Friedrich Brentel

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Friedrich Brentel (also known as Frédéric Brentel in French-speaking countries ; * July 9, 1580 in Lauingen ; † May 17, 1651 in Strasbourg ) was an artistically important German engraver , etcher , draftsman and miniature painter , who was the most important etcher workshop in the greater Strasbourg area at the beginning in the 17th century.

Brentel received numerous commissions from the high and low nobility in the area between Nancy and Stuttgart . His works were collected by the enthusiasts and later by the state institutions, but relatively little has been passed down to the present day - much was burned e.g. B. in the fire in the Strasbourg library in 1870. In his workshop, Friedrich Brentel trained numerous students, including Matthäus Merian . Friedrich Brentel was a son of the miniature and coat of arms painter Georg Brentel the Elder and a half-brother of the painters David and Elias Brentel .

Large hall in the New Lusthaus in Stuttgart (etching, 1619)
Diana and Actaeon , (gouache on parchment, 1620, Strasbourg graphic cabinet )
Landscape with Tobias and the Angel Raphael (gouache on parchment, 1625)
Georg Friedrich Herr zu Rappoltstein (miniature, probably 1629)
Horatius Cocles (1630, Strasbourg graphic cabinet)
Escape from Egypt , 1638 (Graphic Cabinet Strasbourg)

Life

Friedrich Brentel was the first child of his father Georg with his second wife Anna geb. Gailhofer. He came to Strasbourg in 1587, as a seven year old boy with his parents and younger siblings. His father settled there as a painter. It is believed that Friedrich received his first artistic training from his father. He also copied engravings by Dutch mannerists as washed pen drawings (the oldest surviving example dates from 1596). Brentel was later in the Netherlands , where he certainly learned his subtle technique of miniature painting, but when exactly this stay took place and with whom he learned is completely unknown. Its oldest surviving miniature dates from 1618 and does not help to answer this question. Stylistically, his miniatures are very reminiscent of the miniatures by Hans Bol .

On February 22nd, 1601, Friedrich Brentel married Anna Brackenhoffer, daughter of the red tanner Andreas Brackenhoffer, also in Strasbourg, and in the same year he became a citizen of the city. From this marriage he only had two children: Hans Friedrich (* 1602) and Anna Maria (* 1613). First he worked in his father's workshop, which he took over after his father's death (1610). Apart from a few short stays abroad, he stayed in Strasbourg until the end of his life, where he further developed his art and became famous as the best painter in Strasbourg of his time. In the earlier years - up to around 1620 - he produced almost exclusively etchings. Only then did he mainly paint miniatures. The drawings, the most numerous of which have survived throughout his creative period, were mostly just sketches for Brentel for his work in other techniques.

plant

As his first notable work, the etching cycle Pompe funèbre about the funeral ceremonies of Duke Charles III. of Lorraine , which took place in Nancy from May to July 1608. This cycle, crafted in a graceful, ingenious style, is important evidence of the magnificence of these celebrations. Brentel himself did not take part in the celebrations. He was commissioned to make etchings about it two years later. He used drawings by Claude la Ruelle and Jean de la Hière as a basis . The etchings are signed with the name Brentels, but he did not engrave the plates himself - his work was the extremely artistic, detailed preliminary drawings. Here Brentel shows his talent for clear spatial structuring, clear representation of the crowds and accuracy in detail. On an etching, next to the funeral procession, a single rider on a horse can be seen, who has a completely different style. This rider is considered to be the first attempt at etching by the court painter of Nancy, Jacques Bellange , who is best known today for his prints.

His cycle about the Stuttgart festivals from 1616 is no less interesting. Duke Johann Friedrich gave the order to the painter Esaias van Hulsen , who was then working in Stuttgart, at a later date . Because of overhaul, he asked Brentel for help. Van Hulsen limited himself to working out the conception of the complete work, he gave all of the illustrations to Brentel, who did most of the work - 84 illustrations, and Merian took over 8 more. Brentel drawings by a Stuttgart artist who had seen the festivities served as the basis - probably the court painter Georg Donauer . A closer look at Brentel's illustrations reveals the differences in their execution. Here, too, Brentel did not engrave the plates himself, but commissioned several erasers to do so. His etchings in this work are artistically superior not only to those of Merian, but also to his own from earlier times. “The figures are delicate and lively, in diverse and ever new variations and movements and in delicate outlines. The large groups of figures, as well as especially the imaginative, delicious triumphal chariots have become ornamental picture compositions, which now combine to form scenes. ”Some etchings“ are of a precious mannerist elegance that is nowhere to be found in German graphics at this time, but also not anywhere else easy to find. "

