Franz Sebastian Voillard

Voillard's foundry coat of arms

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The six bells of the Protestant St. Peter's Church in Nuremberg

Franz Sebastian Voillard (also Franziskus Sebastian Voillard , Franziscus Voillard , Franciscus Voillard ; born before 1638; died after 1690) was a 17th century bell founder from Lorraine in Frankfurt (Oder) , whose activity can be proven to be between 1638 and 1683 .

Life

The exact dates of Voillard's life are not known. He was one of the numerous French foundries who, in the period after the Thirty Years' War , mostly as wandering masters, covered the considerable need for new bells . These traveling founders cast their bells on site and returned to their families in the winter months. There is evidence that Franz Sebastian Voillard settled in Frankfurt (Oder) and acquired citizenship there. In 1683 he lived at Junkerstraße 13. Voillard became the main master of Frankfurt bell casting.

Design of the bells

The bells of the Lorraine tradition can be distinguished from those of the local bell-makers by their rich design. Most of Voillard's bells are also signed. The inscription on the central bell of the upper church St. Nikolai in Cottbus reads: Franziscus Voillard natione Gallus civis Frakof. me fecit . Characteristic as bell jewelry are the representation of the crucifixion with Mary under the cross and an angel at the foot of the cross and the presentation of Mary as Queen of Heaven on the crescent moon with crown , scepter and globe, as well as the molded coat of arms with the letters F and V . Natural leaf prints are apparently another characteristic part of Voillard's design scheme. The master was entrusted with the casting of whole bells and also very large bells. His coat of arms lacks the gun barrel as a symbol for the piece casting (cannon casting) often made by the foundries of this time. Of its 50 verifiable bells, around a dozen survived the destruction and meltdown of the wars.

Overview of the bells

place	building	photo	year	Ø in mm	Weight in kg	Nominal	Bell decorations and inscriptions
Bloischdorf	St. Josef village church	Bloischdorf bell	1663	565 or 567	100	e 2	Hood radiant wreath on the upper plate, step to the lower plate, on the lower plate each a leaf imprint visavis neck two circumferential webs, in between tendril friezes, underneath three webs with writing tape, hand with outstretched index finger, NICOL VON SEIDLITZ INHABER DES GUTHS PLASDORFF , hand with outstretched index finger, HANS HARBURT VON MANDESLOW CHARACTERIZED ANNO 1663 , between two round webs a scale band, flank obverse: Relief crucifix with Mary at the foot of the cross, reverse: Mary with child, foundry seal, above angel's head with folded wings, left F, right V, below star, angel's head, left H, right B Wolm four double bars accompany a ring brass knuckles fine bar
cottbus	Upper Church of St. Nikolai		1671	1640			City arms, crucifixion group and Madonna and Child
cottbus	Upper Church of St. Nikolai		1671	1400			Crescent Madonna, crucifixion group
cottbus	Stadthaus Erich-Kästner-Platz 1, former hour bell from the tower of the old town hall Cottbus, badly damaged in 1945	Hour bell of the old town hall Cottbus	1671				Inscription: JUDITH XIII CONFIRMA ME DOMINE DEUS ISRAEL ET RESPICE IN HAC HORA AD OPERA MANUUM MEARUM * ANNO DOMINI MDCLXXI THE GOOD OF THE LORD IS NEW EVERY MORNING IN KLAG SONGS IEREM III CAP
Love rose	City Church		1653		856
Nuremberg	Peterskirche		1653	725	239	c 2
Peitz	City Church		1663
Herrenberg	Collegiate Bell Museum		1659	930	528	b 1 −1	ANNO 1659 DIE I OCTOB FUSA EST CAMPANA AD DIE TER OPI MAX GLORIAM B (eatae) V (irginis) M (ariae) & S IOANNIS BAPT HONOREM SUB PAROCHO MARTINO FRAN MORHOLTZ D (e) HEREDITARIA ILL BARBARA KITZLITZIN ECIN NATA ZEDLETZEL & GEORGI REO (r?) SE FRANCISCUS VOILLARDI ME FECIT
Frankfurt (Oder)	Nikolaikirche		1673
Frankfurt (Oder)	Nikolaikirche		1674
Schmiedeberg (Angermünde)	Village church		1661
Barnewitz	Village church		1662
Würselen	St. Willibrord		1659
Karby (Morsø Municipality)	church		1638	1010			En l'an 1638 sous le gouverneur George Seefeld et M. Christian Hans evesque et M. George Nicola curé en l'eglise Karebye m'ont faict fondre par M. George Hans de Aarhus et Francois Voillardde en France. Margeillier (!): IPM
Karby (Morsø Municipality)	church		1638	820			I Aar 1638 under Jørgen Seefeld Lensmand oc Tomes Kaas til Ørndrup, M. Christen Hansen Biscop, M. Jørgen Nielsen Sognpræst til Karby he denne Klocke dies to Karby Kiercke from M. Jørgen Hansen in Aarhus and M. Frantz Voillard from Franckerig. Kierckeverge IP and MA
Schmiedeberg (Angermünde) , bell used to hang in Breesen - Großkirschbaum ( Oststernberg ).	church		1661	680	166		Bell decoration: above the four-row writing lily frieze, below it a narrow garland with four identical figures of young men in tendrils; on the long field a large crucifixion with Mary and Magdalena, Mary on the crescent moon with crown, scepter and globe, foundry coat of arms with the letters FV, ​​on the other side the corresponding angel's head with folded wings, individual letters next to the reliefs FBV - FG - HP - FV, at the very top of the bell there are 9 impressions of real leaves, 6 of them in pairs; in the scriptures two forearms in gauntlets with outstretched index and middle fingers as a guide. Inscription in Roman letters: Mr. Johann Friedrich Freiherr von Loben CB Geheibter Rat Commendator zu Lagow, H (err) Peter Ernst Ludewig Hauptman, H (err) Bartholomeus Schmit Hans Seischner Schnitze, Michael Schmekke (?) Church chief in Kirschenbaume Ano 1661 Franciscus Voillard me fecit.

