Michel Sittow

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Portrait of Catherine of Aragon
Portrait of the Danish King Christian II
Portrait of Don Diego de Guevara, Treasurer of Margaret of Austria , ca.1517

Michel Sittow (* 1469 ? In Reval / Tallinn ; † 1525 or 1526 there ) was a German-Baltic painter.

Life

Michel Sittow was born as the first of three children of the cabinet maker and painter Clawes van der Sittow († 1482) and his second wife, the Finnish-Swedish merchant's daughter Margarethe Molner (or Mölnare). His father had come to Tallinn from Mecklenburg in 1454 to marry his first wife and was a member of the influential Tallinn Canoeists . At first Michel Sittow learned the art profession from his father, from 1484 with Hans Memling in Bruges .

From 1492 to 1504 Michel Sittow worked at the court of the Castilian Queen Isabella I. He was active in Toledo , Avila , Barcelona , Madrid , Seville , Burgos , Granada and other Spanish cities. His paths also led him to the service of the governor of the Netherlands, Duke Philip I of Burgundy Sittow, who is mentioned in Spanish texts as Melchior Aleman . He probably painted the portrait of the English King Henry VII around 1507 .

With the death of Philip I in 1506, Sittow lost his most important patron . In 1506 he returned to Tallinn because of his mother's death and inheritance disputes. He initially worked as a journeyman and in 1507 submitted his official masterpiece to become a member of the Kanutilde.

In 1514 Michel Sittow received a call from Copenhagen to paint the portrait of the Danish King Christian II . In 1515 he worked at various European courts, especially in the southern Netherlands in the service of the Austrian governor Margarete and in Spain.

In 1517 he finally returned to Tallinn. In 1518 he married the wealthy merchant's daughter Dorothie Allunsze. Their son Michel died in the 1530s. In 1523 Sittow Aldermann became the Kanutilde and joined the Reformation in the same year . Probably shortly before Christmas 1525, Michel Sittow died of the plague in Tallinn . He was buried in the Tallinn Nikolaikirche .

Appreciation

Michael Sittow was one of the most technically skilled painters in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. About 30 works by him have been preserved. Above all, his portraits and images of saints are masterpieces of the time. He also created book miniatures and altar paintings . His paintings are always undated. A signature is missing.

In his hometown Reval, a memorial plaque was placed in his honor on the building at Raderstraße 22 (Estonian: Rataskaevu 22).

Literary

Michel Sittow is the main character in Jaan Kross ' historical novel Neli monoloogi Püha Jüri asjus (1970; German Four Monologues Anno Domini 1506 , 1974).

literature

  • Eesti Kunstimuuseum (Ed.): Michel Sittow 1469–1525. The Artist connecting Estonia with the Southern Netherlands. Tallinn 2002, ISBN 9985-78-255-0 .
  • Jazeps Trizna: Michel Sittow. Peintre revalais de l'école brugeoise (1468–1525 / 1526) . Les primitifs flamands. III. Contributions à l'étude des primitifs flamands, 6, Brussels, 1976.
  • Paul Johansen : Master Michel Sittow, court painter to Queen Isabella of Castiliën and citizen of Reval . In: Yearbook of the Prussian Art Collections LXI (1940) pp. 1–36.
  • Matthias Less: Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes. Three painters from the north at the court of Isabella of Castile . Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2009, ISBN 978-3-933598-55-4 .

Web links

Commons : Michel Sittow  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Sittow, Michel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sittow, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian painter
DATE OF BIRTH around 1469
PLACE OF BIRTH Tallinn
DATE OF DEATH 1525 or 1526
Place of death Tallinn