Johann Brabender

Johann Brabender (* 1498/99 in Münster ; † 1561/62 ibid) was a German sculptor of the late Middle Ages.

His late Gothic works in transition to the Renaissance can be found in Westphalia and northern Germany, primarily in Münster, Osnabrück and Hildesheim . Unlike his father Heinrich Brabender , who worked exclusively in stone, Johann Brabender created works of stone and wood.

Life

Johann Brabender was the son of the sculptor Heinrich Brabender (* around 1475, † around 1537), who had his workshop in Münster with the exception of the years 1534/35 during the Anabaptist Empire . The origin of the family is not documented. His father was also known as Hinrich Beldensnyder alias Brabant , which could indicate his origin or that of his ancestors from the Duchy of Brabant . Heinrich Brabender and his wife Elisabeth had two sons, Johann Brabender and Franz Brabender († 1556), both of whom became sculptors like their father.

Johann Brabender's grandfather could have been Mester Henrich von Brabant , mentioned as a doctor in the Münster civil register in 1475 , who was naturalized in Münster with his wife Alheidis that year and probably moved from Coesfeld . It is possible that his great-grandfather was the Steinbicker Cope Brabant, who lived in Coesfeld in 1561 and whose name Brabant suggests its origins in what is now Belgium.

The father's workshop was in the parish of St. Martini at the end of the road no. 5 at the end of a dead end to the Aa . It is not known when Johann Brabender entered his father's workshop. After his apprenticeship, his years of travel could have taken him to the Netherlands. It is possible that he was also a pupil of Evert van Roden , whose large sculpture workshop in Münster is documented between 1485 and 1517. The first work that Johann Brabender is personally assigned by his master's mark dates from 1534/35. It is a representation of Ecce homo on the epitaph of Canon Berthold Bischopinck († 1534) in St. Mauritz Church in Münster.

Johann Brabender married Juliane Schroderken, who owned property such as part of a property on Bergstrasse. She was the natural daughter of Gerhard Schroderken, who worked as a canon , thesaurar and Bursner in the "Alter Dom" monastery at St. Paulus Cathedral in Münster and, like his brothers, the cathedral dean Franz Schroderken and the wall tailor, fellow elector and councilor Jasper Schroderken, was one of the city's notables. Her aunt Anna was married to the councilor Gerd Kibbenbrock, who was the Anabaptist mayor in 1534 and was slain by his mercenaries after the city was retaken by Franz von Waldeck's troops .

With Juliane Schroderken Johann Brabender had three children, the sons Jasper and Johann and the daughter Clara. His sister-in-law, Julian's unmarried sister Merrie († 1560) also belonged to the household, at least for a time. She wrote her will in 1550 in the voir-trumpeted master Johan Beldensnyders usual wonstedde in the Wegesenden . In her will, she considered Juliane to be the chief heiress for the sake of her voluntary service . She left Juliane honor huyß, and hoiff, with the halven spyker (..) at the Berchstraithen . Around 1537 Johann Brabender took over his father's workshop. There is no evidence of his own workshop for his brother Franz, who was also a sculptor. He probably worked in his brother's. Johann Brabender's workshop flourished, especially since after the iconoclasm in the time of the Anabaptist Empire, many works of art in the churches of Münster were destroyed or damaged and had to be replaced. His father's sculptures, which were probably knocked down by vandalizing Anabaptists in the spring of 1534, were used to strengthen the fortifications. They were only uncovered in 1897/1898 during targeted excavations at the former cross gate.

Like his father, Johann Brabender played a role in the public life of the city of Münster. In 1558 he held the office of Scheffer in the Steinhauer guild and in this function supported the elderly man in the administration of the finances. In 1656, as guild master, he represented the interests of stone carvers in the general guild. In the political events of the city he was involved when he in 1560 to Kurgenossen the Martini Leischaft was elected and as such the city council with elected. His membership of the Brotherhood of Our Lady and St. Johannis , which has been documented since 1538, tied him into a social network. In the brotherhood he held various offices, including those of the Scheffer, the landlord and the waiter . Because of his offices, like his father before him, he belonged to the city's second social class . His children, including the sculptor Jasper, no longer achieved this status.

