Paul Speck (master builder)

Paul Speck (* unknown, verifiable from 1532; † mid-March 1557 in Leipzig ) was a stonemason , sculptor , master craftsman and builder and one of the most important masters between the late Gothic and Renaissance in Electoral Saxony .

meaning

With regard to his demonstrable participation in the construction of important late Gothic Upper Saxon hall churches , much is still unclear in detail. What is certain, however, is that Paul Speck played a key role in the introduction and implementation of the forms of the Renaissance in Saxony in both architecture and sculpture. With a large workshop he dominated the market in large parts of Saxony for many years and was sought after and courted as a master builder. As a sculptor, Paul Speck created some of the most important portals and tombs of the early Renaissance in Upper Saxony, as well as several pulpits and baptismal fonts. As a master builder, he built some of the most important secular buildings of the time. In addition, he was a sought-after specialist in fortress and bridge construction.

life and work

The life and work of Paul Speck can be reconstructed relatively comprehensively on the basis of archival documents and work signatures. As a master builder in Leipzig , for example, he was clearly overshadowed by Hieronymus Lotter , to whom research erroneously attributed numerous important architectural designs. He was working in different cities in the country at the same time. Cities and sovereigns lured him from each other and gave him numerous perks.

The time in Freiberg

It is very likely that the master from Ehrenfriedersdorf in the Ore Mountains began his career in the Saxon-Bohemian region. Paul Speck becomes archivally accessible for the first time in 1532. In Freiberg , the patrician house Obermarkt 17 (around 1528/30) is also the oldest building that can be safely attributed to Paul Speck (through its master's mark) . The oldest Renaissance portal in Freiberg is located on the extremely representative building, which is also the oldest portal of this type in the entire Saxon region. At the same time it is one of the richest and most elaborately designed portals in Freiberg and all of Saxony. Without even being able to fall back on forerunners in the region, the standards for the rich portal work of the next decades in the region were set here. The portals in direct stylistic successions include some of the most important preserved magnificent portals (partly preserved as coarse copies) of the Central German Early Renaissance, for example in Zwickau (post office, 1535/40), Roßwein (Tuchmacherhaus, 1537) or Chemnitz (Gute Shepherd's Portal, 1542). For many of these portals, which were built up into the 1550s, it can be assumed that Paul Speck's workshop was the direct authorship due to stylistic considerations, which can often be supported by various archival references. A particular specialty of the workshop were finely crafted, highly individual portrait medallions, which most likely came regularly from Speck's own hand.

The time in Zwickau

In 1534 Paul Speck moved from Freiberg to Zwickau, where he built several private buildings, including some with very elaborate portals. From here, in 1535, Speck delivered the portrait medallions, apparently based on models by the Leipzig medalist Hans Reinhart the Elder , for the main portal of the new electoral Saxon residential palace, Schloss Hartenfels in Torgau , located in the Großer Wendelstein . Also in 1535 he made drafts for the Zwickau council for the remaining vault of the Zwickau main church St. Marien . The pulpits and baptismal fonts for St. Marien and St. Katharinen, made around 1536/38, also fall during his time in Zwickau . The pulpit of St. Marien, which consists of several individual elements, is probably the most elaborate and magnificent work of this type in the entire early Saxon Renaissance. Outside Zwickau, write-ups to Speck u. a. for the pulpit of St. Wolfgang zu Schneeberg (1540), the font in the village church of Ruppendorf near Dippoldiswalde (1529) or the font in Freiberg Cathedral (around 1530).

Fortress construction in Leipzig

In 1543 Paul Speck was persuaded by the Leipzig council to move to Leipzig. The Leipzig councilors followed a recommendation by the Schneeberg mint and mining master Bastian Funke , an influential state official. Paul Speck must have previously worked in a significant position in Schneeberg in order to have qualified for the upcoming construction projects in Leipzig. Above all, the major city church of St. Wolfgang, built between 1515 and 1540, should be discussed.

In 1543, work began on the extensive re-fortification of the city in Leipzig. Here, Speck, as master craftsman and head master of the stonemasons and masons, was given top construction management at the level of the building craftsmen. Hierarchically it was under the high sovereign military and fortress building administration. With the proven fortress expert and lordly chief construction and equipment master Caspar Voigt von Wierandt at the top, this also provided the general plans (several of them have even been preserved). The detailed plans, however, seem to have been made on site. A ground and elevation drawing of the Pleißenburg , which is part of the fortress system, has been preserved, dating from around 1550 , which corresponded in every detail to the construction carried out. It is signed with Speck's Latinized name "PAVLUS SPECK" and his master's mark.

