Hans Bär (painter)

Hans Bär (also Hanns Baer ; attested from 1584 to 1611 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German mannerist painter .

Research history

The Freiburg lawyer and art historian Gustav Münzel (1874–1960) discovered Bär in 1910 as the painter of the former wings of the Three Kings Altar and painter of the Tegginger Altar in Freiburg Minster and attributed the painting of the epitaph for the priest Michael Küblin to him there. The Freiburg cathedral builder Friedrich Kempf (1857-1932) recognized him in 1925 as the painter of the picture in the " Herbolzheimer coat of arms ". The classical philologist Hans-Jürgen Günther from Emmendingen carried on this research in 1991 in his bibliophile book about Bär, the contemporary Baden theologian and politician Johannes Pistorius the Younger and the Herbolzheimer coat of arms and added the attribution of the " Coronation of Mary " in St. Agatha Chapel in Freiburg-Benzhausen .

Life

“Hanns Bär von Ravenspurg, a flat painter”, came in 1584 with his wife Ursula nee. Feser and a child to Freiburg and was accepted into the painters' guild. It is not known whether he was born in Ravensburg ; Nor whether he came from the respected Basel family of the same name . In 1599, when Hans Bär had five children, he was imprisoned in the "tower" for five weeks. "When Hans bears, which were flat painter angezaigt credible, he seyner ehfrawen biological sister pregnant and thereby committed a blood chand, he should immediately confiscated and are erkundiget properly after notturft." His wife, the Commander of the Freiburg Coming of the Teutonic Order , the abbot of the monastery of St. Peter in the Black Forest and the Basel canons , who have lived in Freiburg since 1529 , advocated him. The abbot writes that Bär gave him to understand by “weeping lamentation and confidently confessed what he was measuring ... when he came full of drink in the absence of his housewives, laid down in bed, even with his housewives' physical sisters, ... still with Wine overloaded, without all reason and contemplation, where and with whom he sleeps in bed, the same incestuose, so he also ... has to get heavier punishments, but especially because he causes and irritates himself beforehand (equally to the highest degree) Out of stock with ainer closterfrawen. "As much as that may be" high and embarrassing to punish ", he, the abbot, moved" but his art and diligence, which he heroized fifteen years ago in various workings and decorations in my church and others more places ruemblich erzaigt ”to ask for leniency. It remained with a fine and the requirement to avoid drinking opportunities. In 1611, the Freiburg Council Minutes reported that Bär had died.

plant

Most of the products from Bär's “art and diligence” are lost. What has been preserved in the "History of Research": the four paintings of the former wings of the Epiphany Retable that are now hanging in the Archbishop's Office in Freiburg , 1600 to 1601; the panel of the Tegginger altar, today in the Heimhoferkapelle, 1604; the two paintings of the epitaph for Michael Küblin in the university chapel, 1600; the picture in the Herbolzheim coat of arms, Herbolzheim city archive, 1606; and the undated “Coronation of Mary” in Benzhausen. According to Münzel and Günther, the characteristic features of Bär in these works, which are helpful in assigning them, are the rich backgrounds of diverse architecture, mountains and cloudy skies, and even more so the hands and feet. "They are drawn in an extremely mannered manner, the fingers are splayed and bent like gouty , the turning of the thumb end outwards is particularly striking." On the feet, in addition to a "deformed big toe, two other over-long toes can be seen".