Although Brentel's work showed strong references to the Duchy of Württemberg from the beginning of his independent activity in 1601, there is no evidence that he could have stayed longer in Stuttgart. He was only there in 1618 when he made the etching of the large hall in the new Stuttgart pleasure house . At the same time, a cycle of etchings was created that portrayed the first counts of Württemberg. Brentel sculptures by Sem Schlör in the choir of the Stuttgart collegiate church served as templates . This cycle remained incomplete: while there are 11 sculptures by Schlör, Brentel's cycle consists of only 8 etchings, a very small number of which were printed as test prints.

After Pompe funèbre , which marked the climax of Brentel's Mannerism, more and more classical elements emerged in Brentel's work - similar to that of the French painters .

student

In addition to the famous Matthäus Merian, Brentel's students and staff included some members of his family. Above all, these were his two children, Hans Friedrich and Anna Maria . His brother-in-law Hans Bühler (the husband of his younger sister Regina) and his son-in-law Israel Schwarz were his students. The group also included the miniaturists Johann Wilhelm Baur , Johann Jakob Besserer and Johann Walter , the goldsmith and ornament engraver Tobias Franckenberger and - only for a short time - the still life painter Sebastian Stoskopff . Johann Wilhelm Baur was the most famous among them. If one compares the works of Baur with the Brentels, one finds that not only the pupil benefited from the teacher, but also vice versa.

Works (selection)

drawings

Collective works

Minerva (drawing from a family record dated February 12, 1607)
Landscape with village and castle (pen and ink drawing)
Lamentation of Christ (drawing after a work from the circle of Hans Baldung)
Countess Anna von Leiningen (preliminary drawing for the painting, 1629)
Detail from Pompe funèbre (etching, 1611)
Stuttgart Court Festival (etching, 1617)
The Parnassus (etching, 1617)
Count Ulrich III. von Württemberg (etching, 1618)
Landscape with village and castle (pen drawing washed)
Baptism of Christ (pen drawing washed)
Triumph Davids (pen drawing washed)
Agathe Frau zu Rappoltstein as the Holy Agatha (miniature 1629)
Friedrich Graf von Solms-Rödelheim (miniature 1629)
Tower of Babel (washed pen drawing, around 1630)
Anna Maria of Baden-Durlach (miniature 1645)
  • Adhesive tape (K) with 106 parchment sheets in the format 31.5 × 20 cm with a total of 327 drawings, of which at least 170 are by Friedrich Brentel ( Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe , Inv. VIII 2676)
  • Folder (F), covered with a green colored parchment with gold embossed lettering DÉSSINS DE BRINTEL 1651 , in the format 46.5 × 29.5 cm with 92 sheets with 1 etching and 629 drawings, about 290 of which are by Friedrich Brentel (Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe , Inv. 1965-10)
  • "Upper Rhine pane cracks" (about 75 drawings, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe)

