Boslau, Fehmel (Environmental Plan GmbH): Development study St.-Jürgen Cemetery (Knieper cemetery). Hanseatic City of Stralsund 2002, p. 11 u. P. 18 ( digital copy , PDF ),

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Olthof, Adolf Friedrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Olthoff, Adolf Friedrich; Baron Olthoff
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish-Pomeranian councilor and patron of the arts
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1718
PLACE OF BIRTH Strelitz
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1793
Place of death Stralsund