Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann

Hans (Johannes) Ruprecht (Rupprecht) Hoffmann , also known as Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann the Elder (* around 1545 probably in Worms , † 1616 in Trier ) was a German master sculptor and stonemason.

Petrusbrunnen, Trier main market

All Saints' Day Altar, Lothar von Metternich's grave altar

Detail from the grave altar of Bishop Lothar von Metternich , in Trier Cathedral ; signed on the dark skirting: "Joes Rupert Hoffman, 1614"

life and work

Hoffmann completed his sculpting apprenticeship with Dietrich Schro in Mainz and his journeyman years with Johann von Trarbach in Simmern . He moved to Trier around 1566. As early as 1581 he was elected master of the stonemasons' guild . With his first wife Katharina († before 1582) he had at least 3 children. In 1583 he married Anna Örthin († 1589) and in 1590 as the third wife (Anna) Margaretha, daughter of Theis Kochbecker from Cochem.

Hoffmann's special skills are demonstrated in his portrait sculptures, which are exceptionally lively and physiognomically convincing, precisely worked and of high quality. He ran an important sculptor's workshop, which gained importance very quickly from its foundation and grew with success. Hoffmann died in 1616, the workshop was continued by his son Heinrich Hoffmann (1576–1623) and his grandson Johann Ruprecht Hoffmann ( Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann the Younger ).

In his time, Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann was the main representative of mannerism west of the Rhine, especially the Trier late renaissance . His main artistic works include tombs, epitaphs, altarpieces, the cathedral pulpit and the Petrusbrunnen in Trier. Hoffmann combined stylistic features of the late Renaissance with those of the Floris style , but also used other Mannerist elements and developed his very own artistic "handwriting" from them. This culminated in his interpretation of late mannerist art, which clearly anticipated the coming Baroque style.

The pulpit in the central nave of Trier Cathedral, which was probably built between 1570 and 1572 on behalf of the Trier cathedral chapter, shows a complex iconographic program ( works of mercy , last judgment, teaching of the apostles on the Mount of Olives, evangelists, five senses, proclamation to Mary, birth of Christ, resurrection and ascension to heaven Christi), which is to be interpreted in the context of the religious-historical development in Trier in the 16th century.

Works

Main market Trier :

• Petrusbrunnen (1595)

High Cathedral of St. Peter in Trier :

• Cathedral pulpit (1570–1572)
• Cloister altar: marble relief (1596, today Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum Trier)
• Trinity altar (grave altar for Archbishop Jakob III. Von Eltz ) (1597)
• Altar in the old church of Sankt Aldegund on the Moselle (1601), restored
• Grave altar for Archbishop Johann von Schönenberg (Schonenburg) and Johannes-Evangelista-Altar (1602)
• All Saints Altar (grave altar for Archbishop Lothar von Metternich ) (1614)

Liebfrauenkirche Trier :

• Grave altar for Hugo von Schonenburg († 1581)

St. Antonius Trier:

• Epitaph for Mayor Cornelius Schott and his wife (1607)

St. Gangolf (Trier) :

• Sandstone relief "Transfiguration of Christ" (around 1600)
• Mary Altar (1602/3)

Other works

• St. Peter and Paul, Eltville am Rhein: Epitaph of Philipp Frey von Dhern (died 1568), signed HRH and inscribed 1571.
• Saint Salvator Basilica ( Prüm ): stone pulpit (before 1590)
• Öhringen (Württemberg): Epitaph for Eberhard von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg .

• Altars for the pilgrimage church of the Assumption of Mary (Girsterklause) , today in the chapel in Dickweiler

Remarks

1. ↑ Proven by own testimony, s. Thiel 2014, sources No. 35, p. 637
2. ↑ Ralf van Bühren 1998, pp. 91–118, 304–313 (cat. No. 60), figs. 53–64
3. ↑ Thiel 2002, pp. 175-177. Thiel 2014, Fig. 364.

literature

• Ursula B. Thiel: The sculptor and medal cutter Dietrich Schro and his workshop in Mainz (1542 / 44-1572 / 73), memorials, portrait medals, alabaster sculptures and heraldic tablets (= sources and treatises on Middle Rhy. Church history. Vol. 134) . Mainz 2014, ISBN 978-3-929135-70-1 , pp. 69, 417-420, Fig. 364f. and Qu.Nr. 35, p. 637.
• Ursula B. Thiel: The epitaphs of the 16th century in the choir of the parish church St. Peter and Paul. In: Norbert Boos (ed.): Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul Eltville. 1353-2003 , Eltville am Rhein 2002, pp. 159-181, especially pp. 175ff.
• Rüdiger Fuchs: The capitalis inscriptions by Trier sculptors of the 16th century. In: Gertrud Mras / Renate Kohn (Ed.): Epigraphik 2000 (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Phil.-hist. Class. Memoranda. 335). Vienna 2006, pp. 15–37.
• Sandra Ost:  Hoffmann, Hans (Johannes) Ruprecht. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 25, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-332-7 , Sp. 637-643.
• Rüdiger Fuchs: The font from the workshop of Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann († 1616) in Trier. In: Sancta Treveris. Contributions to church building and fine arts in the old Archdiocese of Trier. Festschrift for Franz J. Ronig on his 70th birthday. Trier 1999, pp. 147-160.
• Wolfgang Schmid : Funerary monuments and art politics of the Archbishops of Trier and Cologne in the age of the Counter Reformation. In: Sancta Treveris. Contributions to church building and fine arts in the old Archdiocese of Trier. Festschrift for Franz J. Ronig on his 70th birthday. Trier 1999, pp. 515-552.
• Ralf van Bühren : The works of mercy in art from the 12th to 18th centuries Century. On the change of a picture motif against the background of modern rhetoric reception (= Studies on Art History. Vol. 115). Olms, Hildesheim, Zurich, New York 1998, ISBN 978-3-487103198 .
• Franz Balke: About the works of the Elector of Trier sculptor Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann († 1616). Bonn 1916.
• Eberhard Zahn:  Hoffmann, Hans Ruprecht. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 420 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Hans Rupprecht Hoffmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann in the catalog of the German National Library