Wing of the Freiburg Three Kings Altar

Münzel came across Bär through an inscription on the reverse of the Mariengruppe of the Dreikönigsretabel in the Freiburg Minster: “ANNO D [omi] NI 1600 / HAEC TABULA PER M [agistrum] JOANNE BAER PICTA / ET VITUM SIGEL DEAURATA EST” - “In 1600 this is The panel was painted by master Johannes Baer and gilded by Vitus Sigel. “The reredos had been carved by Hans Wydyz in 1505 for the private chapel of the court chancellor, Emperor Maximilian I Konrad Stürtzel, in his city palace and, together with the palace, became the property of the Basel cathedral chapter in 1587; since then the building complex has been called Basler Hof . It is not known whether the reredos had wings before 1600. If so, Bear replaced them with new ones. They measure 127 × 85 cm (height × width). Bär probably hired Vitus Sigel as a barrel painter . Bär also did other work for the canons, because in 1601 they paid him "because of the gilded altar table and what he had made in the chapels, as well as the hall ... 400  florins and the journeymen 8 florins." At the beginning In the 19th century, the reredos came from the Basler Hof to the Freiburg Minster. The wings were then removed. Münzel must have seen her in a storage room.

• Wing painting of the Freiburg Three Kings Altar
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  Peter

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  Paul

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  Emperor Heinrich II.

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  Pantalus

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  Crucifixion of Peter

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  Paul's Damascus experience

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  Basel Minster

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  The ship on the Rhine

The outer sides of the wings show St. Peter on the left, St. Paul on the right , the inner sides on the left the Holy Emperor Heinrich II. , On the right St. Pantalus . All four face architecture in a mountainous landscape. Behind Peter you can see the scene of his crucifixion, behind Paul his Damascus experience . At the foot of Heinrich II. Basel lies on both sides of the Rhine. A ship carries women, perhaps St. Ursula of Cologne with her companions, as they reach Basel on the way from Cologne to Rome. Heinrich is holding a model of the Basel Minster in his hand . At the feet of St. Pantalus, borrowed from Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia , lies the city of Rome. Pantalus, the legendary first bishop of Basel, is said to have accompanied Ursula to Rome and was killed with her on her return in Cologne. The gentlemen from Basel wanted to remember their homeland in their chapel. The paintings are not signed, but Heinrich's picture bears the note “Anno domini 1601”.

Panel painting of the Tegginger Altar

Raising Lazarus from the dead

Münzel, however, found the "Raising Lazarus " (169 × 130 cm) on the Tegginger altar signed. The canon of Basel, Auxiliary Bishop of Basel and Freiburg theology professor Markus Tegginger donated the altar in 1593 for his grave, the Schnewlin Chapel in the cathedral. It was there in 1820 that the first historian of the cathedral, Heinrich Schreiber, saw him . The altar was later discarded “by the stylistic movement”, but came back in 1909, but not in the Schnewlin but in the Heimhofer chapel. Previously it was restored. In doing so, “a monogram came to light, the interpretation of which was possible through the found notes about Baer and a comparison with the painting of the wings of the Three Kings altar. The connected letters HB designate Hans Baer, ​​and the letters written in the H can be read as PX, an abbreviation of pinxit. ”Above the signature is the year 1604.

Christ stands under a cloudy sky in front of a mountain range and classical architecture. With the raised right hand he called Lazarus out of the grave. Lazarus is still wearing some corpse bandages. His sisters Maria and Martha strive for him. Their dark green clothes form the color accents of the picture with the red of Christ's coat. A victory column rises up behind Christ's head: he has conquered death. At the bottom left, the founder is kneeling with folded hands. The painting is framed by architecture in the style of the time with slender Ionic columns, vases, angels' heads, scrollwork and fittings . Tegginger had his coat of arms and a miter placed on it, like on the bay window of his house "Zum Guldin Stauf" in Freiburg Herrenstrasse 15. The antependium with the four evangelists hanging in the ambulatory probably also comes from Bär.

Epitaph for Michael Küblin

Michael Küblin's epitaph (also known as “Kübler”) contains two paintings, one on a sliding cover, the other hidden underneath (78 × 57 cm). The front shows a priest and two acolytes at mass at the moment of the change . The altarpiece in Bär's painting (a “picture in a picture”) is similar to that of the high altar in Freiburg Minster , but is not a copy: Hans Baldung's high altar painting , for example, shows Peter on the right, Paul on the left, the coronation of Mary, Bear swaps positions. To the right of the “picture in picture” you can see the vault of the ambulatory, just like in a real cathedral.

