Paul Widemann

Paul Widemann (also Paul Wiedemann, * unknown, verifiable from 1556; † 1568 ) was a stonemason , sculptor , master craftsman and builder and one of the most important masters between the late Gothic and Renaissance in Central Germany.

meaning

Widemann was one of the more important sculptors and master craftsmen of the Saxon High Renaissance . The buildings and sculptures he created testify to a high level of artistic and craftsmanship. The master from Freiberg created most of his verifiable works in Leipzig . His reputation reached far beyond this city, as his activities in Pegau , Zwickau and Augustusburg near Chemnitz prove. He was also wooed as a foreman for the construction of church buildings.

The meat banks in the Leipziger Reichsstraße around 1895 ( demolished for the construction of the Handelshof )

The Princely House in Leipzig, Grimmaische Strasse, around 1885

life and work

Council stone mason in Leipzig

He can be traced for the first time in 1556 in Leipzig during the construction of the town hall as a foreman for Paul Speck . After his death in 1557 he took over the completion of the renovation as chief master, which continued until after 1558. In addition to his duties as site manager, Widemann also carried out various sculptural work himself ( Pfeiferstuhl in the ballroom) and took care of supplies from Rochlitz . In 1558 he received citizenship in Leipzig . From that year until his death in 1568 he was extensively involved in the numerous building projects of the Leipzig Council. This included the new construction or renovations (sometimes several times) of a bath room, the castle cellar, the city fortifications and their towers and gates, the town peppers houses , the priest houses at the Nikolaikirchhof , of four houses on the Barfüßerkirchhof, the barefoot college, the slaughterhouse, the granary , the nuns mill , the meat banks, the black dyeing works, the so-called rider houses, the barefoot mill , the scales, the armory, the bridge at the Ranischer Tor, the Nikolaischule , the town church of St. Johannis , the barefoot church, the new water art, the rectory at St. Thomas, a lock, the Lindenauer bridge, the hospital, the food stalls and a pestilence house in Rosenthal.

What is certain is that Widemann managed construction projects and carried out individual work himself and also prepared construction plans.

In December 1561, Widemann undertook a trip to the Netherlands on behalf of the Leipzig council . After considerable water damage had occurred to the newly rebuilt town hall in 1561, Widemann in the Netherlands was supposed to investigate a technical solution to this building problem.

Princely house of Leipzig

Widemann can be attributed the most important private Renaissance building in Leipzig, the Princely House built in 1558 (destroyed in World War II) on Grimmaische Strasse. With its numerous gables and two richly designed oriels, it was the most representative of all residential buildings built in Leipzig in the course of the 16th century. At the time of construction, the bay windows, rich in building sculpture, were looking for their equal far beyond Leipzig's borders. Paul Widemanns affixed his maker's mark with his initials clearly visible on one of the two. Today a copy of one of the two bay windows can be found elsewhere in Grimmaische Strasse.

Town hall of Pegau

Double portal of the Pegau town hall

Another building can be safely assigned to Paul Widemann, the town hall in Pegau , which was also rich in architectural sculptures and was built in 1559/60 . The building originally had a striking resemblance to the Leipzig City Hall in its entire form, although this has become somewhat smaller due to the demolition of the roof-dividing dwelling houses.

Council appraiser in Zwickau

In 1563 Widemann appeared in Zwickau on behalf of the local council as an assessor for the construction of the planned new choir of St. Marien . The attempt by the people of Zwickau to win Widemann as a foreman for this demanding project failed because the council in Leipzig failed to give him leave. For this purpose, Widemann was asked to place the master Nickel Hoffmann , who lives in Halle (Saale) and who works far beyond the region , as a replacement . Finally, with the involvement of Widemann, the contract was signed with Nickel Hoffmann's brother, Philipp Hoffmann, who actually carried out the construction as a foreman.

Obermeister in the construction of the Augustusburg

The last major construction project in which Widemann was involved is the construction of the electoral hunting lodge Augustusburg near Chemnitz (1567–1572) under Hieronymus Lotter's direction . The extremely extensive building files show that Paul Widemann was employed by Lotter as the master builder from the start, initially alongside master Nickel Hoffmann from Halle, and then alone from March 1568.

Widemann died in July 1568.

swell

• 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 builders of the "German Renaissance". A myth in art history? . Beucha 2004, pp. 73-110.
• Lutz Unbehaun: The Saxon builder Hieronymus Lotter . Leipzig 1989
• Hubert Ermisch: Saxon town halls. Contributions to the building history of the council and department store buildings in the area between Saale and Neisse . Borna / Leipzig 1920, pp. 113–115.
• Wolfgang Hocquél , Leipzig - Builders and Buildings - From Romanticism to the Present , Tourist Verlag, Berlin / Leipzig 1990
• Leipzig City Archives : Citizens' Books 1 (1501–1608), p. 426a.
• Leipzig City Archives: City Treasury Bills, Debt Register 1558 to Debt Register 1568.
• Zwickau City Archives: Concept book 1563/64, Bl.74b-75a. - ibid. Concept Book 1565/66, A * C2, Bl. 29. - ibid. Council Protocols 1562/65, III x 67b, Bl. 32a-33a.
• Saxon Main State Archives Dresden: Cop. 345. - ibid. Loc. 4450 "Augustusburg, Schloßbau". - ibid. Loc. 35801 Rep. VIII Augustusburg No. 3. “Copial of the New Schellenberg Castle Building. Anno 1567, 1568, 1569 ".