Johannes Rottenhammer

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Johannes Rottenhammer, engraved posthumously by Lucas Kilian (1579–1637)
Venus and Cupid (1596), drawing perhaps in connection with his marriage, red and black chalk

Johannes Rottenhammer the Elder (* 1564 in Munich ; † August 14, 1625 in Augsburg ) was a German draftsman and painter of Mannerism and early Baroque . His cabinet pictures, painted on copper , hang in many important galleries in Europe.

Life

Hans Rottenhammer was born in Munich in 1564 as the son of a court employee. In 1582 he began a six-year apprenticeship with the court painter Hans Donauer the Elder , before moving to Italy. In 1589 his trace can be found in Treviso, on the usual route to Venice , where he settled in 1591 and drew after the paintings of well-known Venetian masters. In 1594 Rottenhammer went to Rome to perfect himself in drawing with Federico Zuccari at the Accademia di San Luca. In Rome he got to know the Flemings Paul Bril and Jan Brueghel the Elder , both established landscape painters, who found Rottenhammer to be a skilled figure painter for their small-format landscapes on copper. A collaboration with the two artists came about, which lasted well beyond their time together in Rome. Despite his success, Rottenhammer returned to Venice in 1595 to establish his own workshop for small-format painting on copper. A year later he married the Venetian Elisabetta di Fabris. Rottenhammer was at the zenith of his work and worked with Palma il Giovane , Hendrik van Balen and Adam Elsheimer . His precious little collector's items were in great demand on the rapidly expanding art market at the time.

From 1600 he maintained contacts with the Prague court, especially with Emperor Rudolf II , who acquired the gods' meal for the imperial collections . Rottenhammer had already supplied customers from across the Alps from Venice, according to Count Ernst von Holstein-Schaumburg , whom he later also visited at Bückeburg Castle and who Anton Boten sent to him as an apprentice. Increasing orders from the north may have induced Rottenhammer to settle in Augsburg in 1606. Here he soon said goodbye to cabinet painting on copper and instead created larger formats, including altar paintings and frescoes. His illustrious name secured him orders from such prominent clients as the Fugger family or Duke Maximilian of Bavaria . Rottenhammer's time in Augsburg, however, was also characterized by personal decline. The excessive consumption of alcohol more and more impaired his work, which at times came to a complete standstill. Rottenhammer died impoverished on August 14, 1625 in Augsburg.

plant

Minerva and the Muses on the Helicon , cabinet picture, oil on copper, around 1603.
Marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite , cabinet picture, oil on copper, 1600. The still life with fruits, fish and oysters by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Ä.
Wedding at Cana , cabinet picture, oil on copper, 1606.

Rottenhammer was a highly valued artist in his time, whose paintings were in demand all over Europe. Even today, the presence of his pictures in the great museums of the world from St. Petersburg to Amsterdam and London to Los Angeles testifies to the artist's importance. His collaboration with the Dutch Paul Bril and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Ä. around 1595 in Rome marked the beginning of the cabinet picture painted on copper in Europe. Rottenhammer's influence as a figure painter can also be seen in the work of his colleague Hendrik van Balen and his pupil Adam Elsheimer . In the second half of his career in Augsburg, Rottenhammer painted large altarpieces for Munich and Augsburg churches as well as designs for reliefs and sculptures. Many of his frescos were in the Munich residence .

Catalog raisonné

  • Neptune and Minerva in front of a muse making music - pen drawing (1596, Louis Deglatigny collection, Rouen)
  • Madonna with the Saints - oil on copper (around 1596, Weser Renaissance Museum , Brake Castle )
  • Rest on the run - oil painting (1597, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Schwerin)
  • The Last Judgment - Oil Painting (1598, Alte Pinakothek )
  • The Last Judgment - Oil Painting (1598, Alte Pinakothek)
  • The Adoration of the Brazen Serpent - pen drawing (1599)
  • Wedding of Neptune and Amphitrite - oil painting (1600)
  • The Whitsun miracle - pen drawing (around 1600)
  • The Baptism of Christ in the Jordan - Oil painting (around 1600, German Baroque Gallery in Augsburg)
  • The Allegory of the Arts - oil painting (around 1600, Gemäldegalerie Berlin )
  • Diana and Actaeon (1602, Alte Pinakothek)
  • Minerva and the Muses on the Helikon - oil on copper (around 1603, Weser Renaissance Museum, Brake Castle)
  • Minerva with the Muses on the Helikon (1603, Germanisches Nationalmuseum )
  • The fall of Phaeton - oil painting (around 1604, Gemäldegalerie Berlin)
  • All Saints' Day - Altarpiece in the St. Max Church in Augsburg (1614)
  • Satyr with nymph approaching Venus in clouds - pen drawing (1619)
  • Madonna with Child and Little John - pen drawing (around 1620)
  • Augusta and the four river gods - (1622, Schaezlerpalais in Augsburg)
  • Annunciation - oil painting (undated)
  • Angels making music - ceiling painting (n.d.)
  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt (n.d.)
  • Pilate shows the people the scourged Jesus (no year, - oil painting, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel)
  • Altar painting in the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Munich (no year)
Cristo e l'adultera.

Rottenhammer's best-known work, which depicts Neptune's wedding with Amphitrite, was commissioned for Rudolf II. It is now on display in the Hermitage (Saint Petersburg) .

He is now also credited with an interpretation of the Bible scene Jesus and the Adulteress , which inspired Theodor Fontane to write his story L'Adultera . It had previously been assumed that the painting was by Jacopo Tintoretto .

literature

Web links

Commons : Johannes Rottenhammer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information at Augsburger-Kirchen.de
personal data
SURNAME Rottenhammer, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter (baroque)
DATE OF BIRTH 1564
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1625
Place of death augsburg