More drawings

Etchings

  • 1601 Lucas Osiander (after a portrait, which is also based on the engraving by Dominicus Custos from 1594; bust in oval frame, 20.2 × 15 cm, Strasbourg)
  • 1609 Johannes Magirus (after the painting by Gabriel Karg from 1604; half-length portrait in an oval frame, 20.3 × 15.1 cm, Strasbourg)
  • 1609 Johann Friedrich I , Elector of Saxony (standing in armor, 43.0 × 36.4 cm, after a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Younger from 1547, several locations, including Berlin)
  • 1611 Pompe funèbre de Charles 3 e du nom Duc de Lorraine Faite à Nancy - L'AN 1608 (cycle of 75 sheets and 1 large city map of Nancy (printed from 4 plates) with etchings about the funeral of Duke Charles III of Lorraine in 1608 and in the homage to Henry II of Lorraine in 1611, made by Friedrich Brentel and Matthäus Merian (title page and 12 other pages) based on drawings by Claude la Ruelle and Jean de la Hière, Pompe funèbre at Institut national d'histoire de l'art , Paris )
  • 1612 Cover picture of Leonhart Thurneisser's On Cold, Warm, Mineric and Metallic Waters , Strasbourg (26.8 × 17.3 cm, Bavarian State Library, Munich)
  • 1612 The Saints of the Embed Chapel near Gengenbach (11.1 × 15.7 cm, Karlsruhe)
  • 1612 The coat of arms of Margrave Georg Friedrich von Baden (12.6 × 18.5 cm)
  • Last Judgment (6.8 × 20.1 cm, Karlsruhe)
  • 1616 Title page of the Strasbourg church hymn book (32.3 × 20.1 cm, Karlsruhe)
  • 1616 edging with David and Saul (19.4 × 13.5 cm, no more specimen traceable)
  • 1617 Stuttgart court festival from July 1617, held on the double occasion of the baptism of Prince Ulrich and the marriage of Duke Ludwig Friedrich of Württemberg with Magdalena Elisabeth of Hesse; published as: Actual Truthful Delineatio vnnd illustration of all Princely Auffzug vnd Rütterspiele ... In the Princely Capital of Stuetgartt ... Published and made. By Esaiam van Hulsen (cycle of 92 etchings, 84 by Brentel and 8 by Merian)
  • 1617–18 4 cartouches (each 16.9 × 21.8 cm): Cavalry battle (including Aschaffenburg, Berlin), City by the Sea with fish market (Copenhagen), deer hunting (Copenhagen, Stuttgart), Diana and Aktäon (including Berlin, Karlsruhe)
  • 1618 The princely ballet at the wedding of Duke Julius Friedrich of Württemberg (print with 16 pages and 3 plates with etchings by Brentel: The island of the sea god (14.0 × 27.5 cm), The frog dance (9.2 × 18.5 cm cm), The Knight's Dance (12.2 × 18.5 cm; Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart))
  • 1618 Paul Jenisch (half-length portrait in oval frame, 13.8 × 9.0 cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart)
  • 1618 Honor rescue of the little men (15.2 × 20.1 cm, Berlin, Strasbourg)
  • 1618 8 portraits of the Counts of Württemberg (based on statues by Sem Schlör ): Ulrich I., the founder (19.1 × 15.9 cm), Ulrich II. (18.8 × 15.5 cm), Eberhard I., the illustrious (18.6 × 15.7 cm), Ulrich III. (18.9 × 15.7 cm), Ulrich IV. (19.2 × 16.0 cm), Eberhard II., The Greiner (19.0 × 15.9 cm), Ulrich, the son of Greiner (19, 0 × 15.8 cm), Eberhard III., The Mild (19.1 × 15.8 cm) ( Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, Württembergisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart)
  • 1619 The ballroom in the new Lusthaus in Stuttgart (38.4 × 51.4 cm, including Stuttgart University Library )
  • 1620 Johann Jacob Lucks: Sylloge Numismatum (title page (23.8 × 19.0 cm), large coat of arms of Eberhard von Rappoltstein (15.3 × 12.6 cm), small coat of arms of Eberhard von Rappoltstein (7.4 × 5.6 cm ), Emblem of the author (8.9 × 8.9 cm), 295 engravings of medals from the 16th century, not all by Brentel; Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Staatliche Münzsammlung München )
  • around 1620 An old British man and an old British woman (each 9.9 × 5.2 cm, Munich)
  • 1628 Title page on the Strasbourg Police Regulations (26.4 × 17.2 cm, Strasbourg)
  • 1632 Marriage blessing (bridal couple in oval wreath: for the wedding of Christoph Städel the Younger with Barbara Meyer on April 16, 1632 in Strasbourg, 13.5 × 10.8 cm, Strasbourg)
  • 1634 Child breeding (scene in the yard, an exact, two-sided copy after P. Serwouters, with a poem, 15.4 × 18.4 cm, Strasbourg)
  • Bad Peterstal in the Black Forest: View of Bad Peterstal (13.5 × 10.8 cm, Strasbourg), The bath houses of Bad Peterstal (13.7 × 19.8 cm, Karlsruhe)
  • Unknown seaside resort (10.4 × 19.6 cm)
  • Abraham entertains the angels (5.4 × 8.4 cm, no specimen detectable)

