Paulus van Vianen

Paulus van Vianen

Paulus van Vianen (* around 1570 in Utrecht , † 1613 in Prague ) was a Dutch goldsmith and medalist .

Life and works

Paulus van Vianen was born in Utrecht around 1570 and came from a family of artists that produced many goldsmiths. At the age of ten, his father Willem Eerstensz van Vianen apprenticed him to the Utrecht gold and silversmith Bruno Ellardsz van Leydenberch (around 1530 - 1604) and then to his brother Cornelis van Leydenberch. After stays in France and Germany, van Vianen also went to Italy, where, according to Sandrart, he was reported to the Inquisition by Neider and even imprisoned. However, through a mediating agent of Emperor Rudolf II , at whose court van Vianen would later work, he was able to regain his freedom. In the 1590s van Vianen was active in Munich , where he also received citizenship and was accepted as a master in the Munich goldsmiths' guild through the mediation of Duke Maximilian , for whom he probably also worked during this time . In 1601 he entered the service of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau in Salzburg . In 1603 he left Salzburg to go to Prague, the last station in his life, where he worked as an imperial chamber goldsmith for Rudolf II until he was probably killed by the plague in 1613 in the course of an epidemic.

Sculptural work and stylistic development

Paulus van Vianen mainly created rather small-format reliefs , medallions , foam coins and vessels, his specialty being drifting in silver. During his time in Munich, mainly plaques with predominantly mythological and biblical motifs were created that were stylistically close to the Nuremberg goldsmith's art of that time, which is why a stay in this city is assumed before his time in Munich. His figural representations show an increasing Italian influence, which developed in the Prague period through the influence of his artist colleagues there to a synthesis of Italian and Nordic (Dutch) means of expression. This is based on the common origin of many Prague artists from the Netherlands and their training in Italy, which gave rise to a “specific Rudolfine art”. His figural representations were influenced at that time by the sculptor Adriaen de Vries and the painters Bartholomäus Spranger and Hans von Aachen , while his landscape art reacted to impressions from Pieter Stevens and Roelandt Savery .

drawings

An unusually large number of drawings by Paulus van Vianen have survived for an artist who actually belongs to the artistic branch of art. Especially during his stays in Salzburg and Prague, both mythological / biblical-influenced drawings and a significant number of landscapes were created. While the figurative works can for the most part be seen as preparatory work and studies for sculptural works of art, most of the landscape drawings are probably simply an expression of an extraordinarily high interest in nature and should therefore be viewed as independent works.

literature

• Hermann Arthur Lier :  Vianen, Paulus van . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 399.
• Gerszi, Teréz: Paulus van Vianen. Hand drawings, Hanau 1982.

swell

• Sandrart, Joachim von: Teutsche Academie der Noble Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste, Nuremberg 1675.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerszi, p. 11