Albrecht Herport
Albrecht Herport (* 1641 in Bern ; † January 6, 1730 there ; also Herbort ) was a Swiss painter and traveler to India, eyewitness to the expulsion of the Dutch from Formosa (Taiwan) .
Life
What we know about the life of Albrecht Herport, who was born in Bern, hardly goes beyond the information in his book. Albrecht Herport, son of Bailiff Beat Herport and Johanna Haller and brother of the Protestant clergyman Anton Herport , was a student of Albrecht Kauw and initially worked as a landscape painter in Bern. In spring 1659 he set out for Batavia as a soldier in the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Here he was subordinated to Johan van der Laan, who set out for Zeelandia , the company's main base on Formosa, located on the Taiwan Bay. As early as 1652, the Jesuit Martino Martini (1614–1661), who traveled from China to Europe via the Philippines, declared that Zhèng Chénggōng (1624–1662), who controlled the area around Fujian through piracy, extortion and trade , was planning an attack on the island . Zheng's father once cooperated with the Dutch but then sided with the Chinese Ming dynasty. When he fell into the hands of the Manchu ( Qing ) troops advancing from the north , his son succeeded him as fleet leader. His commitment to the Ming forces retreating to the south earned him the honorary title Guó Xìngyé (“Lord with the imperial family name”), which in the Japanese reading “Koku Senya” spread among Europeans as “ Coxinga ”. When the Dutch sent an embassy to the Manchu in 1655, the break was complete. In 1658 and 1659, fighting between Qing and Ming forces on the mainland swept a wave of refugees to Formosa Island. Van der Laan, however, considered the fears of the governor of Zeelandia , Frederick Coyett (1615? -1687), to be unfounded and sailed back to Batavia.
Herport stayed behind. "Coxinga" soon landed with 25,000 men. After ten months of siege, Coyett surrendered the fortress and all branches of the company on February 2, 1662. After only thirty-eight years, the Dutch had lost control of the " Ilha Formosa " forever, which was now more and more Sinised and, after the conquest by Manchu troops, was integrated into the Chinese Empire. Thanks to the safety granted by «Coxinga», the Dutch got away with their lives. However, Coyett was heavily attacked in Batavia and narrowly escaped execution.
After a short stay in Batavia, Herport took part in the expulsion of the Portuguese from Cochin and Cananor and was then stationed on Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for four years . His descriptions at this time are considered to be an important contribution to the history of the island. With the end of this service he received permission to travel home. In May 1668 he arrived in Amsterdam , in 1669 he reached Bern.
The foreword to a travelogue that appeared that same year was ready on June 26th. In Germany this was the case. In the Netherlands, Jan Hendrik Glazemaker (1619–1681), known as the translator of Spinoza, published a translation in 1670, which he incorporated into an anthology in 1671 with the journeys of Johann Jacob Saar , Volkert Evertzs and Albrecht Herport.
Herport's book is particularly valued today as the third contemporary report on the Formosas case. But the illustrations also deserve attention. In the foreword of the book, Herport explains that he learned the art of painting and that he traveled to the Netherlands for further development. There he saw pictures from foreign countries that aroused his curiosity about the originals:
“These and other reasons have given me a desire to work after learning the art of Mahlerey to work it out all the better, and to make myself more efficient in serving the western fatherland in the course of time through other experiences, to go to the great European market -Place all kinds of arts in Holland, to stay there for a time for a conscious purpose: And whether I was in front of the whole world as in a picture of so many strange and unknown things and people at the same time, a laudable curiosity had stung me To see the original or the material itself, and to saw in that far-flung India, to visit the brooks of water so flowing with gold, the golden mountains, the new and strange orthoses of fruits and birds, the coarse and silly people , the sea brings so pearls, the sand so full of precious stones, and the great good is so common and superfluous. "
In the East Indies, Herport recorded his observations and made many sketches.