Miniatures

  • 1618 Jonas and the whale (Museum Rider Smidt van Gelder, Antwerp)
  • 1620 Diana and Actaeon , ( gouache on parchment , Strasbourg drawing room ).
  • 1622 Minerva Visiting Envy ( Victoria and Albert Museum London)
  • 1625 Landscape with Tobias and the Angel Raphael , (gouache on parchment, 17.5 × 26.0 cm)
  • 1625 mountain landscape with Venus , Adonis and the chariot of Venus in the sky , (gouache on parchment)
  • 1626 Flagellation and crowning of thorns ( Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig)
  • 1627 The Crucifixion , (gouache on parchment, National Gallery of Art , Washington)
  • 1629 Landscape with a farmhouse and ruins (Strasbourg drawing room)
  • 1629–45 22 portraits of nobles from the Upper and Middle Rhine area, a. a. 1629: Jakob Herr zu Hohengeroldseck and Sulz (8.5 × 10.3 cm), Elisabeth Herrin zu Hohengeroldseck and Sulz (7.8 × 10.3 cm), Friedrich Graf von Solms-Rödelsheim (8.2 × 13.0 cm), Anna Maria Countess von Solms (8.0 × 13.0 cm), Albert Otto II. Count von Solms-Rödelsheim (7.5 × 10.0 cm), Georg Friedrich Herr zu Rappoltstein (8.5 × 10 , 0 cm), Agathe Frau zu Rappoltstein (6.8 × 9.4 cm); Johann Jakob Herr zu Rappoltstein (7.5 × 10.0 cm); 1637: Philipp Jakob Herr zu Rappoltstein (7.5 × 12.0 cm), Dorothea Diana Frau zu Rappoltstein (9.0 × 12.0 cm), (gouache on parchment, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe)
  • 1630 Horatius Cocles , (gouache on parchment, Strasbourg graphic cabinet)
  • 1631 Tower of Babel (City Art Collections Kassel)
  • 1631–32 12 scenes from the life of Jesus ( Swedish National Museum Stockholm)
  • 1634 The Ball (gouache on parchment)
  • 1635 Army camp in front of Strasbourg ( Historical Museum Frankfurt am Main)
  • 1636 scenes from the Tobias story ( State Museums in Berlin )
  • 1638 Escape from Egypt (Graphic Cabinet Strasbourg)
  • 1638 St. John's Sermon (after Pieter Schoubroeck , gouache on parchment, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna)
  • 1639 Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (after Jacques Callot ; 8.8 × 6.8 cm; art collections at Maihingen)
  • 1643 Train through the Red Sea (Historical Museum Frankfurt am Main)
  • 1645 Acis and Galathea with a view of Heidelberg ( Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg)
  • Life and suffering of Christ in heraldic form
  • 1647 Book of Hours of Margrave Wilhelm von Baden-Baden , (2 volumes of parchment leaves with a total of 473 pages, 14.9 × 10.8 cm; therein 53 miniatures of the ceiling color (including 26 full-page) Bibliothèque nationale Paris, Inv. Ms. lat. 10568 and 10569)
  • Witches' Sabbath at full moon , (gouache on parchment)
  • Landscape with castle and river , (gouache on parchment, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart )
  • Last Judgment (after Michelangelo , Strasbourg graphic cabinet)
  • Jesus in Simon's House ( Szépművészeti Múzeum Budapest)
  • Christ and Pharisees , (gouache on parchment)
  • Christ among doctors , (gouache on parchment)
  • Christ in the house of Mary and Martha , (gouache on parchment)
  • Country wedding , (gouache on parchment)
  • Orpheus in the underworld , (gouache on parchment)
  • Money for homage , (gouache on parchment)

Fonts

  • 1642 Mahler and Illuminir books written together by Friedrich Brentel the Elder at the request of his friends , ( Göttingen University Library , Cod. Ms. Uffenbach 49)

Exhibitions (with catalogs)

  • 1912 Brussels - Hôtel Goffinet: Exposition da la miniature
  • 1912 Munich - Kunstverein : miniature exhibition
  • 1955 Karlsruhe - Badisches Landesmuseum : The Türkenlouis
  • 1966 Berlin - Orangery Charlottenburg : German painters and draftsmen of the 17th century
  • 1968/69 Vienna - Albertina : Jacques Callot and his circle
  • 1978 Karlsruhe - State Art Gallery : Holy, noble farmers. Drafts for "cabinet disks"
  • 1979/80 Stuttgart - Staatsgalerie : Drawing in Germany. German draftsman 1540–1640
  • 1986 Heidelberg Castle : The Renaissance in the German Southwest
  • 1989 Prague - Sternberg Palace : Německé malířství 17. stoleti
  • 1994 Strasbourg - St.-Pierre-le-Jeune : D'aprés Nature. Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture naturaliste en Alsace