• Epitaph for Michael Küblin
• 

  Exterior painting

• 

  Concealed painting

The hidden painting is a portrait. It is inscribed "M [ichael] K [üblin] AN [n] O MDC AETATIS SUAE LVII" - "Michael Küblin in 1600 at the age of 57". Küblin died in 1605. In comparison with the wings of the Three Kings Altar and the “Raising of Lazarus”, the painting has “the same strongly contoured lines, the same hair treatment and the same position of the hands”.

Herbolzheimer coat of arms letter

Johannes Pistorius contributed to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria granting the village Herbolzheim market rights in 1589 . He may have met Bär in Freiburg. In any case, he chose him when he, meanwhile councilor of Emperor Rudolf II. , Gave the ambitious town a new coat of arms with the "Herbolzheimer coat of arms" of August 14th, 1606. In the middle of the 46 cm high, 68 cm wide parchment, Bär painted his 13 cm high, 8.5 cm wide picture, closely circumscribed by Pistorius on all sides with “Ich, Johann Pistorius, der h. writes doctor, ... Röm: Kay: Mayt: Rath etc. ”beginning with the closing formula“ Give and take place in Freyburg im Breisgaw on the fourteenth day of August, in the year of gentlemen one thousand six hundred and six. J. Pistorius D. Thumprobst zu Preslaw (and Kayß. Rath) ”ending text. Pistorius was also provost of the cathedral in Breslau .

In the picture the escutcheon is surrounded by a frame. The shield shows heraldically (i.e. from the perspective of the wearer of a shield painted in this way) the red-silver-red Austrian shield on the top right , underneath a silver eagle's wing in a blue field, the coat of arms of the former Herbolzheim lords, the Üsenberger ; it shows in the heraldic upper left on a gold background a half black imperial eagle sticking out its red tongue, as well as half an iron-colored ploughshare on its chest , a common village symbol in the region.

• Herbolzheimer coat of arms letter
• 
• 
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  spring

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  summer

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  autumn

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  winter

• 
• 

Günther analyzes the corners of the frame in detail. One sees - this is the "obvious interpretation" - the four seasons. Heraldically on the top right, on a golden volute, sits spring as a putti with a wreath of flowers on her head and a bouquet of flowers in her arm. Summer sits heraldically on the top left. Kempf had described him as follows: “Summer holds a sickle in its outstretched right hand and carries a cluster of sheaves with a few flowers under its left arm. His headgear forms a beehive. ”The description does not do justice to Bär's art; because, according to Günther, this is “a small sensation in putti circles: a clearly female personality. Corresponding to the person opposite, the right foot is also supported, the 'putti woman' - she obviously overlooked or wanted to overlook Kempf - does not appear malnourished. With her left arm she gently presses a sheaf of corn against her small breast. ... A flax rock protrudes behind the right shoulder, next to it possibly a reed cob. The depiction of such a little putti woman is something extremely rare at that time! "

Heraldically on the lower left, autumn rides as a Bacchus turkey on a wine barrel, a vine knife in the left, a large glass in the right hand, blue grapes and vine leaves on his head. Heraldically on the lower right, however, there is not a putti, but “winter… as an old man with a long, white head and beard… He wears a leather bonnet and is in a blue skirt with a fur collar and a fur-trimmed coat over his knees clothed. He warms his outstretched hands over a basin of glowing coals while he has put his feet on the hot grate. A rooster in the background. "

"1606" can be read on the base of the picture. Like the Tegginger altar, the bar under the wine barrel bears Bär's initials "HB". Stylistically, Kempf saw no points of contact with the wings of the Three Kings Altar or the Tegginger Altar. Günther, on the other hand, recognizes Bär's characteristics in his fingers and toes.

