Hans Witten

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Tulip pulpit in Freiberg Cathedral, around 1508–1510
Beautiful door in Annaberg, signed HW, 1512

Hans Witten (* 1470/80 possibly in Braunschweig ; † after 1522 probably in Annaberg ; however, the correct name is Meister H. W. ), after a still controversial identification, is the name of a German sculptor who signed three works with the abbreviation HW. He is not only regarded as an important Braunschweig sculptor, but also as one of the main masters of the late Gothic period , who presumably made the pulpit in the Aegidienkirche in Braunschweig , later went to Saxony and did his main works there. a. the tulip pulpit in Freiberg Cathedral .

Life and naming

The starting point for the reconstruction of the life and work of the master are three works on which the monogram H.W. can be found: St. Helena in Halle, the altar in Borna and the beautiful door in Annaberg. For stylistic reasons, other works are ascribed to the master, in particular the tulip pulpit of Freiberg Cathedral and the pulpit of the Aegidienkirche in Braunschweig. There is also the castle church portal in Chemnitz and the high altar retable of the Niklaskirche in Ehrenfriedersdorf as well as other works in Goslar, Chemnitz-Ebersdorf and Waldkirchen in the Ore Mountains.

In the search for a sculptor who can be traced in the written sources of the named locations, Walter Hentschel found various mentions of a "Hans Witten", whom he temporarily identified with a "Hans von Cöln" also named in the sources. The identification of the master HW with Hans Witten has recently been disputed again. In the Braunschweig city archive there is a master Johann van Kollen who deposited his will on November 15, 1477, who had a son named Hans. It is therefore assumed that Hans Witten of Cologne was born in Braunschweig. Furthermore, his name is recorded in 1502 in the " Schossverzeichnis von Chemnitz" as a citizen Hans Witten of Cologne . In 1507 Hans of Cologne is mentioned once and Hans Witten of Cologne a second time as the creator of the Ehrenfriedersdorfer Altar.

Works

"Waldkirchener Madonna II", around 1510, Sculpture Collection Dresden, exhibited in the Schlossberg Museum in Chemnitz

HW has been called a sculptor- poet because of his resourceful and imaginative art . He is one of the main masters of late Gothic sculpture and was mainly active in Upper Saxony. He developed a distinctive style of his own. His art was influenced by Lower Saxony sculpture, by the copperplate engravings by Martin Schongauer and by the graphics by Albrecht Dürer . References can be made to Veit Stoss and Tilman Riemenschneider . Witten's works are more late Gothic than Renaissance. Franz Maidburg's work was inspired by him.

  • Braunschweig
    • Late Gothic pulpit (before 1500) in the Aegidienkirche . The pulpit, which is today (2008) in the Aegidienkirche, was originally in the Kreuzklosterkirche in Braunschweig. The pulpit survived the bombing night of October 15, 1944 only because it was not located in the Kreuzkloster but had been relocated. The Kreuzklosterkirche burned down completely and was not rebuilt. Anton Detlev Jenner , a sculptor from Braunschweig, took the late Gothic pulpit out of the " Pauline Church of the Dominicans " in 1712 when it was converted into a ducal armory and built it into his Baroque pulpit wall in the Kreuzklosterkirche.
  • Goslar
    • Pietà from 1510/20 in the Jakobikirche (presumably) verifiably v. Hans Witten based on the initials HW
    • Antler chandelier with enthroned imperial figure in the town hall hall in Goslar
  • Helmstedt
    • Crucified in St. Stephen's Church in Helmstedt (presumably)
  • Waldenburg
    • Magdalene relief (around 1520) - (is this identical to the one in the Chemnitz Schloßbergmuseum?)
  • Wish village
    • Crucifix in the ev.-luth. Parish Church of St. Veit (1513)
  • Desert fire
    • two altar figures, Katharina and Ursula (1511/12)
  • Origin unknown
    • Mourning group from a Calvary (around 1500/1510)