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations ... , p. 110
  2. ↑ a b c General Artists Dictionary , Vol. 14, p. 133
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations .... , P. 120
  4. ↑ Werner Fleischhauer: Renaissance ... , pp. 382–83
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations .... , P. 123
  6. ↑ Werner Fleischhauer: Renaissance ... , p. 383
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations .... , P. 124
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations .... , P. 122
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations ... , pp. 144–45
  10. ↑ Illustration in: FWH Hollstein: German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts , Vol. IV, Amsterdam undated - Friedrich Warnecke : Heraldische Kunstblätter , 2nd delivery, Görlitz 1877, Bl. 51
  11. ↑ mentioned by Hans Rott: Kunst und Künstler am Baden-Durlacher Hof , Karlsruhe 1917, p. 68, but no longer traceable around 1960
  12. ↑ Illustration at: Service Church. Festschrift for Regional Bishop D. Julius Bender , Karlsruhe 1963, p. 318
  13. ^ On September 7, 1618 in the great hall of the new Lusthaus in Stuttgart.
  14. ↑ Illustration in: Hans Haug: L'Art en Alsace , 1962, fig. 205
  15. ^ Illustration and discussion in: "Deutscher Herold" 41, 1910, p. 201
  16. ↑ Detailed description in: V. Leroquais: Les livres d'heures manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale , Vol. 2, Paris 1927

bibliography

  • Franck Muller: Friedrich Brentel et son temps . In: Philippe Martin, (Ed.): La Pompe funèbre de Charles III, 1608 , Metz: Editions Serpenoise 2008, pp. 41–49
  • Johann Eckart von Borries : Brentel, Friedrich . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 14, Saur, Munich a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-598-22754-X , pp. 133 f.
  • The Renaissance in the German Southwest , catalog of the exhibition “The Renaissance in the German Southwest between the Reformation and the Thirty Years War” in the Heidelberg Castle June 21 - October 19, 1986, 2 volumes, Karlsruhe: Badisches Landesmuseum 1986, ISBN 3-923132-08-5 , P. 929 (contribution by Heinrich Geissler )
  • Johann Eckart von Borries: 100 drawings and prints from the Kupferstichkabinett , Stuttgart: Cantz 1988 (= selected works from the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe 2)
  • Gérard Cames: Jean-Frédéric Brentel . In: Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne , Vol. 1, [Strasbourg 1984,] p. 352
  • Werner Fleischhauer : Renaissance in the Duchy of Württemberg , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1971
  • Wolfgang Wegner: Studies on Friedrich Brentel . In: “Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg”, 1966, pp. 107–196
  • Lucas Heinrich Wüthrich: The graphic work of Matthäus Merian d. Ä. , Vol. 1, Basel: Bärenreiter 1966
  • Hans Haug : L'Art en Alsace , Paris 1962
  • Reinhard Hermann Seitz: On the question of the Lauingen painter Georg Brentel . In: "Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen" LXI – LXIII, Dillingen 1961, pp. 25–36 ( digital )
  • Hans Haug:  Brentel, Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 297 ( digitized version ).
  • François-Georges Pariset: Brentel et l'Argenis de Barclay . In: Trois siècles d'art alsacien. 1648–1948 , Strasbourg 1948, pp. 1–21 (= Archives alsciennes d'histoire de l'art , 16)
  • Pierre Marot: Recherches sur les pompes funèbres des ducs de Lorraine , Nancy 1935
  • Karl Obser : Upper Rhine miniature portraits of Friedrich Brentels and his school . In: “Journal for the History of the Upper Rhine” 1935, pp. 1–25
  • Friedrich Zoepfl: On Brentel research . In: "Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen" XLVII – XLVIII, 1935, pp. 119–120 ( periodika.digitale-sammlungen.de )
  • Joseph Gregor: Pompe funèbre de SAR Charles III Duc de Lorraine , Vienna 1926
  • Hans Rott : Art and artists at the Baden-Durlacher Hofe until the founding of Karlsruhe , Karlsruhe: Müller 1917
  • Ernst Lemberger: The portrait miniatures in Germany from 1550-1850 , Munich: Bruckmann 1910
  • André Girodie: Frédéric Brentel . In: “Revue Alsacienne illustrée” 1909, pp. 37–49
  • Wilhelm Schmidt :  Brentel, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 313 f.
  • Andreas Andresen : The German Peintre engraver or the German painter as copper engraver , Vol. 4, Leipzig: Weigel u. a. 1874, pp. 188-214

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Brentel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Brentel, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brentel, Frédéric; Brentelius, Fridericus; Brendel, Friedrich; Brintel Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German etcher, draftsman and miniature painter
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1580
PLACE OF BIRTH Lauingen
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1651
Place of death Strasbourg