Bell scratch drawing

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Bell scratch drawings on the gloriosa of the Thomaskirche Leipzig
The Maria Gloriosa in Bremen Cathedral with a carved bell

The bell scratching - also known as bell scratching , figurative scratching on bells or thread relief - is the name given to the result of a technique used to decorate and label these sound instruments. It has been documented since the middle of the 12th century and was particularly widespread in the Middle Ages.

The bell carving can cover almost the entire height and surface of a bell without primarily affecting the bell body in terms of form, function and sound spectrum. The slight breakout of the incisions in the fired clay of the bell shell gives the bell, which is traditionally mostly cast from bronze in the next manufacturing step, as a negative (or "counterpart") of this incision, a light, semi-plastic, equally visible and tangible sublimity of this work of art with a lively, fresh charm.

In addition to the bell scratching, there is another traditional method of decorating and / or writing on bells: the lost wax technique .

Emergence

The drawing is carved into the inside of the clay shell of the bell . The prerequisite for this was a casting process, which has been in use since the middle of the 12th century, in which the jacket was lifted off the inner shape - the so-called "false bell" as a model of the bell to be produced. The drawings, sometimes erroneously referred to as “thread relief” , are perceptible after the casting on the bell flank as “sharp-edged, slightly moving ridges” (Margarete Schilling).

It requires both physical and artistic craftsmanship as well as special concentration and discipline in order to scratch the drawings - sometimes also with the help of stencils - in the dried and partially moistened clay coat, which is destroyed after casting: the artist has to free himself Draw (or “scratch”) the given area and have a sure hand. Inscriptions must be mirror-inverted in the brittle, burnt clay and writing must be buried without settling.

Motifs

For the believers at that time, the character of the bell and the protective function of the saints depicted in the picture formed an inner unity. Therefore, representations of the respective patron saint predominate. As the patron saint of merchants, Nikolaus von Myra had a great reputation both in the Hanseatic cities on the Baltic Sea and on the trade routes and river crossings in Saxony, as did the Apostle Jacobus maior , whose care the travelers entrusted themselves with on their pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela .

Typical of the Thuringian-Saxon with his former border areas for Slavic East continued to be a Michael - patron saint , which later dortiger still image programs church bells continued worked. Above all, this archangel was seen as the conqueror of the pagan powers fighting Christianity.

At an early stage, bell carvings also included depictions of Christ crucified and the common crucifixion group , with many mystical ideas flowing into them. Scenes from the Passion followed in the 15th century after the life of the Virgin had previously been depicted. As the Queen of Heaven, Mary occupied a crucial place.

Artistic quality

There are sometimes considerable differences in quality - from amateur work, often by the foundryman himself, to a considerable number of works that are at the height of the respective contemporary art development. Since the profession of a bell scribbler did not exist, it stands to reason that it was primarily created by sculptors and painters who worked in construction huts or in workshops usually located in the same place or in the vicinity of the bell foundry.

The mostly lively style of the scratched drawings is impressive, as it is characterized by a “sensitive, attractive technique of great immediacy”. Originally, incised drawings were by no means intended for viewing, as the believers usually never saw them again after the bells were consecrated - at the latest, however, as soon as the bells had been installed in their destination in the tower.

Well-known Glockenritz artists

Regional distribution

Bells that were decorated in this way were - with a few exceptions in northern Italy - especially widespread in central and northern Germany . They can still be found today in the Thuringian - Saxon area, in Lower Saxony and, less frequently, in Westphalia , in the Mark Brandenburg as well as in Mecklenburg and Pomerania . There they belonged to the furnishing of representative urban sacred buildings as well as simple village churches .