literature

  • Ludger Alscher et al .: Lexicon of Art, Architecture, Fine Arts, Applied Arts, Industrial Design, Art Theory. Volume I, Verlag Das Europäische Buch, West Berlin 1984.
  • Walter Hentschel : Saxon sculpture around 1500. Wilhelm Limpert-Verlag, Dresden, 1926.
  • Walter Hentschel: Hans Witten Der Meister HW Verlag Seemann, Leipzig, 1938.
  • Günter Hummel / Barbara Löwe / Frank Reinhold , Der Meister HW . The small sacred art guide 4, ed. from the Altenburg Academy, Protestant Adult Education (Altenburg-Langenweißbach-Neumark 2003, 2011).
  • Günter Hummel: The pain man from Weida, a work by "Master HW" , in: Jb. Des Museum Hohenleuben-Reichenfels, no. 43 (Hohenleuben 1998), pp. 79–84.
  • Günter Hummel: The painful Madonna von Wünschendorf - a work of the "Master HW" , in: The home messenger. Contributions from the district of Greiz and the surrounding area, No. 02/1995, volume 41 (Greiz 1995), pp. 33-38.
  • Günter Hummel: The high altar of Ehrenfriedersdorf . The small sacred art guide 11, ed. from the Altenburg Academy, Protestant Adult Education (Altenburg-Langenweißbach-Neumark 2007).
  • Walter Grundmann: The Master HW The work of Hans Witten. Berlin: Evangelical Publishing House 1976.
  • Curt Langer: Hans Witten von Cöln or Hans Witten and Hans von Cöln? In: Sächsische Heimatblätter Heft 7 (1961), pp. 65–78.
  • Paul Jonas Meier : The sculptor's handicrafts in the city of Braunschweig since the Reformation. In: Workpieces from the museum, archive and library of the City of Braunschweig VIII. Appelhans, Braunschweig 1936.
  • Simona Schellenberger: sculptures by the master HW. Developments in late Gothic sculpture between spatial construction and graphics . Diss. HU Berlin 2005. Online
  • Michael Stuhr (Hrsg.): The picture works of the master HW Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1985 ( Insel-Bücherei 1055).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simona Schellenberger: Bildwerke des Meister HW. Developments in late Gothic sculpture between spatial construction and graphics. Berlin 2005
  2. ↑ P. J. Meier: Kunsthandwerk, p. 4 (see literature)
  3. ↑ P. J. Meier: Kunsthandwerk, p. 4 (see literature)
  4. ^ Ludger Alscher et al .: Lexicon of Art. Volume V, p. 620f (see literature)
  5. ↑ P. J. Meier: Kunsthandwerk , p. 1 (see literature)
  6. ↑ Series of publications Heft 6, Museum and Art Collection Schloß Hinterglauchau, Glauchau, GDR, 1986, description of the relief p. 14, Fig. 5 on p. 16 (Porphyry relief from Hilbersdorfer porphyry: "Himmelfahrt Magdalenas" by Hans Witten around 1510)
  7. ↑ niklaskirche.de
  8. ↑ P. J. Meier: Kunsthandwerk, p. 2 (see literature)
  9. ^ After Werner Hillebrand: Goslar. German Kunstverlag, p. 33 and Gottfried Kiesow u. a .: Handbook of German Art Monuments - Bremen Lower Saxony. Darmstadt 1977 ("Dehio"), p. 362.
  10. ↑ P. J. Meier: Kunsthandwerk , p. 2 (see literature)
  11. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Röber : A previously unknown work by Hans Witten in the church in Wünschendorf-Veitsberg near Weida. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter, issue 1/1970, pp. 26–28
  12. ↑ Ingo Sandner, Helmut Wilsdorf, Arndt Kiesewetter: Late Gothic panel painting in Saxony. Verlag der Kunst, 1993
  13. ↑ https://www.lempertz.com/de/kataloge/lot/1029-1/1012-sachsen-um-15001510.html accessed on February 13, 2015

Web links

Commons : Meister HW  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Witten, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Master HW; Witten from Cologne, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH between 1470 and 1480
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH after 1522
Place of death uncertain: Annaberg