Hans Gudewerdt (I)

Hans Gudewerdt (also: Hans Gudewerdt the Elder ; * around 1570 probably in Eckernförde ; † 1642 there ) was one of the most important carvers in Schleswig-Holstein.

Live and act

The pulpit of the St. Jürgen Church (Gettorf)

Hans Gudewerdt the Elder came from a well-known and wealthy middle-class family. Entries from the Gudewerth family can be found in Eckernförde's oldest name registers from 1542. However, the names of his parents are not known. He was married to a woman named Wiebke (ringed on October 6, 1641), with whom he had the son of the same name, Hans Gudewerth the Younger , around 1600 . In 1600 he bought a house. Based on the fact that he married at this time and that masters usually completed their training at the age of thirty or more, it can be assumed that he was born around 1570. It is very likely that Hans Gudewerdt I apprenticed to Ciriacus Dirkes , a master carver in Eckernförde who died in 1605.

In 1605 Gudewerdt received the post of one of two elderly people in the cutting office of Eckernförde. The fact that he accepted the public church money for some time suggests that the residents trusted him. From 1635 to 1642 another master represented Gudewerdt as an elder man. As early as 1634 he handed over his workshop to his son. Since the election of a new elderly man to replace Gudewerdt is documented in 1642, he must have died that year.

Works

Gudewerdt was one of the most important carvers who worked in Schleswig-Holstein in the late Renaissance style . He greatly influenced other artists in the country. But there is only one work that can be safely assigned to him: the pulpit of St. Jürgen's Church in Gettorf from 1598.

In 1896, Justus Brinckmann from Hamburg first mentioned a “master with the flute-blowing rabbit”. In 1903 G. Brandt compared his works with those of the older Gudewerdt and equated both people. This made it possible to assign him numerous ecclesiastical and profane works that he had created almost entirely for nobles and princes.

In addition to the Gettorf pulpit, Gudewerdt created the pulpit of the St. Nicolaikirche in Eckernförde in 1605 and three chairs for the church patron of Esgrus' church in 1607 . In particular, richly decorated chests, mostly bridal chests with many figures, have been preserved. These very imaginatively designed representations have a narrative character and have ornamental motifs from the Northern European late Renaissance. Gudewerdt surrounded them with rolls, tails and cartridges.

Before 1600 Gudewerdt worked figuratively and sculpturally, afterwards very splendidly in order to meet the expectations of his customers in need of representation. With regard to technology, overall form and the figurative representation, he applied older design principles and kept the motifs confusing and heaped. When designing the ornaments, he took up contemporary inspirations and safely linked the principles with one another. The facade surfaces created in this way are arranged in a balanced, decorative and representative manner.

literature

• Bernd Curt Kreplin : Gudewerdt, (Guthwerdt, Gutwerth, Gudewirth) family of carvers . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 15 : Gresse – Hanselmann . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1922, p. 191–192 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Gudewerdt (carver family) . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 64, Saur, Munich a. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-598-23031-8 , p. 303.
• Holger Behling: Gudewerdt, Hans . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 6 - 1982. ISBN 3-529-02646-8 , pages 107-108.
• Wolfgang J. Müller:  Gudewerdt, Hans I. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 253 ( digitized version ).