literature

• Felix Wolf: The bells of the province of Brandenburg and their foundries , Der Zirkel Architekturverlag, Berlin 1920.

• Hans-Georg Eichler: Bell founder in cities of the former administrative district and today's district of Frankfurt / Oder. A contribution to the preservation of monuments , in: Yearbook for Brandenburg State History 31, 1980/81.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Felix Wolf: The bells of the province of Brandenburg and their foundry . Zirkel Architekturverlag GmbH, Berlin 1920, p. 29 .
2. ↑ Hans-Georg Eichler: Bell founders in cities of the former administrative district and today's district of Frankfurt / Oder. A contribution to the preservation of monuments . In: Eckart Henning, Werner Vogel (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Brandenburg State History . tape 31 , no. 1980/81 . Berlin 1980, p. 111 .
3. ↑ Klaus Hammer: The traveling caster Franciscus Voillard and the bell . In: Building blocks 41. Information from the Association for the Preservation of the Herrenberg Collegiate Church . No. 41 , 2014, p. 3 ( foerderverein-stiftskirche-herrenberg.de [PDF; 2.6 MB ]).
4. ↑ Back then it was: Bell crashed in the fire in 1945. In: The Märkische Bote. Retrieved June 10, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Michael Schulz: Lieberoser church bell on the way to Bavaria. In: lr-online.de. September 17, 2009, accessed May 22, 2019 . 
6. ^ Nürnberg (N) The six bells of the Protestant St. Peter's Church (tower photo) - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
7. ^ Peitz, Markt 1 a - German Digital Library. In: deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
8. ↑ drawing bell. In: glockenmuseum-stiftskirche-herrenberg.de. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b c} HIDAweb BLDAM Brandenburg: Search. In: ns.gis-bldam-brandenburg.de. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Barnewitz village church - vacation by boat and bike in Havelland and Brandenburg near Berlin. In: westhavelland.de. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
11. ^ Norbert Jachtmann: Bells in the Aachen-Land region. (PDF; 3.17 MB) In: bistum-aachen.de. 23 November 2018, p. 217 , accessed on 22 May 2019 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Danmarks Kirker . tape XII , 1941, pp. 833–846 (Danish, natmus.dk [PDF; 2.8 MB ]).
13. ^ Gerhard Küchler, Werner Vogel (ed.): Yearbook for Brandenburg State History . tape 17 . Berlin 1966, p. 105 ( hu-berlin.de [PDF; 14.4 MB ]).