Konrad Gobel

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Konrad Gobel (also Conrad Gobel or Göbel ) or Konrad von Frankfurt (* ~ 1498/1499 in Frankfurt am Main ; † December 27, 1568 there ) was a German bell founder and gunsmith and came from a well-known German family of bronze, gun and bell foundries in Frankfurt in the 16th century.

biography

The son of Niklas ( Nicolaus ) Gobel († 1508), pot maker and gunsmith from Dinkelsbühl , and Margarethe Hase from Frankfurt was born around 1498/99. From the 16th century, the arts and trades flourished in Frankfurt am Main. Presumably he was trained in Mainz. In 1526, the City Council of Frankfurt appointed him head of the foundry, which he either took over from his widowed and remarried mother or from his brother Simon Gobel , who had already been in charge in 1521. In 1528 Konrad became a citizen and at the same time a gunsmith of the city. His activities culminated in the rich bell foundry in the 1540s and a decade later in the casting of guns. He had an accident in 1553 and defaulted on deliveries for the council. As a result, he had to give up his position as gunsmith. In 1560 he handed over his workshop to his son Nikolaus (1530–1576). Gobel was married to a Veronika Schöffer, daughter of the Mainz book printer Ivo Schöffer. He died in Frankfurt on December 27, 1568.

Bells

From his workshop came two bells from 1544 and 1545 in the church of St. Stephan in Mainz and one bell from 1557 in the parish church of St. Laurentius in Ebersheim in Rheinhessen (sold on by the parish in 1920), which distinguish themselves from other bells by the fact that Casts of medals and cut stones, including ancient coins, are attached to them and distinguish him as a virtuoso artist of the Renaissance and connoisseur of Italian medal art.

In ringing in the fortified church to Klein-Umstadt one is also bronze bell from Konrad received. It is the oldest triple bell and is dated 1541 on the bell. An inscription runs around the shoulder between round bars. Coins showing men busting also serve as word separators and ornaments . The inscriptions on the coins are illegible today. There is a standing flower frieze under the lower bridge . On the flank there are two reliefs with the resurrection of Christ and the adoration of the kings .

From his work are still known:

Gun casting

Gobel used the molding process, which was new at the time, instead of the usual cast in wax boxes. His falcon for Braunfels Castle , dated 1538, is rated as one of the most important masterpieces of German gun foundry of the Renaissance . In 1539 he had cast two cannons for Frankfurt, which are known to us as Justitia and Nemesis and which together weighed “120 hundredweight and 2 pounds” (~ 6001 kg). By 1554 he had cast ten field snakes for the city of Frankfurt and twelve more were planned for the next two years. In 1560 he offered the city of Frankfurt to cast two new cannons, each weighing about three tons, using the material of old field snakes. They should each be decorated with a “ wild man ” and a “wild woman”. They were probably already made by his son Nicolaus.

Metal casting

Gobel also poured a small bronze plaque , now in the Gewerbemuseum zu Berlin, which, according to the testamentary provision, was placed in the coffin of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg , Archbishop of Mainz, and a magnificent chandelier for the west choir of the Mainz Cathedral , which no longer exists today is.

literature

  • Rudolf Bergau:  Gobel, Konrad . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 297.
  • Sebastian Scholz: The inscriptions of the city of Darmstadt and the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Groß-Gerau , Wiesbaden 1999, No. 173 (DI49); Online at www.inschriften.net
  • Saur, Comité International d'Histoire de l 'Art, German Documentation Center for Art History Karlsruhe: General Artist Lexicon - The visual artists of all times and peoples , Volume 56, KG Saur Verlag, Munich - Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-22796- 7 . P. 322 f.
  • Schneider, Friedrich: Conrat Gobel, Giesser in Frankfurt around the middle of the 16th century , In: Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art (AFGK) 14 (1877), pp. 415-422.
  • Euler, Ludwig Heinrich: Addition to: Conrat Gobel, Giesser zu Frankfurt around the middle of the 16th century , In: AFGK 14 (1877), pp. 423–424.

Individual references, comments

  1. ^ Day of funeral; unknown whether also the day of death
  2. ↑ Conrad's mother was later with the of Bingen originating caster married Martin Steffen third wife and Steffen is listed as operators of urban foundry in Frankfurt
  3. ↑ a b c d Scholz: The inscriptions of the city of Darmstadt and the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Groß-Gerau , no. 173 on www.inschriften.net
  4. ↑ a b c d e Saur: Allg. Artist Lexicon , p. 323
  5. ↑ Scholz: The inscriptions of the city of Darmstadt and the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Groß-Gerau , No. 218 † on www.inschriften.net
  6. ↑ 1000 years of Mainz Cathedral
  7. ↑ Archive for the artillery and engineer officers of the German Reich , Volume 19, 1846, In: Part IV: On the history of guns on the Rhine and in the neighboring countries ... , p. 116
personal data
SURNAME Gobel, Konrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gobel, Conrad; Göbel, Konrad; Frankfurt, Konrad von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bell founder and gunsmith
DATE OF BIRTH around 1498
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1568
Place of death Frankfurt am Main