In an interpretation that goes beyond the obvious, Kempf interpreted the winter scene as an allusion to the denial of Christ by Peter and the subsequent crowing of the rooster. Günther shows further levels of interpretation and thinks that the gold-rimmed keyhole above the year "1606" could be an invitation to the viewer to explore these levels.

Benzhauser Marienkrönung

• The Coronation of Mary in Benzhausen
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• 
• 
• 
• 

The St. Agatha Chapel in Benzhausen was largely rebuilt in 1689. In 1820 the baroque Joseph Altar was acquired from the Freiburg Minster . The "Coronation of Mary" (165 × 102 cm) on the north wall could also come from there. Kneeling on spherical clouds, Mary is crowned by God the Father and Jesus, while above the Holy Spirit hovers as a dove in the midst of seven angel heads. The sky scene is warmly colored, the earthly scene below it is painted in cool blue tones. “Anyone who wants to recognize,” writes Hermann Brommer in his church guide, “with what delicacy the master, who is not known by name, painted this former altarpiece, just look at the figure of God the Father, who is sumptuously clad like a high priest.” Günther finds a further development of the “Coronation of Mary” from the epitaph for Michael Küblin and a similarity of the angel's heads with those in Herbolzheim's coat of arms and ascribes the image to the bear.

literature

• Hans-Jürgen Günther: Joh. Pistorius, Hanns Bär and the Herbolzheimer coat of arms. Trade and Industry Association Herbolzheim 1991
• Friedrich Kempf: The Pistorius coat of arms letter for the city of Herbolzheim from 1606. In: Journal of the Society for History 38, 1925, pp. 99–110.
• Gustav Münzel: The Three Kings Altar by Hans Wydyz in the Freiburg Minster. In: Freiburger Münsterblätter 6, 1910, pp. 1–22 and 59–69 (digitized digitized part 1 and part 2 ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Münzel, p. 67.
2. ↑ Günther, p. 41.
3. ↑ Stefanie Zumbrink and Heike Mittmann: The altars. In: Freiburger Münsterbauverein (Hrsg.): The Freiburg Minster. 2nd Edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7954-2565-4 , pp. 243-273.
4. ↑ Münzel, p. 68.
5. ↑ Günther, p. 19.
6. ^ ^{A b} Sibylle Groß: Hans Wydyz - His oeuvre and the art of carving from the Upper Rhine. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1997, ISBN 3-487-10248-X , S. #.
7. ↑ Münzel, p. 68.
8. ↑ Münzel, p. 13.
9. ^ Heinrich Schreiber: History and description of the Munster to Freiburg im Breisgau. Verlag der Wagnerschen Buchhandlung, Freiburg 1820, here p. 221 ( digitized version ).
10. ^ Sibylle Groß: The Schnewlin Altar and the Baldung Workshop - Studies on the history of the furnishings of the choir chapels in the Freiburg Minster. In: Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv 112, 1992, pp. 43–86, here p. 62 ( digitized version ).
11. ↑ Münzel, p. 68.
12. ↑ Günther, p. 19.
13. ^ Augustinermuseum Freiburg. Art epochs of the city of Freiburg. Exhibition for the 850th anniversary. Exhibition catalog, ed. from the Städtische Museen Freiburg 1970, p. 280; Heike Mittmann: Tombs and Epitaphs. In: Freiburger Münsterbauverein (Hrsg.): The Freiburg Minster. 2nd edition 2011. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7954-2565-4 , pp. 275–286.
14. ↑ Günther, p. 19.
15. ↑ Münzel, p. 69.
16. ↑ Günther, pp. 24-26.
17. ↑ Günther, p. 29.
18. ↑ Günther p. 32.
19. ↑ Kempf, p. 104.
20. ↑ Günther, pp. 30–31.
21. ↑ Kempf, p. 104.
22. ↑ Günther, p. 43.
23. ^ Hermann Brommer: Hochdorf - Parish Church of St. Martin. Schnell & Steiner, Munich and Zurich 1977, p. #. The art guide also contains a description of the chapel in Benzhausen.