Gerhard Piccard

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Gerhard Piccard (actually Gerhard August Karl Bickert ; * July 15, 1909 in Berlin ; † August 21, 1989 in Altdorf near Nuremberg ) was a German painter, archivist and historian who was known for his watermark research.

He began his professional career as a concert pianist, and later worked as a painter. After his return from Soviet captivity, he moved to Stuttgart and began to be interested in watermarks in 1946. He came to this, among other things, through the influence of the writer and paper historian Lore Sporhan-Krempel , with whom he soon researched and published. He became internationally known through the publication of 17 "finding aids" named after watermark motifs from his watermark index in the Stuttgart State Archives (from 1961) and through relevant publications on watermark research as an auxiliary historical science. He was a corresponding member of the commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg ; In 1980 he was awarded the title of professor.

Gerhard Piccard created the world's largest collection of watermarks; its watermark index in the main state archive in Stuttgart comprises around 92,000 documents from Central and Western Europe. In addition, he said he had created another 30,000 watermark breaks that were not transferred to index cards. In his printed "Finding aids", Piccard published 4,540 types of watermarks and 44,497 individual marks in 17 volumes. Until recently, more than half of his collection could only be used as a card index in the Stuttgart Main State Archives (holdings J 340). The complete watermark collection Piccards is now available as a digital presentation on the Internet. Access to this data material is also guaranteed through an international Internet portal and a German-language Internet portal.

While the first Piccard volumes (“Krone”, “Ochsenkopf” and largely also “Turm”) initially only served as a mere finding aids and only included watermark types, the later ones also published the associated watermark evidence. However, these documents do not match the Piccard watermark index, but usually offer more, sometimes fewer documents, as Piccard did not transfer all watermark pauses to index cards and, on the other hand, collected numerous supplements to his published volumes in the index.

In the introductions to his "finding aids", Piccard describes the respective watermark motifs and types and provides information on their historical context. Furthermore, he lists the description locations and data of his receipts, which are linked to the pictures sorted by type. Similar to Charles-Moïse Briquet , the groups formed according to external characteristics are not always convincing; As a rule, however, they guarantee quick access to the watermarks of a certain type and thus the search for identical documents and variants. He had dealt early on with methodological considerations on questions of dating with the help of watermarks and with regard to the organization of a watermark collection. Through individual investigations, he proved that his dating method could be used for different types of objects: manuscript, early print, playing cards and newspaper.

His investigations into the Magdalene Altar in Tiefenbronn, attributed to Lucas Moser , led to considerable debates in art history .

Fonts (selection)

  • with Lore Sporhan-Krempel: Contributions to the history of paper in Baden. Documented material about the construction costs of paper mills, paper production and paper wages in the 18th century in the Badische Stammlanden and front Austria. In: Wochenblatt für Papierfabrikation , Volume 78, 1950, pp. 357-360.
  • with Lore Sporhan-Krempel: The examination of the oldest surviving newspapers for their watermarks. A practical test of watermarking as a historical auxiliary science. In: Papiergeschichte , Volume 1, 1951, pp. 13-16.
  • with Lore Sporhan-Krempel: The paper mill at Niefern. In: Papiergeschichte , Volume 1, 1951, pp. 17–24.
  • with Lore Sporhan-Krempel: The attempt to obtain a domestic paper monopoly in the Duchy of Württemberg. Depicted according to archival material in the Ludwigsburg State Archives. In: Papiergeschichte , Volume 1, 1951, pp. 53–56.
  • with Lore Sporhan-Krempel: 440 years of papermaking in Freiburg. 100 years "New" Ferdinand Flinsch paper mill. Freiburg i. Br. 1952.
  • with Lore Sporhan-Krempel: The paper mill in Berg near Stuttgart. In: Papiergeschichte , Volume 2, 1952, pp. 26–28.
  • The Piccard watermark index in the Stuttgart Main State Archives . 17 volumes, Stuttgart 1961–1997.
  • About the beginnings of the use of paper in German law firms. In: Studi in onore di Amintore Fanfani . 3: Medioevo . Giuffrè, Milano 1962, pp. 345-401.
  • Paper mills on the right bank of the Rhine (Baden) and their relations with Strasbourg. In: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens , Vol. 4, 1963, Sp. 997–1102.
  • On the history of paper production in the imperial city of Memmingen. In: Memminger Geschichtsblätter , annual issue 1963, 1964, pp. 42–68.
  • The crown watermarks. In: Publications of the State Archive Administration Baden Württemberg , special series: The Piccard watermark index in the HSt.A. Stuttgart, Findbuch I. 1964.
  • Carta bombycina, carta papyri, pergamena Graeca. A contribution to the history of writing materials in the Middle Ages. In: Archivalische Zeitschrift , Vol. 61, 1965, pp. 46–75.
  • Paper production and printing in Basel until the beginning of the 16th century. In: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens , Vol. 8, 1967, Col. 26–322.
  • Giant overprints and giant envelopes. A historical study of the packaging of paper up to the beginning of the 19th century. In: Papiergeschichte , vol. 18, 1968, issue 1/2, pp. 1–26.
  • The ox head watermark. Finding aid II, 1-3. Stuttgart 1866 (= publications of the State Archives Administration Baden Württemberg. Special series, 2).

