Lorenz Natter

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Johann Lorenz Natter

Johann Lorenz Natter (born March 21, 1705 in Biberach an der Riss ; † October 27, 1763 in St. Petersburg ) was a German gemstone cutter , gem cutter and medalist .

Life

Portrait of the English freedom hero Algernon Sidney
Gemme, executed in 1683 by Lorenz Natter around 1740
Medal for the coronation of George III. to King of Great Britain
Lorenz Natter 1761

Lorenz Natter was born on March 21, 1705 in a house on the fruit market in Biberach an der Riss as the son of the yarn maker Ulrich Natter and first learned the goldsmith's trade in his hometown before he started an apprenticeship with the seal cutter Bernhard Ochs , a relative of the engraver , in 1724 Johann Rudolf Ochs went to Bern . Contemporaries described him with the words. "Gifted with great talents, he made significant progress even under mediocre guidance, and since he ceaselessly strived for perfection, his reputation as one of the most famous and ingenious gem engravers was soon established." He also worked in Neuchâtel for the gem cutter Johann Hug , who previously worked as an engraver at the Bern mint.

In order to perfect his knowledge, he traveled to Italy , studied in Venice , from 1732 to 1735 in the service of the art-savvy Tuscan Grand Duke Gian Gastone de 'Medici , who sent him to Florence , where he carried out a number of works on them the portraits of his prince and cardinal Alessandros Albani also belonged, which he called "ΝΑΤΤΕΡ έποίει" .

In Florence, Lorenz Natter met the antiquarian Baron Philipp von Stosch , who instructed him in the history of antiquity and accepted him into the Masonic lodge he had just founded in Florence. Two years before the Grand Duke of Tuscany and with him the Medici dynasty would die out in the male line, Lorenz Natter left the court to continue his studies of antiquity in Rome . In Rome, Pope Clement XII honored . his work with an award.

In 1740 he moved to London to the court of George III. of Great Britain , who was also Elector of Hanover . In England learned Lorenz Natter his wife and married her later that year. In 1742 he made a medal for Sir Robert Walpole , the first and powerful Prime Minister of Great Britain, as well as a gem in five layers, to which he gave the title "Victorious Britannia" . Both are among his main works. He received an award when the Antiquarian Society in London accepted him with full honors among its members. He retaliated by publishing a specialist work in 1754 entitled "Traité de la méthode antique de graver en pierres fines comparée avec la méthode modern expliquée en diverse planches" in English and French with 37 copperplate engravings briefly and simply explained the ancient stones and showed his extensive knowledge of history and mythology . Since his excellent reputation as a medalist preceded him by far, he received commissions from many European royal courts.

In 1757 he traveled to the Dutch court of William IV of Orange in The Hague , where he was solemnly appointed senior medalist and where some of his other works were created. He then stayed for a long time at the court of King Christian VI. of Denmark , who rewarded him royally and where he gained further fame.

Further stations of his unsteady wandering life were the Medailleur Centers Stockholm and Dresden , which were then Paris . In 1761 he made the official medal for the coronation of George III. from Great Britain and his wife Charlotte. Most recently, on the advice of Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin , who was the chief steward of Tsarina Elizabeth Petrovna and a well-known expert art collector, he traveled to Saint Petersburg in 1762 , fell ill on the way and with difficulty reached Petersburg, where he was far away from his homeland on October 27, 1763 after a long suffering died at the age of 57.

meaning

Few works by him have survived. His work "Traité de la méthode antique de graver en pierres fines comparée avec la méthode modern expliquée en diverse planches" exists in a French and a rarer English edition. Natter is an outstanding and early representative of the classical style in the glyptic of the 18th century. He mastered gem cutting like no other. For practice purposes, he cut old gems so deceptively real that it was difficult to tell the copy from the original. One of these "works" is the " Medusa of Sophicles" . Several of his gems bear the "Υςοχδ" , which he used for water snake, which led the well-known dactyliothecar Philipp Daniel Lippert to mistakenly mistake these works for Greek works. Usually he drew works with "Natter" , "N." or "JLN" .

Works

Treatises

  • Lorenz Natter: "Traité de la méthode antique de graver en pierres fines comparée avec la méthode modern expliquée en diverse planches" , Haberkorn, 1754

Medals

Gems

  • Five-layer gem "Siegende Britannia" , around 1742.
  • Carnelian intaglio with Van Swieten's bust
  • Medusa from Sophicles

literature

  • Paul Beck :  Natter, Lorenz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, pp. 286-288.
  • Paul Beck: Swabian Biographies. 8. Lorenz Natter, gemstone cutter and medalist from Biberach (1705-1763) . In: Diöcesan-Archiv von Schwaben , 14th year 1896, issue 3–4, pp. 33–49 ( digitized version )
  • M. Cremer: An unknown work by the gem cutter Lorenz Natter in Koeln , Dumont Buchverlag, 1997, Volume 58, ISSN  0083-7105 , pp. 143-152
  • Fiorillo: History of the drawing arts in Great Britain p. 620ff
  • HKE Köhler: Small treatises on gemology (collected writings) , ed. by Ludwig Stephani, Petersburg 1851
  • Elisabeth Nau: Lorenz Natter 1705-1763. Gem cutter and medalist. , Biberach, 1988
  • Dieter Kapff: Lorenz Natter on his 200th birthday , in 'Swabian Homeland': Born 15, year: 1964 / S. 13
  • Ingrid S. Weber: On German gem collections and gem cutters of the 18th and 19th centuries . In: Journal for Art History . Vol. 59, No. 2 (1996), pp. 138-161

Web links

Commons : Lorenz Natter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ L. Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . Natter, Johann Lorenz in: Volume IV. Spink & Son Ltd, London 1909, p. 225 ff .
  2. ^ L. Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . Natter, Johann Lorenz in: Volume IV. Spink & Son Ltd, London 1909, p. 226 .
  3. ^ Britannia-Kameo ( Memento from May 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Landesmuseum Württemberg
personal data
SURNAME Natter, Lorenz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Natter, Johann Lorenz; Natter, Laurent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gem cutter and medalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1705
PLACE OF BIRTH Biberach an der Riss
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1763
Place of death St. Petersburg