In 1544, a dispute between Paul Speck and Leipzig, which affected the cities of Freiberg, Dresden and Chemnitz, was settled. In addition to his employment in Leipzig, Speck then also accepted orders from third parties. And apparently not only in Leipzig, but also in various other cities in the Saxon area, where he sometimes even had his own workshops.

Sculpture and service for the elector

In 1546, Speck switched to the service of the future Elector, Duke Moritz . Another secured sculptural work now falls in the period around 1547. This is the epitaph for the rector of the University of Leipzig Caspar Borner, who died in 1547 . The work, originally created for the Paulinerkirche in Leipzig, which was blown up in 1968, signed Speck in a central place with his master's mark. When looking at the subsequent epitaphs and tombs in the Saxon region, the effectiveness of the composition presented by Speck is also striking. Numerous epitaphs and grave monuments in Saxony and Bohemia from the late 1520s can be discussed as executed by Speck or his workshop. Relatively certain attributions are possible from at least the 1540s. These works, which are regularly assigned outstanding artistic importance, include the epitaph for Tham Pflugk zu Groitzsch in Pegau (around 1548), that for Johann von Heideck in Eilenburg (around 1554) or that for Peter Pfefferkorn in Chemnitz (1550s ).

Builder of the Leipzig Council

From 1555 onwards, Paul Speck appeared again and again in the Leipzig council bills. Without being officially recruited as a council mason, the council's most important building projects are entrusted to him here. At that time, a real wave of construction began in Leipzig, in which the council had some of the most important municipal buildings rebuilt or fundamentally rebuilt in the years to come. The driving force behind this construction program was evidently the major entrepreneur and mayor Hieronymus Lotter , who was sometimes directly involved in the construction process . The first major projects under Speck's direction were the erection of the Ratswaage on Leipziger Markt in 1555/56 and the elevation of the central tower of the Nikolaikirche in 1555 . In 1556, under his leadership, the renovation of the Leipzig City Hall into one of the most important Central European Renaissance buildings began. However, Speck fell ill during the construction work in the winter of 1556/57 and died in early 1557. At this point, the main parts of the building had already been completed. Paul Widemann became his successor as head master .

literature

• Wolfram Günther: Hieronymus Lotter, important architect of the German Renaissance or myth of art history? Hieronymus Lotter and the construction of the Old Leipzig City Hall. Master's thesis, typescript in the Leipzig University Library. Leipzig 2002.
• Wolfram Günther: Hieronymus Lotter. In: Arnold Bartetzky (Ed.): The master builders of the “German Renaissance” A myth of art history? Sax-Verlag, Beucha 2004, ISBN 3-934544-52-5 , pp. 73-110.
• Yves Hoffmann, Uwe Richter (ed.): The portal architecture of the late Gothic and Renaissance in Freiberg (1470–1650). In: Yves Hoffmann, Uwe Richter (ed.): City of Freiberg. Contributions (= monuments in Saxony. Volume 2). Werbung und Verlag, Freiberg 2003, ISBN 3-936784-01-9 , pp. 729-806.
• Uwe Richter: A letter from Duke Heinrich the Pious to the Council of Freiberg from 1532 - concerning a dispute between Paul Speck and Andreas Günther. In: Communications from the Freiberger Altertumsverein 97 and 26th Freiberger Altertumsverein, Freiberg 2005, pp. 37–42.
• Lutz Unbehaun: Hieronymus Lotter. Electoral Saxon master builder and mayor of Leipzig. Seemann, Leipzig 1989, ISBN 3-363-00416-8 .

Archival material

• Zwickau City Archives, Bürgerbuch 1522/63, Bl. 68b.
• Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar, Ernestinisches Gesamtarchiv, Reg. S., Bl. 287b, No. 1t (the stonemason from Zwickau named here can be identified as Paul Speck).
• Ratsschulbibliothek Zwickau , loose sheet collection without signature.
• Zwickau City Archives, church accounts of Marienkirche VIII, p. 88.
• Zwickau City Archives, Both Churches Invoice 1537/38, p. 19.
• Leipzig City Archives, City Treasury Bills Volume 55 (1543–1544) to Volume 57 (1545–1546).
• Leipzig City Archives, Council Book Volume 8 (1542–1546), Bl. 229a-230a.
• Leipzig City Archives, Citizens' Books 1 (1501–1608), p. 423b.
• City Archives Leipzig, Tit. XXXVIII / 1a "Various letters from Duke Moritz, the building of the fortress in Leipzig and other building matters concerning 1546–1551"
• Saxon State Archives Dresden, Loc. 4451/6 “Writings concerning the Dresden fortress and other buildings, 1554–1569”, Bl. 12a – 18b.
• City archive Grimma, “des Raths der Stath Grym Mülda Brügken bahue. Anno domini 1548 ".
• City History Museum Leipzig, library, inv. No. 347a.