The three children Johann and Juliane Brabender were not of legal age when he died. In 1564, the City Council of Munster appointed two members of the Brotherhood of Our Lady and St. Johannis as guardians of the children. It was Gerdt Billick, who was probably an iron smith, and the master mason Jakob Grolle. The widow Juliane Brabender managed the workshop until the son Jasper (also Casper ) could take over as master.

Works

Johann Brabender's works are influenced by the Westphalian sculpting tradition, but incorporate elements of the Renaissance and are independent and unmistakable. In addition to his brother Franz, other stone and wood carvers belonged to his workshop. At least three main employees, whose names are not known, are likely to have worked in his workshop.

Muenster

In the first decade of his work until around the middle of the 1540s, Johann Brabender mostly worked for Münster, which had lost many works during the Anabaptist period, and for the surrounding area.

One of the most extensive tasks of Brabender and his workshop was the high-Gothic hall lettner of St. Paulus Cathedral in Münster, which was started around 1536 and made of Baumberg sandstone . It was originally colored. Probably Brabender integrated parts of an earlier rood screen that was destroyed during the time of the Munster Anabaptist Empire. In 1542 the rood screen was completed. It was canceled in 1870 after there had been deliberations about it as early as 1849, as it was an obstacle to the service and made it impossible for the public to attend the service for the most part . This meant looking at the sacrifice of the Mass. Parts of the rood screen were stored in the cloister and in the chapels of the cathedral until it was loaned to the Westphalian Provincial Museum, now the LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History , in 1909 . It was damaged during the Second World War on the night of July 9, 1941, and from 2004 it was partially reconstructed in the atrium of the State Museum.

From 1535 to 1540, Saint Paul is made of Baumberger sandstone at the paradise of the cathedral . The fall of man from the paradise of the cathedral, which was probably donated by canon Dietrich von Meschede († 1545), is regarded as an important work by Johann Brabender . The Fall of Man group, created between 1545 and 1540, was removed from the outer wall of the Paradise portal in 1864 and has been in the Westphalian State Museum since 1973.

The more than 13 meter high sacrament house from Brabender's workshop (around 1536/1537) in the cathedral has not been preserved. It was destroyed in the Second World War, except for a shaft ring that is kept in the cathedral chamber. The repository of the Holy Oils (around 1536 36) from Brabender's workshop is used as the sacrament house in the cathedral; it originally stood on the south-east pillar of the choir yoke and was erected in 1983 on the north-east pillar of the crossing .

The sculptures of the Apostles' walk made between 1536 and 1550, made of Baumberger sandstone, still show remains of the original color, as does the crucifixion altar (around 1540/50) of the cathedral, which is part of the inventory of the State Museum. The epitaph of Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Bischopinck († 1543) made of Baumberger sandstone with the adoration of the Magi is located in the Marienkapelle of St. Paulus-Doms . In 1953, the standing figure of Katharina von Alexandrien (around 1540) made of Baumberger sandstone was put back in its original place on a central nave pillar in the nave of the cathedral after it had been installed in 1883 above the entrance to the sacrament chapel. It is painted in the same color as the epitaph of the cathedral dean Theodor von Schade († 1521), which was created in 1540/45 and is located on the north-west pillar of the central nave, probably the original location.

The middle part of the epitaph altar of Canon Melchior von Büren d. Ä. († 1546) came back to St. Paulus Cathedral in 1989 as a loan from the Westphalian State Museum, where it is now in the Kreuzkapelle. Melchior von Büren donated the Johannes-Paulus-Altar for the cathedral, the figures of which were first brought to Mesum after the altar was demolished in the 17th century and have been in the State Museum since the early 20th century.

In the parish church Lambertikirche St. Lamberti in Münster a crucifixion group (around 1540/50) has been preserved, on which Franz Brabender also worked. It is located on the north-west pillar of the tower.

The fireplace in the Heeremanschen Hof on Königsstrasse in Münster from around 1540 has not been preserved.

Osnabrück

From Osnabrück Johann Brabender got the order for the baptismal font of St. Marienkirche as well as the epitaph for Johannes Mellinghaus († 1561), the dean of St. John's Church. They belong to his late work and were written in 1560, shortly before his death. Mellinghaus himself commissioned the epitaph.

