Jean I Barraband

Jean Barraband (the secondary designation "I" serves to distinguish it from his son of the same name; * around 1650 in Nègrepelisse in Languedoc ; † 1709 in Berlin ) was a Huguenot religious refugee who worked as a tapestry in Berlin .

Life

Jean I Barraband was born in Nègrepelisse in Languedoc around 1650. He probably grew up in Aubusson . His father Ysaak Barraband had a tapestry there that he ran with his cousin Jean Mercier. After completing an apprenticeship as a tapestry at home, Barraband trained as a painter in Paris. The apprenticeship with the still life painter and art dealer François Garnier was arranged by the painter Claude Vignon , whose brother lived as a Protestant pastor in Aubusson.

After the abolition of religious freedom in France by Louis XIV with the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, Jean I Barraband fled with many other tapestries from Aubusson. He followed the Potsdam Edict of the Great Elector and went to Berlin in 1686.

Barraband was married to a sister of the carpenter Pierre I Mercier. Known from the marriage are the son and successor Jean II Barraband and a daughter who is married to Guillaume Serres, the parliamentary advocate from Grenoble. The Serres were later through their daughter Guillaumine Henriette (* 1711, † 1795) in-laws of the Magdeburg Réfugié descendants and jeweler Moyse Garrigue (* 1708, † 1750). In the list of people of the French colony as of December 31, 1700, both Barraband and his brother-in-law Mercier are named as residents of Friedrichstadt. Jean I Barraband died in Berlin in 1709.

Act

The religious refugee and tapestry maker Pierre I Mercier from Aubusson, the brother-in-law of Jean I Barraband, applied to the Great Elector for a patent for the manufacture of tapestries immediately after his arrival in Brandenburg . He received approval on November 7th, 1686 and founded a factory which he ran together with his brother-in-law Jean I Barraband under the name "Mercier and Barraband". The place of origin of the two artists, Aubusson, was world-famous at the time for its tapestry factories. The origin of picture knitting goes back to the 15th century. At times, Aubusson was a supplier to the French royal court.

Monbijou Castle, around 1739/40

The new picture weaving factory of Mercier and Barraband located in Monbijou Castle not only had excellent specialists with the two leading heads, but also had a number of other specialists among the French Réfugiers . The manufactory produced tapestries with gold, silver, silk and wool that were used to decorate the electoral and later royal residences.

In addition to his work as a partner of Pierre I Merciers, Barraband ran another picture knitting workshop on his own account. One of the works from the manufactory that became particularly well-known is the series of six picture knitwear based on designs by the court painter Rutger von Langerfeld , which the French colony gave to Elector Friedrich III. to glorify the war acts of his father (the Great Elector), the patron of the colony. The carpets appeared in 1693. Over time, the manufactory had acquired the function of a royal manufacture for the art-loving regent Friedrich.

After the death of Jean I Barraband in 1709, his son Jean II Barraband took over his father's carpet weaving workshop. He also became a partner of Pierre Mercier in the royal manufactory, which he greatly expanded.

literature

• Eduard Muret: History of the French Colony in Brandenburg-Prussia , Büchsenstein, Berlin, 1885, p. 46 and 322 ( digitized version ).
• Paul Seidel : The production of tapestries in Berlin , In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections , Volume 12, Issue 3, 1891, pp. 137–155.
• Franziska Windt: Jean II Barraband - Tapestry “The Audience with the Emperor of China” , Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2000.

Web links

• Oeuvre d'Art d'Aubusson, VII - Works of art from Aubusson
• Pierre Mercier is appointed as a court wallpaper maker
• Tapestries by Barraband, Mercier and Vigne
• Carpet manufacturer Vigne, Barraband

Individual evidence

1. ^ [1] François Garnier
2. ↑ Johannes Fischer: The French Colony of Magdeburg, Magdeburger Kultur- und Wirtschaftsleben No. 22, 1942, pages 150/151