Georg Brentel the Elder

Georg Brentel the Elder (actually Georg Brentel ; * between 1525 and 1530 in Lauingen ; † October 1, 1610 in Strasbourg ) was a German painter , draftsman and wood engraver . He was the father of the painters David and Friedrich Brentel and the uncle of the painter Georg Brentel the Younger .

Portrait of a child (drawing, 1581)

Life

Georg Brentel was most likely a son of Bernhard Brentel, a citizen of Lauingen, whose profession is unknown. He received his training as a miniature painter and woodcut draftsman, presumably in Matthias Gerung's workshop . Around 1550 he married a woman named Barbara, with whom he had at least seven children. For a long time Brentel worked mainly as a coat of arms and miniature painter , but he certainly also painted other objects. It is only documented that in 1571 (from June 3 to August 24) he renewed the frescoes on the Lauinger Schimmelturm, created by Heinrich Schittenhelm in 1478 . Brentel also made floor plans. The appearance of the New Star in 1572 probably prompted him to draw up the Northern Sky Map in 1573. At first he lived in Bitterlinsgasse (1559) and from 1563 at the latest in his own house in Sammlungsgasse .

After the death of his first wife, Brentel married Anna Gailhofer from Gundelfingen an der Donau on September 8, 1578 . Strangely enough, Brentel did not conclude a marriage contract or inheritance contract for the children from the first marriage. The second marriage had at least five children. Brentel emigrated to Strasbourg in 1587 - together with his second wife and all of the children from this marriage (between the ages of one and less than seven years) - where he arrived on May 6, based on a letter of recommendation from Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig and the city of Lauingen 1587 acquired citizenship. The reason for this move may be that Brentel expected to get new ideas in the big city. But presumably he had too few orders in Lauingen. Brentel initially reserved the option of returning to Lauingen and therefore kept his house, and in 1588 and 1589 he still paid tax for it. The house was probably sold in 1590, which is to be interpreted as an indication that Brentel was well established in Strasbourg at that time and had given up the idea of ​​returning to Lauingen. Brentel set up a workshop in Strasbourg in which he produced woodcuts.

His drawing legacy mainly includes works based on outside models. But there are also some independent child portraits.

Of the twelve children that Georg Brentel had, three were boys. All three became painters. Of the nine daughters, three also married painters: Hans Walch , Anton Ramsler and Hans Bühler.

In Georg Brentel's style, elements of local tradition are mixed - the realism of Matthias Gerung , who worked in Lauingen until around 1570 - and Dutch influences ( Lambert Sustris , Frans Floris ).

children

With the first wife Barbara:

• Dorothea (* around 1551 in Lauingen; † October 28, 1591 ibid)
• Anna (* around 1553 in Lauingen) ⚭ before April 14, 1573 Hans Walch
• David (* around 1556 in Lauingen; † June 25, 1615 ibid)
• Sara (born June 20, 1561 in Lauingen) ⚭ Caspar Behem, deacon in Kellmünz
• Sibilla (born May 21, 1563 in Lauingen) ⚭ Anton Ramsler
• Maria (born March 18, 1565 in Lauingen)
• Helias called Elias (born January 8, 1567 in Lauingen, † October 14, 1649 in Bayreuth ), painter in Burglengenfeld and Bayreuth

With the second wife Anna geb. Gailhofer:

• Friedrich (born July 9, 1580 in Lauingen, † May 17, 1651 in Strasbourg)
• Regina (born December 28, 1581 in Lauingen; † as a baby there)
• Regina (born February 21, 1583 in Lauingen) ⚭ 1610 in Strasbourg with Hans Bühler
• Justina (born May 13, 1584 in Lauingen)
• Euphrosina (born January 31, 1586 in Lauingen)

Received works

• 1561 Passion coat of arms, held by two angels (woodcut, attribution)
• 1563 scrollwork cartouche (washed pen drawing and other drawings in both adhesive tapes, which mainly contain drawings by Friedrich Brentel, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe )
• 1573 Northern starry sky (copper engraving; Germanic Museum Nuremberg; HB790)
• 1580 Book of arms from the Ferdinand Reiber collection (painted)
• Book of coat of arms from the Ferdinand Reiber collection (Kupferstichkabinett Strasbourg, inv. 2319)
• 1584 Book of coats of arms of the participants in the Augsburg Reichstag from 1582 (a self-published book with 736 colored coat of arms woodcuts)
• Beheading of Saint Catherine (woodcut after Albrecht Dürer , attribution)
• Printed coat of arms book (Balthasar Künast collection, Strasbourg)

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations ... , p. 110
2. ↑ ^{a b} Reinhard H. Seitz: On the question ... , p. 28
3. ↑ ^{a b c} General Artists Dictionary , Vol. 14, 1996, p. 134
4. ↑ There are proof of payment for numerous coats of arms painted by him from 1561. - Cf.: Hans Rott: Quellen und Forschungen ... , p. 85
5. ↑ Reinhard H. Seitz: On the question ... , p. 30
6. ↑ Reinhard H. Seitz: On the question ... , p. 32
7. ^ Ernst Zinner: German and Dutch astronomical instruments of the 11th-18th centuries Century , Munich: CH Beck 1956, p. 172
8. ↑ Apparently he took over the house of his father Bernhard.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Reinhard H. Seitz: On the question ... , p. 27
10. ↑ Reinhard H. Seitz: On the question ... , p. 29
11. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Wegner: Investigations ... , p. 111
12. ↑ Brentel is listed in the tax register as the owner in 1590, but without tax amount; in 1591 his name is crossed out.
13. ↑ Catalog de la Collection d'Alsatiques de Ferdinand Reiber , Strasbourg 1896, No. 4646
14. ↑ Catalog de la Collection d'Alsatiques de Ferdinand Reiber , Strasbourg 1896, No. 4481

literature

• General Artist Lexicon , Vol. 14, Munich 1996, p. 134
• Gérard Cames: Georg Brentel . In: Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne , Vol. 1, [Strasbourg 1982,] p. 352
• Wolfgang Wegner: Studies on Friedrich Brentel . In: “Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg”, Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag 1966, pp. 107–196
• Reinhard Hermann Seitz: On the question of the Lauingen painter Georg Brentel . In: “Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen” LXI – LXIII, Dillingen-Donau 1961, pp. 25–36
• JS Rauschmayer: In: "Neuburger Kollektaneen-Blatt", 1938, pp. 79–126
• Hans Rott : Sources and research on southwest German and Swiss art history in the XV. and XVI. Century. I, Upper Rhine , Stuttgart: Strecker and Schröder 1936
• Friedrich Zoepfl: On Brentel research . In: “Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen” XLVII – XLVIII, Dillingen-Donau 1935, pp. 119–120
• Friedrich Zoepfl: Three Lauingen painters Georg Brentel? . In: “Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen” XLV – XLVI, Dillingen-Donau 1933, pp. 31–42
• Ludwig Rothenfelder: In: "Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseum", Nuremberg 1924/25, p. 131–

Web links

Commons : Georg Brentel the Elder  - Collection of images, videos and audio files