Erhard Reuwich

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Title page of Bernhard von Breydenbach's travelogue 1486
Depiction of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in Bernhard von Breydenbach's travelogue 1486
Depiction of the Holy Sepulcher in Bernhard von Breydenbach's travelogue 1486

Erhard Reuwich (also Reeuwijk , Reeuwyck , Reeuwich , Rewich ; * around 1445 in Utrecht ; † probably before 1505 in Mainz ) was a Dutch graphic artist , painter and draftsman who can be traced back to the 1480s around the electoral court in Mainz. He is considered the first book illustrator known by name .

life and work

Reuwich was born into a family of painters in the episcopal city of Utrecht and probably received his education there. At an unknown point in time, he moved to the cathedral and residence city of the Electorate of Mainz, where he received extensive privileges in the manner of a court artist in the vicinity of the cathedral chapter and the archbishop's court . He did not have to join a guild like his colleagues and was not limited in the number of his employees. Around 1480 he must have been one of the most respected painters in Mainz and had personal contact with the top of society, including Bernhard von Breidenbach and Archbishop Berthold von Henneberg .

Saracen costume (1486)

Reuwich was first accessible in Mainz in 1482, when he was supposed to make a portrait of the Count of Solms at Lich Castle, presumably Johann zu Solms , who belonged to the tour group to the Holy Land in 1483.

On April 25, 1483, Reuwich went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the wake of the Mainz canon Bernhard von Breidenbach . At the beginning of February 1484 he returned to Mainz.

His sketches a map of Venice and overall views of Corfu and Rhodes which included, were cut in wood and with the printing types of Peter Schöffer in February 1486 in Mainz printed travelogue Peregrinatio in terram sanctam attached. The book was particularly successful because of Reuwich's woodcuts and was also translated into other languages, the first into German in June 1486. Various copies of this travelogue are kept in the Martinus Library. Reuwich's woodcuts influenced, among other things, the decoration of Schedel's world chronicle .

After his return from the Holy Land, Reuwich was busy with his workshop in 1484/85 (after preliminary work before his departure) with the production of numerous plant woodcuts for the medical manual of the Garden of Health , which was published by Peter Schöffer in Mainz in 1485 .

In 1486 Reuwich appeared in invoices as "Meister Erhart von Mainz" and delivered glass paintings for the official cellar in Amorbach, some of which are still preserved.

The date of death of Reuwich is not known, perhaps he died around 1500 in Mainz.

Research problems

In 2006 Frederike Timm put forward the thesis that most of Reuwich's pictures from the Mediterranean Sea and the Holy Land are not based on photographs taken on site, but that the city portraits are actually based on models from the Venetian workshop of the Bellini's, especially Giovanni Bellini 's .

For historical reasons, the author attributes the so-called Mainzer Marienaltar (around 1500) to Reuwich, which is also referred to as the work of a master of the Speyer altar . This complex of works has a close stylistic relationship with the so-called master of the house book .

The thesis, which has been advocated by several art historians since 1936, that one of the masters of the house book could be identified with Erhard Reuwich, has not been able to prevail to this day. As a rule, the clearly different style and the mastery of perspective in the cityscapes of Reuwich's main work, the "Peregrinatio in terram sanctam", which the caretaker did not observe so much, was cited as the main reason for a different authorship. However, this argument has now been refuted by Frederike Timm in 2006. The city views in particular can only be used to a limited extent for questions of write-ups or depreciation.

Editions of the peregrinatio

  • Bernhard von Breydenbach: Peregrinatio in terram sanctam , first German edition by Peter Schöffer, Mainz 1486. ​​159 sheets, numerous illustrations. and folding panoramas by Erhard Reuwich. One of the most important travel reports of the late Middle Ages available for the first time and in full as a facsimile, with a scientific commentary by Andreas Klussmann. Fines Mundi Verlag Saarbrücken, 2008.

See also

literature

  • Elizabeth Ross: Picturing Experience in the Early Printed Book. Breydenbach's Peregrinatio from Venice to Jerusalem. University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press 2014.
  • Frederike Timm: Bernhard von Breidenbach's Palestine pilgrimage report and Erhard Reuwich's woodcuts. The Peregrinatio in terram sanctam (1486) as a propaganda instrument in the cloak of learned pilgrimage , Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-7762-0506-0 .
  • Stephan Hoppe; Sebastian Fitzner: The early study of the architecture of Jerusalem. On two neglected drawings in connection with Erhard Reuwich's journey to the Holy Land (1483/84). In: Hubach, Hanns; Orelli-Messerli, Barbara von; Tassini, Tadej (Ed.): Friction Points. Order and upheaval in architecture and art. Festschrift for Hubertus Günther. Petersberg 2008, pp. 103-114. Full text on ART-Dok (Note from Stephan Hoppe 2017: The dating of the drawings discussed is probably set too early).
  • Klaus Niehr: "when I explored and seen it myself". Perception and representation of the foreign in Bernhard von Breydenbach's Peregrinationes in Terram Sanctam and other pilgrimage reports of the late Middle Ages. In: Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 2001, pp. 269-300.
  • Walter Paatz: The appearance of the branch canopy in German late Gothic sculpture and Erhard Reuwich's title woodcut in Breidenbach's “Peregrinationes in terram sanctam” . In: Joost, Siegfried (Ed.): Bibliotheca docet. Ceremony for Carl Wehmer. Amsterdam 1963, pp. 355-368.
  • Ernstotto Graf zu Solms-Laubach: Addendum to Erhard Reuwich . In: Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft 10 (1956), pp. 187–192.
  • Lottlisa Behling: The caretaker - Erhard Rewich . In: Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft 5 (1951), pp. 179–190.
  • Ernstotto Graf zu Solms-Laubach: The caretaker . In: Städel-Jahrbuch IX (1935/36), pp. 13–96.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Benjamin D. Spira: Mainzer painter - painter in Mainz. Living worlds between city and court . Diss. Uni Mainz 2015. Reuwich pp. 342 - 343.
  2. ↑ Timm 2006, p. 301.
  3. ↑ Timm 2006, pp. 66-70.
  4. ↑ Timm 2006, pp. 301-304.
  5. ↑ Timm 2006, pp. 292-301.
  6. ↑ Particularly detailed for identification: Graf zu Solms-Laubach 1935/36. Cf. Jane Campbell Hutchison: "Ex ungue Leonem". The story of the caretaker question. In: JP Filedt Kok (ed.): From life in the late Middle Ages. The caretaker or master of the Amsterdam Cabinet. Amsterdam; Frankfurt / Main 1985, pp. 11-29. KG Boon: The master of the Amsterdam cabinet or the master of the house book and his relationship to the art of the Burgundian Netherlands. In: JP Filedt Kok (ed.): From life in the late Middle Ages. The caretaker or master of the Amsterdam Cabinet. Amsterdam; Frankfurt / Main 1985, pp. 53-61.

Web links

Commons : Erhard Reuwich  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Reuwich, Erhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reeuwijk, Erhard; Reeuwyck, Erhard; Reeuwich, Erhard; Rewich, Erhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch graphic artist, painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1445
PLACE OF BIRTH Utrecht
DATE OF DEATH after 1505
Place of death Mainz