Images of the following carved bell drawings have survived: Nikolaus Eisenberg: The incredulous Thomas , Maria Magdalena and the crucifixion group , incised drawings of the “Gloriosa”, St. Thomas Church , Leipzig ; Bell from Pößneck from 1490 with incised drawing of Maria with child ; Lühnde , bell from 1278; Big Bell in Britz ; Bell from Augsdorf (Eisleben district) ; Quedlinburg, Nikolaikirche , bell from 1333; Seigerturm , Stolberg (Harz) , 1199; Merseburg, Dom , Benedicta around 1300; Beesenlaublingen (near Bernburg), late 13th century; Schmeckwitz , around 1300; Groß-Kienitz , 14th century; Wilsdruff , around 1300; Seehausen (Altmark) , 14th century; Braunschweig, Magnikirche , 1335; Neuwerkkirche Goslar , 1314; Rohrberg (Altmark) , 1337; Veerßen ( Uelzen district ), 1332; Dambeck (Altmark) , around 1330; Mühlhausen, Divi Blasii Church , 1345 and 1448; Geunitz ( Reinstädt municipality , Saale-Holzland district), around 1350; Lübeck, Katharinenkirche , bell by Johannis Reborch, 1399: Saint Francis and Saint Catherine ; Hecklingen, monastery church , 1390; Erfurt, Michaeliskirche , 1380; Erfurt, Aegidien Church , 1382; Panitzsch Church (near Borsdorf ), around 1380 and a scratch drawing by Nikolaus Eisenberg from 1459: Crucifixion group , Saint Nicholas and Archangel Michael fighting the dragon ; Zschadraß - Collmen ( Colditz ), end of the 14th century; Frankfurt / Oder, Marienkirche , Osanna, 1371; Hamburg, Jakobikirche , 1397; Lübeck, Dom , Maria, 1390; Rostock, Jakobikirche , 1400; Rostock, Nikolaikirche , bell from Rickart de Monkehagen's workshop, 1394; Lünow (near Potsdam), 1405; West Bruges Church , 1384; Bremen, Cathedral , "Big Bell" of the Ghert Klinghe, 1433: Annunciation of Mariae ; Tallinn (Reval) , Marienkirche (Anklam) , Apostle Bell by Rickart de Monkehagen, 1450, Estonia, Nikolaikirche, bell from 1451: Mary with child ; Rostock, Marienkirche , Great Bell by Rickart de Monkehagen, 1409; Volzum , 1408: Archangel Michael with dragon ; Braunschweig, Michaeliskirche , 1407; Goslar, Jakobikirche , 1480; Greifswald, Nikolaikirche , 1440; Schwerin, Castle Church , 1467; Rerik 1460; Zurow 1462; Malchin 1481; Stettin, castle church , Otto bell, 1471; Greifswald, Jakobikirche , 1494; Halle (Saale), market church , 1420; Erfurt, St. Martini , 1419; Hohlstedt (near Weimar) , around 1430; Jena, City Church St. Michael , Big and Small Bells, 1415; Ranis 1429; Zeitz, Cathedral , 1466; Goßwitz (near Saalfeld) 1440; Elstertrebnitz (district of Leipziger Land) , 1460; Merseburg, Dom , Quarta, 1458: The founder Heinrich von Goch with the Saints John the Baptist and Laurentius as well as incised drawings by Nikolaus Eisenberg: Crucifixion group , Saint Laurentius and John the Baptist ; Sondershausen - Jechaburg 1469; Markröhlitz 1479; Albersroda 1502; Erfurt, Augustinian Church , 1473; Erfurt, Severikirche , Osanna, 1474; Nordhausen, Dom , Große Glocke, 1496, incision of the representation of Mary attributed to Tilman Riemenschneider ; Nordhausen, Blasiuskirche , 1488; Saalfeld-Graba 1484; Knobelsdorf (Reschwitz) 1484; Neustadt / Orla 1479; Münchenbernsdorf, parish church St. Mauritius 1492; Zettlitz (near Mittweida) 1480; Karlsdorf (Saale-Orla district) 1489.

conservation

In the course of numerous wars, bells were melted down again and again, with the losses in the First and Second World Wars being particularly large - and with many bells their unique incised drawings were also lost. The original, numerically manageable works that have survived to this day are often threatened by corrosion damage: First the sharp ridges of the drawings are decomposed - what remains for a certain time are relatively broad, thread-like structures, which, however, disappear as the destruction process continues.

Transmission of the illustrations

Although the bell scratching is part of the graphic arts and is close to metal engraving and copperplate engraving , it differs from it because it cannot be reproduced (since the bell casing with the drawing notch has to be destroyed to reveal the bell). Each of the semi-sculptural drawings is unique.

For a long time, rubbing off the drawing relief was the only possible method to preserve and pass on the images. We are grateful to bell friends such as the later palaeontologist Professor Walter Georg Kühne and his wife Charlotte at the time, who from 1935 to 1938 commissioned rubbing the often oversized bell carving drawings in mostly inaccessible and dirty bell cages. This physically demanding work was continued by the Querfurt architect Richard Heinzel during the late 1940s and 1950s; he was significantly supported by the master bell founder Franz Schilling in Apolda. Most of the rub-offs created in this way are in the estate of the Schilling family of bell foundries in Apolda and in the local bell museum.

