Johann Gregorius Höroldt

Johann Gregorius Höroldt (baptized August 6, 1696 in Jena ; † January 26, 1775 in Meißen ) was a German porcelain painter .

Meissen bowl with Höroldt chinoiserie, 1726; Meissen porcelain collection Ernst Schneider Foundation in Lustheim Palace

Höroldt was trained as a miniature and enamel painter. He came to Vienna via Strasbourg , where he worked in the porcelain manufactory newly founded by Du Paquier from 1719 to 1720 . Like Samuel Stöltzel , who had previously fled Meißen to Vienna, he moved to Meißen in May 1720 . Höroldt initially worked on his own account, hired painters and supplied the Meißen porcelain factory . In 1724 he was appointed court painter. In 1731 he became an arcanist and at the same time was appointed chief of painting and court commissioner. In 1749 he was appointed mountain ridge.

Höroldt influenced almost all European porcelain and faience manufacturers. After he had developed a specific chinoiserie painting, he broke away from it again by introducing European landscapes, harbor and battle scenes, as well as so-called “ German flowers ” and naturalistic birds as porcelain decoration.

His experiments with new dyes are of central importance: at the beginning of the 18th century only five onglaze colors were available. By 1731 Höroldt had developed a palette of 16 colors, which he published in 1731 in his book "True and correct description of enamelling or enamel colors, as I invented them with God's help".

As a painting model, Höroldt created drawings on which he captured scenes from everyday Chinese life, animals, plants, etc. These representations are very significant because they were created from the perspective of an 18th century Central European who had never seen the “Middle Kingdom”. Numerous graphic works were included in collections such as the “Schulz Codex”. Others were passed on as copper engravings from generation to generation of painters. They have served as valuable templates to this day.

Höroldt also pushed the development of porcelain-appropriate crockery shapes instead of imitating traditional metal crockery shapes.

literature

• Rainer Rückert :  Höroldt, Johann Gregor. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 362-364 ( digitized version ).
• Otto Walcha : Meissen porcelain. From the beginning to the present . Dresden: Verlag der Kunst, 1986, 8th edition, ISBN 3-364-00012-3 .
• Ulrich Pietsch: Johann Gregorius Höroldt 1696-1775 . Leipzig: Edition Leipzig, 1996, ISBN 3-361-00462-4 .
• Rainer Rückert: Biographical data of the Meißen manufacturers of the 18th century . Munich: Bavarian National Museum, 1990, ISBN 3-925058-13-3 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Johann Gregorius Höroldt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Meissen porcelain collection Ernst Schneider Foundation in Lustheim Palace