Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder

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Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder, self-portrait, 1537 (woodcut)
Martyrdom of St. Erasmus, 1516, oil on limewood
The Last Judgment (detail), around 1523, fresco in the town church of Bad Wimpfen
Tower of Grammar, 1548
View of St. Gallen, 1545
Coat of arms of Charles V, 1548

Heinrich Vogtherr (the elder) (* 1490 in Dillingen an der Donau , † 1556 in Vienna ) was an artist of the Reformation period. He was a painter , draftsman , wood cutter , eraser , printer , publisher , author of pamphlets, poet of sacred songs, author of medical writings and ophthalmologist .

Life

Vogtherr enjoyed a humanistic education. His father Konrad, from whom he acquired his medical expertise, was an ophthalmologist and surgeon. His brother Georg (1487–1539) preached as a priest and reformer in Feuchtwangen , his brother Bartholomäus (149? -1536) worked as a court ophthalmologist for the Augsburg bishop Christof Graf von Stadion and wrote medical books. One of his sons was the painter Heinrich Vogtherr the Younger (1513–1568). Vogtherr's artistic training seems to have taken place in Augsburg. It is believed that he was an apprentice there from 1506 to 1509 with Hans Burgkmair (the elder) . Years of traveling took him to Erfurt and Leipzig. In 1518 he returned to Augsburg and supported the teachings of Luther ("The indulgence trade in a church", the "death eaters") with a large part of his work in pictures and writing. From 1522 to 1525 he stayed in Wimpfen to paint frescoes for the parish church on behalf of the Reformation-minded Dietrich von Gemmingen . In addition, in the spirit of the Reformation, he published numerous writings and leaflets such as "The gods of man" or "The bom (tree) of faith". In 1524 he published his most beautiful spiritual poem "Out of deep need I cry to you" there as a flyer. In Wimpfen he was in contact with the upcoming peasant leader Wendel Hipler and probably got to know Götz von Berlichingen , which is why his involvement in the peasant war is not surprising. As a colonel of the Hegau farmers, he took part in the unsuccessful siege of Zell (Radolfzell) on Lake Constance in mid-1524. He was able to flee and several months later he could be found safely in the Reformation-friendly Strasbourg, where he settled with his family in 1526. He found his livelihood here mainly in the production of book illustrations, since the order situation for painting there had been greatly reduced due to the religious conditions. Of the Strasbourg artists of that time, only Hans Baldung Grien , one of the most important painters of the Dürer period, was given painting orders. Vogtherr worked for almost all Strasbourg printers. For example, he created eight full-page woodcuts for the “New Testament” published by Grüninger in 1527, which, according to Carl von Lützow, “are completely filled with the richly pictorial art of narration of the Burgkmair school”. In 1536 he founded his print shop in which he exclusively printed his own works; for example the “Christian Losbuch”, two “anatomies” and the extremely popular, repeatedly reprinted “Art Booklet”, a sample book for artisans. After 1538 he increasingly oriented himself towards Basel and later (from 1542) saw his family in Strasbourg only sporadically, as he was forced to travel around continuously for financial reasons. He went to Speyer, Basel, back to Strasbourg, several times to Augsburg and finally to Zurich, where he lived from 1544 to 1546 with the renowned printer Christoph Froschauer . In this relatively short period of time he created a surprisingly extensive and high-quality work for his workshop, including more than 400 woodcuts for the »Swiss Chronicle« (1547/48) by Johannes Stumpf . Vogtherr's final farewell to Strasbourg was ultimately due to the lack of orders for book illustrations. In 1550 he is said to have been appointed to Vienna by King Ferdinand I as the “Kayser oculist and Mahler”. At that time, the emperor was still his brother Karl V , who abdicated in 1556 (the year Vogtherr died). Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder Ä. was married three times and father of 7 sons and 3 daughters. He also used the pseudonym "Henricus (or Heinrich) Satrapitanus", which is why he is identified (not without controversy) with the monogrammist "HS with the Cross".

Works

Vogtherr is particularly tangible through its printing units. His spiritual and medical writings and a large part of his woodcuts are preserved in collections, libraries and archives (London, Vienna, Strasbourg, Berlin, Augsburg, Dillingen, Munich, Coburg and Wolfenbüttel):

  • The judgment of Solomon, Erfurt 1510
  • The indulgence trade, Augsburg around 1521
  • Todtentantz, Augsburg 1542/44, is considered to be the first German book edition of the »Pictures of Death« by Hans Holbein the Elder. J.
  • The story of Judith, giant woodcut, Basel 1544
  • Grammar Tower, Zurich 1548
  • Book illustrations in the following works, among others:

There are only a few examples of his painterly work:

  • Adoration of the Shepherds, dated 1518, private property (probably made for the Koberer / Baumann families in Wimpfen, whose coat of arms can be seen on the painting. Another coat of arms in the picture is interpreted as the coat of arms of Vogtherr.)
  • Altar wing for the Schwaigern town church (completed in 1520). They were once considered works by Jerg Ratgeb , but were identified as Vogtherr's works by the monogram HV, today in the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart.
  • The Last Judgment, an 8 m high fresco in the town church of Bad Wimpfen , around 1523. Restored in 1870 and unfortunately heavily repainted in line with contemporary tastes.

