Conrad Melperger

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Conrad Melperger (also Melberger , but mostly Melper or Milker ; * around 1563 in Munich ; † 1638 in Tübingen ) was a Bavarian-Württemberg painter who had lived and worked in Tübingen since 1603 at the latest.

Life

Conrad Melperger was probably born into the well-known Munich goldsmith family Melperger or Melper. He had lived in Tübingen since 1603 at the latest - in that year he was matriculated there as a portraitist and became a Protestant. He later made derogatory comments about Catholicism, e.g. B. in the application of 1607 for "academic citizenship". The request was granted in 1610 at the latest. From 1609/10 to 1617/18 he received payments from the ducal land registry for work that he carried out on behalf of Duke Ludwig Friedrich . But it is not known what kind of work they were. In 1629 Duke Ludwig Friedrich bought a total of 21 paintings from Melperger. Among them there were “kitchen pieces”, hunting scenes, historical and biblical scenes as well as portraits of the dukes Ludwig Friedrich and Julius Friedrich . All these works for the Duke have been lost, only a portrait of Duke Friedrich Achilles as an engraving from 1608/09. Melperger also portrayed the dukes Johann Friedrich and Magnus . In 1613/14 Melperger worked at Waldenbuch Castle . In 1632 Melperger was referred to as the only "university-oriented painter". On the basis of this information and the style analysis, some portraits from the Tübingen Professorengalerie , which were created in 1632, are attributed to him, and due to the similarity in style, several more from earlier times.

Similar to other painters at the time, who were not short of commissions, Melperger regularly employed journeymen. In contrast to most other painters, some of his employees are known by the name:

Melperger was apparently the only Tübingen painter who survived the epidemic of 1635.

Melperger's portraits in the professors' gallery set themselves apart from the older ones. They stand out for their “voluminous proportions”, “heavy outlines” and “fleshy faces”, but also because “they try to grasp the viewer in an almost baroque way.”

Famous works (selection)

Notes and individual references

  1. Werner Fleischhauer: Renaissance ... , p. 375
  2. Contrary to his other statements, Werner Fleischhauer gives in The Beginnings ... , p. 210 “died at the age of 65”, but his age had to be 75 years.
  3. a b c Werner Fleischhauer: The beginnings ... , p. 210/211
  4. Werner Fleischhauer: Renaissance ... , p. 376
  5. a b Werner Fleischhauer: The beginnings ... , p. 213
  6. Werner Fleischhauer: The beginnings ... , p. 212
  7. I could not identify Liebenau in der Mark.
  8. Werner Fleischhauer: Barock ... , p. 83
  9. Werner Fleischhauer: Renaissance ... , p. 375/376

literature

  • Werner Fleischhauer : Renaissance in the Duchy of Württemberg , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1971
  • Werner Fleischhauer: The beginnings of the Tübingen university portrait collection - a contribution to the history of painting of the late Renaissance in the Duchy of Württemberg . In: Werner Fleischhauer u. a .: New contributions to the history of the south-west of Germany. Festschrift for Max Miller , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1962, pp. 197–216
  • Werner Fleischhauer: Baroque in the Duchy of Württemberg , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1958 (= publication of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg), p. 83

Web links

Commons : Conrad Melperger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files