Matthias Quad

Map of Flanders from Quad (1609)

Mat (t) hias Quad (* 1557 in Deventer ; † before October 29, 1613 in Eppingen ) was a historical and geographical writer, engraver and schoolmaster.

Matthias Quad was born in the Dutch city of Deventer in 1557, as the son of Wilhelm Quad and Maria von Gülich, from a noble family in the Rhineland, which was already baronial in the 17th century. Von Kinckelbach , however, only calls himself Teutscher Nation Herligkeit in his last known work . Kinckelbach was once one of the fiefdoms of the Lower Rhine Baronate Wickerad . It was a castle or an estate belonging to the Quadschen family. Quad returned with his parents to Wickrathberg in his childhood , the headquarters of this Quad branch, before he was sent to the Palatinate for training.

Apprenticeship and wandering years

In the Electoral Palatinate he attended the pedagogy in Heidelberg from 1567 to 1572 and then the Neuhausen school . After the death of Friedrich III. raised the strictly Lutheran successor, Elector Ludwig VI. left school, and Quad left the Palatinate before finishing his studies. Nothing is known about the next few years in Quad's life, because it is difficult to infer from his writings which countries he has traveled. During this time he made the acquaintance of silversmiths and became interested in wood and copper engraving . After his travels, Quad went back to Deventer to work for the goldsmith Heinrich Friesen. An engraving with Quads monogram Q is known as early as 1583 .

Cologne 1587 to 1604

The next stop in Quad's life was Cologne , because there a flourishing publishing book trade , especially cartographic ones, offered the artists employment. A leading engraver who also lived in Cologne was Frans Hogenberg . In 1592 Quad's first literary work was created, a kind of atlas in which the text was printed on the back of the cards. Mathias Quad joined the German Reformed congregation in 1593 and married Margreth Stupers after setting up as an independent master in Cologne. Of the children of this marriage, only Anna (baptized 1601) and Florence (baptized 1603) are known to us.

In a period of only twelve years, from 1592 to the end of 1604, Quad wrote 18 historical-geographical writings. Almost all of these works were published in Cologne, mostly by Johann Bussemacher and Wilhelm Lützenkirchen. They are partly written in Latin and partly in German. In addition to this extensive writing activity, there were numerous smaller depictions in copperplate and woodcut.

As a participant in a forbidden worship gathering of members of the German Reformed community in 1599, Quad was sentenced to a heavy fine. Since he could not pay this, he had to leave Cologne. The departure of the Quad family from Cologne is documented for the end of October 1604. Presumably he was allowed to complete his present work. After leaving Cologne, two more works were published: Fasciculus geographicus (Cologne 1608) and Teutscher Nation Herligkeit (Cologne 1609).

Last years of life in Weinheim and Eppingen (1608 to 1613)

Matthis Quad fecit (detail of the map above)

Nothing is known about Quad's work until June 24, 1608, when he took up the post of rector at the Reformed Latin School in Weinheim an der Bergstrasse. His early release in 1610 is noted in the files with the following note: "Has been deposed because of negligence". What this negligence consisted of is not known.

On July 6, 1612 he became a collaborator at the Reformed Latin School in Eppingen, where Wendelinus Grevius was the rector at the time. The collaborator's salary was 62 florins ( guilders ), of which 52 florins were paid from the Electoral Palatinate collection (asset management) and 10 florins from the benefices of the city. He also received wine, oats, spelled and a "comfortable home". Quad only held this office for a short time. He probably died before October 29, 1613, as his successor, Christoph Gilgenmeyr, was appointed at that time.

Quad's oeuvre comprises 20 titles, if you disregard the similarity or further development of various works, which have appeared in 32 editions.

literature

• Reinhard Hauke: Mathias Quad von Kinckelbach. A copperplate engraver, historical-geographical writer and schoolmaster, died in Eppingen in 1613 . In: Around the Ottilienberg. Contributions to the history of the city of Eppingen and the surrounding area . Volume 3. Eppingen 1985, pp. 384-401 (with 7 illustrations)
• Reinhard Hauke: Mathias Quad von Kinckelbach (1557-1613). A historico-geographic writer around 1600 . In: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research . Episode 8, 1983, pp. 123-130 (2 figs.)
• Johann Jakob Merlo :  Matthias Quad . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, p. 1 f.
• Peter H. Meurer :  Quad, Matthias. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 28 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Wilhelm Waetzoldt: German art historian. From Sandrart to Rumohr . Seemann, Leipzig 1921, DNB 36860831X , pp. 20-23.

Web links

Wikisource: Matthias Quad  - sources and full texts

Commons : Matthias Quad  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Matthias Quad in the catalog of the German National Library