literature

  • Peter Amelung: Obituary for Gerhard Piccard (1909-1989) . In: Gutenberg-Jahrbuch Vol. 65, 1990, pp. 386-391.
  • Frieder Schmidt:  Piccard, Gerhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 407 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Hermann Bannasch: From the art of painting to the science of watermarks. On the path and work of the watermark researcher Gerhard Piccard (1909-1989). In: Archivalische Zeitschrift , Vol. 86 (2004) pp. 287–322
  • Peter Rückert: Gerhard Piccard . In: Ox head and mermaid. Medieval watermarks . Stuttgart 2006, pp. 56–57 (with further literature).
  • Tilman Spreckelsen: The lord of the ox heads . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . March 18, 2007, pp. 70-71.
  • Peter Rückert, Jeannette Godau, Gerald Maier (eds.): Piccard-Online. Digital presentations of watermarks and their use (= workbooks of the State Archives Administration Baden-Württemberg 19). Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-17-019754-1 , review: Hans-Peter Neuheuser in: Bibliothek. Research and Practice , 33 (2009) No. 1, pp. 120–122.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Frieder Schmidt: Gerhard Piccard and Lore Sporhan-Krempel. In: Watermarks and Filigranology. Contributions to a conference on the 100th birthday of Gerhard Piccard (1909–1989). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2011, pp. 124-133.
  2. ↑ See also Hermann Bannasch: Watermarks as dating aids - the Piccard watermark index in the Stuttgart State Archive. In: The magic of paper. Hugendubel, Munich 1990, pp. 69-88.
  3. ↑ Piccard online .
  4. ↑ Memoryofpaper.eu .
  5. ↑ Watermark-online.de .
  6. ^ Gerhard Piccard: The watermark research as a historical auxiliary science. In: Archival Journal. Volume 52, (Munich) 1956, pp. 62-115.
  7. ^ Gerhard Piccard: The watermark collection. II. The paper history collection and its order. In: history of paper. Volume 15, 1965, Issue 1/2, pp. 14-21.
  8. ↑ Gerhard Piccard: The dating of the original of the "Püchels von mein gslecht and von abentewr" by his paper stamps. In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade. Frankfurter Ausg. Vol. 17, 1961, 41a, pp. 811-814.
  9. ^ Gerhard Piccard: The dating of the Missale speciale (Constantiense) through its paper stamps. In: Archives for the history of the book industry. Volume 2, 1960, pp. 571-584.
  10. ^ Gerhard Piccard; Lore Sporhan-Krempel: The examination of the oldest surviving newspapers for their watermarks. In: history of paper. Volume 1, 1951, Issue 1, pp. 13-16.
  11. ^ Gerhard Piccard: The age of playing cards and paper research. In: Archives for the history of the book industry. Volume 3, 1961, Col. 555-562.
  12. ^ Gerhard Piccard: The Magdalene Altar of Lukas Moser in Tiefenbronn. A contribution to European art history . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1969; see review by Wilhelm Koehler in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte , Vol. 35, 1972, pp. 228–249.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Piccard, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German watermark researcher
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1989
Place of death Altdorf near Nuremberg