"Now what else I have to do thoughtfully, I have diligently perceived it and put it on paper: Also by means of my Mahlerey art of all kinds of pagan peoples, Indian fruits, animals, fortresses, ships, actually and after life, all drawn from me to remember future happy or sad events. "
The book contains a number of comparatively elaborate illustrations made by Wilhelm Stettler based on Herport's sketches and engraved by Conrad Meyer. Of course, a scene with the Khoi Khoi at the Cape of Good Hope, who are little appreciated by almost all East India sailors, could not be missing. The Dutch base Batavia is shown from an opposite island. In the foreground, locals, fruits ( durian , bananas) and animals. The Zeelandia fortress on the Taiwan Bay is shown in side view and elevation. In addition, the outdoor facilities, some ships and battle scenes moved in perspective. The siege of the "Statt Cocijn", the "Statt Cananor auff Malabaren" and the "Statt Columbo auff der Insul Ceylon" show a similar spatial combination. The representation of an elephant hunt is more coherent in perspective. The eighth engraving shows buildings and trees, in the upper part the formation of the troops in the battle with the King of Peremin. In the last illustration, the Dutch are moving into Colombo. As a painter, Herport was not content with depicting isolated objects. At the same time, he endeavored to include as much information as possible on each sheet. Although the illustrations are based on his experiences, they also contain some fictional, sometimes exotic elements.
In 1680 Herport became a member of the Grand Council of the City of Bern. From 1683 to 1689 he was hospital master, from 1691 to 1706 city major. From 1706 to 1712 he was bailiff in Zweisimmen and from 1716 to 1722 chief bailiff in Biberstein .
Works
- A short East Indian tear description / In it of many East Indian islands and landscapes opportunity / the inhabitants' customs and service to God / all kinds of fruits and wild animals / sampt several thoughtful sieges and battles between the Dutch East Indian Compagney on the one hand / and several East Indian kings and Portuguese war peoples on the other hand / especially the Chinese siege and conquest of the Insul Formosa / marked and recorded in several pieces of copper to be found / Described and performed in a nine-year-old tearing / By Albrecht Herport / Burgern der Instead of Bern / and Mahlerey art lovers. Bern: Sonnleitner, 1669.
- De beschryving the East Indian irritate van Albrecht Herport van Bern. Sedert zijn uitvaart, in 't jaar 1659. tot zijn wederkering in dat van 1668. Daar in hy, beneffens het geen, dat hem bezonderlijk bejegent is, ook veel voorname zaken, who was born in India zijn, behaves; … Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertsz and Pieter Arentsz, 1670.
- Verhaal van drie voorname reizen naar East India: te weten van Johan Jacobsz Saar, Volkert Evertsz, en Albrecht Herport. Daar in, beneffens de bezondere voorvallen, hen overgekomen, de historie, en de voornaamste dingen, die sedert vijfëntwintig jaren herwaarts, tot het jaar Achtënzestig toe, in the west divorced zijn, voorgestelt. T 'Amsterdam: by Jan Rieuwertsz. en Pieter Arentsz…, 1671.
- Journey to Java, Formosa, Western India and Ceylon, 1659-1668. Reissued after the original edition published in 1669. With 10 copper plates. Haag, Nijhoff, 1930 ( travelogues from German officials and soldiers in the service of the Dutch West and East Indian Companies, 1602-1797. Ed. By SP L'Honoré Naber. Vol. 5).
literature
- Wolfgang Michel: "The East Indian and neighboring kingdoms, a brief explanation of the noblest rarities" - New finds on the life and work of the Leipzig surgeon and trader Caspar Schamberger (1623–1706). Kyushu University, The Faculty of Languages and Cultures Library, No 1. Fukuoka: Hana-Shoin, 2010, pp. 57-60. ( ISBN 978-4-903554-71-6 )
Web links
- Andrea Weibel: Herbort [Herport], Albrecht. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Remarks
- ↑ Zhèng Chénggōng (鄭成功) was born in Hirado (Japan) as the son of the pirate / trader Zhèng Zhīlóng (鄭芝龍) and the Japanese Tagawa Matsu (田川松) named by the Dutch Nicholas Iquan Gaspard .
- ↑ Guó Xìngyé, mostly written 国 性 爺, but correctly 国姓爺
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Herport, Albrecht |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss painter and traveler to East India |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1641 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bern |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 6, 1730 |
| Place of death | Bern |