exhibition

See also

literature

  • Margarete Schilling : Figural incised drawings on historical bells from the 13th-15th centuries Century , catalog for the exhibition of the same name in the Lutherkirche Apolda (June 5 - October 13, 2013), A4 format, approx. 120 pages (unpaginated), self-published (produced by the Kühn printing company, Apolda), without ISBN, Apolda 2013
  • Ingrid Schulze: Carving by lay hands - drawings by medieval sculptors and painters? Figural carved bell drawings from the late 13th century to around 1500 in central and northern Germany . ISBN 9783939404958 , Leipzig 2006
  • Margarete Schilling (Ed.): Figural incised drawings on historical bells: Graphite rubbings by Charlotte and Walter G. Kühne . Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3. Apolda 2004
  • Margarete Schilling (Hrsg.): Figural incised drawings on historical bells: graphite abrasions by Richard Heinzel . Volume 1 and Volume 2. Apolda 2004
  • Jörg Poettgen: Thread reliefs and incised drawings - the long way from Walter Kühne and Richard Heinzel to Ingrid Schulze and Kurt Hübner. In: Jahrbuch für Glockenkunde 15/16, 2003/2004, pp. 441–443
  • Margarete Schilling (Ed.): Horst Jahresling - graphic representations for the Apoldaer bell foundry and the Schilling family of bell foundries , A4 format, 130 pages, self-published (produced by the Kühn printing company, Apolda), without ISBN, Apolda 2003
  • Margarete Schilling (Ed.): Anneliese Jahresling - Graphic representations and watercolors from the Schilling Söhne bell foundry in Apolda , A4 format, self-published (produced by the Kühn printing company, Apolda), without ISBN, Apolda 2003
  • Margarete Schilling: Art, ore and sound. The works of the Ulrich / Schilling family of bell founders from the 17th century to the present , ISBN 3-362-00617-5 , Berlin 1992
  • Margarete Schilling: Bells. Gestalt, Klang und Zier , ISBN 3-364-00041-7 , Dresden 1988 and Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-32977-2
  • Margarete Schilling: Bells from Apolda , Apolda 1986
  • Margarete Schilling: Bells and Glockenspiels , Rudolstadt 1985
  • Kurt Hübner: The Glockenguß in Apolda (= booklet 40 of the Weimar writings series on local history and natural history of the Weimar City Museum), Weimar 1983
  • Claus Peter: Figural carved bell drawings in Westphalia . In: Westfalen, Hefte für Geschichte, Kunst und Volkskunde 61, 1983 / II, pp. 45–58
  • Kurt Hübner: The medieval bell carvings (Issue 12 of the series of writings on art history of the department for art history at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin), Berlin 1968
  • Ingrid Schulze: Investigations into the history of the Thuringian-Saxon bell scratch drawings in the 14th and 15th centuries. Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , social and linguistic series, XIII. Volume 6, Halle (Saale) 1964
  • Ingrid Schulze: North German bell scratch drawings of the late 14th and 15th centuries in their relationship to simultaneous painting and sculpture. Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Social and Linguistic Series, XI. Volume 7, Halle (Saale) 1961
  • Ingrid Schulze: The sculpture workshop of Conrad von Einbeck in Halle and its effects on Central German sculpture in the first half of the 15th century . In: Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Ges.-Sprachwiss. X / 4., May 1961, pp. 1131-1144
  • Ingrid Schulze: Nikolaus Eisenberg, a Saxon painter from the 2nd half of the 15th century . In: Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Ges.-Sprachwiss. X / 1. February 1961, pp. 1163-1900
  • Ingrid Schulze: Figural carved bell drawings of the 14th and 15th centuries in central and northern Germany. University thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Philosophical Faculty, dissertation from July 18, 1959, Halle (Saale) 1958
  • Kurt Hübner: Incised drawings on bells 1300–1500 . In: Urania 19, 1956 (12), pp. 463-469
  • Walter Georg Kühne : Thread reliefs of medieval church bells. P. 461–465 in: Atlantis - Lands, Peoples, Travel. Edited by Martin Hürlimann, Volume X, Issue 8, Leipzig / Zurich 1938
  • Roy Kreß: Rediscover old bells - the arduous walk to church towers is particularly worthwhile during the holiday season (four-column article on bell scratch drawings with three large illustrations). In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , July 30, 2015, p. 17

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Page 1 in: Margarete Schilling (Hrsg.): Horst Jahresling - Graphic representations for the Apoldaer bell foundry and the bell foundry family Schilling , Apolda 2003
  2. ↑ Images of these bell carvings are contained in the book Carving by lay hands - drawings by medieval sculptors and painters? Figural bell carved drawings from the late 13th century to around 1500 in central and northern Germany by Ingrid Schulze, Leipzig 2006
  3. ↑ P. 9–15 in: Ingrid Schulze: Scratchings by lay hands - drawings by medieval sculptors and painters? Figural carved bell drawings from the late 13th century to around 1500 in central and northern Germany . Leipzig 2006
  4. ↑ Margarete Schilling: Glockenzier, incised drawings, reliefs, models , from p. 156 in: Margarete Schilling: Glocken. Gestalt, Klang and Zier , Dresden 1988
  5. ↑ Margarete Schilling: Glockenzier und Schrift auf Glocken aus Apolda , pp. 22–32 in: Margarete Schilling: Glocken aus Apolda , Apolda 1986
  6. ↑ Kurt Hübner: The decoration of the bells , from p. 59 in: Kurt Hübner: The Glockenguß in Apolda (= issue 40 of the series Weimarer Schriften zur Heimatgeschichte und Naturkunde of the Stadtmuseum Weimar), Weimar 1983
  7. ↑ http://kirche-panitzsch.de/kulturveranstaltung_infos.html
  8. ↑ The following should be noted about this publication: For all of the illustrations of the carved bell drawings shown in the panel - without which this book could not have existed - there is no information on origin and copyright. The publisher and author concealed, scientifically dishonest and against their better judgment, that the married couple Walter Georg Kühne and Charlotte Kühne as well as Richard Heinzel (Querfurt) had produced these graphite rub-offs over years of laborious work and that all copyrights of the Schilling bell foundry in Apolda and its then Bell founder Franz Schilling belonged and still belong to this day.
  9. ↑ GND 132668777
  10. ↑ DNB 480031649