Hildesheim

Domlettner in Hildesheim

In Hildesheim, Johann Brabender made the chancellor of the Hildesheim Cathedral , which the Canon Arnold Freytag († 1546) had donated for 2,000 gold florins . It is more influenced by the Renaissance than other works by Brabender. The rood screen was dismantled in 1942 and rebuilt in the St. Antonius Church in 1960/61. The rood screen also included the triumphal cross , which is also located in St. Anthony's Church.

Other places

Deviating from his usual program, Johann Brabender created a fireplace in the 1550s, which is located in the garden room of Drensteinfurt Castle , and an oriel of Burgsteinfurt Castle . A crucifixion relief from around 1530/40, which was located in a wayside shrine between Hohenholte and Altenberge, was put back in the parish church of St. Georg in Hohenholte , the former monastery church, after the restoration . The epitaph of the Prioress Richmond von Warendorp († 1503), which had been in a picture house, was also housed there.

In the former monastery church of Marienfeld Monastery , a crucifixion group, on which Johann Brabender's brother Franz also worked, from the late 30s of the 16th century and a crescent moon Madonna from around 1545/50 have been preserved. The figures of Saints Anna, Dorothea and Elisabeth (around 1540/50), which Brabender and his workshop created for the Marienfeld Abbey, which was closed in 1803, are privately owned.

It was only recently that Brabender was assigned the crucifixion group (around 1540) in the parish church of St. Martin in Benninghausen . It was restored in 1914 by Anton Mormann from Wiedenbrück. The figure group of Anna Selbdritt (around 1540) is located in the parish church of St. Martin in Südkirchen . The renaissance cup of the baptismal font of the provost church of St. Georg in Vechta on a late Gothic shaft was created by Brabender around 1540.

Around 1557 Johann Brabender created the grave figure of Count Konrad von Tecklenburg († 1557), the last Tecklenburger Count of the House of Schwerin. The tomb is located in the Protestant parish church of Tecklenburg .

literature

• Nora Benninghoff:  Brabender, Johann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 502 ( digitized version ).
• Géza Jászai: Johann Brabender (1498 / 99–1562) . In: Robert Stupperich (ed.): Westfälische Lebensbilder , Vol. 16. Aschendorff, Münster 2000, pp. 62–81.
• Roswitha Neu-Kock : Johann Brabender (= picture books of the Westphalian State Museum for Art and Cultural History Münster ; 5). Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe, Westphalian State Museum for Art and Cultural History, Münster 1977.
• Hermann Arnhold (ed.): The Brabender. Sculpture at the transition from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Aschendorff, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-402-03509-X .

Web links

• Literature by and about Johann Brabender in the catalog of the German National Library
• Artwork of the month in October 1983: Johann Brabender's depiction of the Fall of Man for the Münster Cathedral on the website of the Westphalian State Museum for Art and Cultural History Münster

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reinhard Karrenbrock: Evert van Roden. The master of the high altar of the Osnabrück Johanniskirche. A contribution to sculpture of the late Gothic (= Osnabrück historical sources and research. Vol. 31). Wenner, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-87898-332-8 , p. 151 (also: Münster, Universität, dissertation, 1987/1988).
2. ^ Karl-Heinz Kirchhoff: Painters and families of painters in Münster between 1350 and 1534. In: Westphalia. Vol. 55, No. 1/2, 1977, ISSN  0043-4337 , pp. 98-110.
3. ↑ Anabaptist Mayor Gerd Kibbenbrock ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
4. ↑ ^{a b} Münster City Archives, Court Archives, Testaments I, No. 676.
5. ↑ Ralf Klötzer: Dressing, dining, lodging. Welfare for the poor and social foundations in Münster in the 16th century. (1535–1588) (= Studies on the history of poor relief and social policy in Münster. Vol. 3 = Sources and research on the history of the city of Münster. Series B: Monographs. No. 5). Aschendorff, Münster 1997, ISBN 3-402-06640-8 , p. 323.
6. ↑ The architectural and art monuments of Westphalia. Volume 41: Max Geisberg : The City of Münster. Part 5: The cathedral. Aschendorff, Münster 1937, p. 105 (photomechanical reprint, supplemented by marginalia to identify the objects still existing in 1977. Hermes, Warburg 1977, ISBN 3-402-05094-3 ).