It is discussed whether the copies of the four large "Augsburg Monthly Pictures" painted for the Fugger building garden come from him (after Paul von Stetten ) or his son Heinrich Vogtherr the Younger . The original versions (today in the German Historical Museum, Berlin ) were probably made in the workshop of Jörg Breu the Elder . "Winter", the only surviving copy, is in the Maximiliansmuseum in Augsburg and is awarded by the latest research to Vogtherr the Elder.

Vogtherr is equated variously with the master of the Erasmusmarter . From this identification, the attribution of other paintings comes from, including:

  • Martyrdom of St. Erasmus, oil on linden wood, 97.2 × 80.2 cm, 1516, Aschaffenburger Staatsgalerie (signature: HS with the cross), authorship of Frank Muller attributed with a fair degree of certainty
  • Christ and the adulteress, oil on linden wood, 113 × 91.5 cm, around 1521, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (link to the illustration see individual reference)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Schorbach, "Vogtherr, Heinrich der Aeltere" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 40, Leipzig 1896, pp. 192–194.
  2. ^ Alfred Kleinberg: German poetry in its social, contemporary and intellectual historical conditions, Berlin 1927, p. 98 (reprint: Hildesheim 1978, Georg Olms Verlag)
  3. ^ Wackernagel, Hymn III, No. 556
  4. ↑ C. von Lützow: History of the German copper engraving and woodcut, Berlin 1891, p. 172
  5. ↑ Anothomia or abconterfectung of a Weybs leyb, as it is designed inwardly. Augsburg 1538.
  6. ↑ Eyn Newes Hochnutzlichs Büchlin, and Anothomie eynes auffgethonen augs, also his explanation, evaluate purgation, plaster, collirien, Sälblin powders and water, how to do and need sol. Strasbourg 1539.
  7. ↑ https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/vogtherr1913
  8. ^ Frank Muller: Heinrich Vogtherr, alias Satrapitanus, alias the Master with the Cross. In: Print Quarterly IV, 3 ", London 1987, pp. 274-282.
  9. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: The dance of death in the Alemannic language area. "I have to do it - and don't know what" . Regensburg 2012, p. 152
  10. ↑ Gerhard Müller (Ed.) Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Berlin 1980, p. 152
  11. ^ Frank Muller: Heinrich Vogtherr l´Ancien - Un artist entre Renaissance et Réforme. Wiesbaden 1997, p. 316f.
  12. ^ Frank Muller: Heinrich Vogtherr l´Ancien (1490–1556) - Un Artiste entre Renaissance et Réforme . Wiesbaden 1997, p. 118 ff.
  13. ↑ Thomas Schauerte (Ed.): The Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg - Renaissance Prince and Patron, Regensburg 2006, vol. 1, p. 157 ff., Cat. 72.
  14. ↑ http://www.museenkoeln.de/home/bild-der-woche.aspx?bdw=2009_14#prettyPhoto/1/
  15. ↑ Thomas Schauerte (ed.): The Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg - Renaissance Prince and Patron, Regensburg 2006, vol. 1, p. 158 ff., Cat. 73.

literature

  • Karl Schorbach:  Vogtherr, Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 192-194.
  • Friedrich Vogtherr: "History of the Vogtherr Family in the Light of Cultural Life", second, enlarged and illustrated edition, Ansbach 1908, ( digitized first edition, Ansbach 1892)
  • "Heinrich Vogtherr's Art Booklet", Zwickau facsimile prints no. 19, Zwickau 1913.
  • Frank Muller: "Heinrich Vogtherr, alias Satrapitanus, alias the Master with the Cross" In: "Print Quarterly IV, 3", London 1987, pp. 274–282.
  • Frank Muller: »Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder (1490–1556). Aspects of his life and work «, special print from the yearbook of the Historisches Verein Dillingen an der Donau, XCII. Year 1990, pp. 173-274.
  • Frank Muller: "Heinrich Vogtherr l´Ancien - Un artiste entre Renaissance et Réforme", Wiesbaden 1997.
  • Christoph Reske:. »The book printers of the 16th and 17th centuries in the German-speaking area. Based on the work of the same name by Josef Benzing. «2., revised. and exp. Ed. 2015, pp. 965f.
  • "Festivals and Customs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance - The Augsburger monthly pictures", Gütersloh / Munich 2007, p. 31 (Gode Krämer) and p. 208 (Hans H. Wilmes)
  • Maria Heilmann / Nino Nanobashvili / Ulrich Pfisterer / Tobias Teutenberg (eds.): »Point, point, comma, line. Drawing books in Europe | approx. 1525–1925 «, Passau 2014.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Vogtherr, Heinrich the Elder
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1490
PLACE OF BIRTH Dillingen on the Danube
DATE OF DEATH 1556
Place of death Vienna