Johann Aken
Johann Aken (* possibly around 1629 in Danzig ; † 1689 in Riga , Livonia ) was a Baroque painter who worked in the Baltic Sea region .
Life
Little is known about the artist. Johann Aken worked as a painter in Danzig and Lübeck . In 1662 at the latest, he settled in Tallinn, Estonia (German Reval ). Previous ties to the city probably already existed. The Aken family has been recorded in Tallinn since 1552.
Tallinn City Hall
The best-known surviving work by Johann Akens was created for the extensive renovation of the city hall of the Estonian capital in the 17th century. The council chamber is adorned with eight lunette pictures with text legends on biblical topics, which Johann Aken had made in 1667. The pictures are painted on canvas. Two pictures are combined in an arched field. Influences of the art of Rembrandt and Rubens could be proven.
The motifs of the lunette pictures mainly concern court scenes, which are explained by verses with moralizing instructions. The pictures indicate the supreme jurisdiction that the council exercised in the city until the 19th century. The individual scenes are
- Herodias with the head of John the Baptist
- Samson and Delilah
- Susanna before the judge
- Christ and the adulteress
- The judgment of Solomon
- Christ before Pilate
- The Queen of Sheba before Solomon
- Christ with the interest penny
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/IGI/individual_record.asp?recid=100173657776&lds=1®ion=8®ionfriendly=Germany&frompage=99
- ↑ Eesti Elulood. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 14
- ^ Eugen von Nottbeck, Wilhelm Neumann: History and art monuments of the city of Reval. Volume two: The city's art monuments. Tallinn 1904. p. 191
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aken, Johann |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aken, Johan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | uncertain: around 1629 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Danzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1689 |
| Place of death | Riga |