Petrarca master

Woodcut (design: Petrarcameister): Light under the bushel, around 1530

The draftsman who created templates for woodcuts at the beginning of the 16th century is named as Petrarca master (or Petrarkameister ). He should also have worked as a painter and z. B. painted miniatures. The artist, unknown by name, who did not sign any of his works, received his emergency name from his templates for woodcuts for Von der Artzney bayder Glück , a German translation of Petrarch's De remediis utriusque fortunae , which was printed in Augsburg in 1532. The Petrarca master is one of the most important graphic artists of the Renaissance in the German-speaking world.

From Artzney bayder luck

The Petrarca master created the templates for the woodcuts for Von der Artzney bayder Glück in two parts for Augsburg publishers and completed the first in 1519 and the second in 1520; However, the woodcuts that were finally created for these drafts were not printed by Heinrich Steyner until 1532 in the two-volume edition of the work. None of the woodcuts is titled, but each woodcut clarifies the chapter it is illustrating. The work became very popular, not least because of the masterful and detailed illustrations. They were still used in the 1620 edition of Vincentius Steinmeyer in Frankfurt am Main.

Master of the mirror of consolation

Petrarca's work - including the woodcuts based on the Petrarca master - was marketed under catchier German titles, such as Glückbuch (Augsburg 1539), Trostbuch (Frankfurt am Main 1551 and 1559) and Consolation Mirror in Glück und Unglück (Frankfurt am Main, six editions of 1572 to 1620). Therefore the master is also known as the “master of the mirror of consolation” in literature. Woodcuts based on the Petrarca master illustrate many moralizing mirrors of virtue and instructions for a happy, Christian life. His woodcuts can also be found in translations of ancient texts such as "Officia" by Cicero from 1531.

identification

In 1904 Röttinger attributed the work of the Petrarca master to Hans Weiditz , but this did not take hold. They were also previously listed as works by Hans Burgkmair . Furthermore, an identification with other artists of the Dürer period such as the Augsburg masters Hans Wolff Strigel or Peter Zan was suggested, which remains controversial in art history.

Petrarch Master: The philosopher Pyrrhon in a stormy sea. Illumination, 1st quarter of the 16th century

Drawings and paintings

In addition to the designs for woodcuts, paintings, miniatures and drawings are assigned to the Petrarca master.

Work as a source of historical importance

The lively and detailed works of the Petrarca master are a unique source of everyday life in the late Maximilian era and are often used to illustrate this era. The master depicts the everyday situation of the common people in the time of the Reformation and Peasant Wars in a radical and detailed way . The graphic illustrations are sometimes used as an insight into the living conditions at that time, to represent the social circumstances and to analyze their effects on the course of this The era of upheaval.

Illustration of proverbs and sayings

The Petrarca master is also known for his depiction of parables, proverbs and sayings such as B. "Put your light under a bushel" . In Von der Artzney bayder Glück the picture illustrates the section on modesty.

Web links

Commons : Petrarcameister  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Francesco Petrarca : “ From Artzney bayder Glück / des guoten vnd disparaging. And everyone knows how to keep themselves happy and unhappy. Drawn to the German language outside of Latin. With artificial fygures thoroughly funny and beautifully colored. ”Augsburg: Heynrich Steyner 1532. ONLY THE PICTURES online at gallica , MDZ Munich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ first analyzed as an independent person by W. von Seidlitz: Der Illustrator des Petrarka (pseudo-Burgmair) . In: Yearbook of the Prussian Art Collections, 12.1891
2. ↑ ^{a b} W. Scheidig : The woodcuts of the Petrarch master for Petrarch's work: from the Artzney bayder luck of the good and disgusting - Augsburg 1532 . Berlin (Henschel) 1955
3. ^ E. Buchner: The Petrarca master as a painter, miniator and draftsman . In: H. Schmidt (Hrsg.): Festschrift Heinrich Woelfflin. Contributions to art and intellectual history, Munich 1924, pp. 209–231
4. ↑ digitized version .
5. ↑ cf. M. Janzin, J. Güntner: The book from the book: 5000 years of book history. Hanover (Schlütersche) 2006, p. 192
6. ↑ s. in addition Petrarkameister . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 37 : Master with emergency names and monogramists . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1950, p. 270-271 .
7. ↑ ^{a b} Gallery of the City of Backnang (ed.): The Petrarca Master - Press release for the exhibition - Book illustrations of the 16th century in the City of Backnang Graphics Cabinet May 20, 2006 - July 30, 2006 ; Backnang 2007.
8. ↑ on the history of identification with Weiditz s. HJ Raupp: The illustrations for Franceso Petrarca Von der Artzney bayder luck of the good and disgusting (Augsburg 1532) . In: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch. 45, 1984, p. 59 ff.
9. ↑ (Heinrich) Theodor Musper: The Woodcuts of Petrarca Master . Munich undated (1927)
10. ↑ sz BR van Dülmen: Culture and everyday life in the early modern period. 16th to 18th century. Vol. 2, village and city . Munich (Beck) 2005, p. 293. Fig. 62.
11. ↑ s. a. K. Enenkel: The Petrarca of the 'Petrarca Master': on the text-image relationship in illustrated De remediis editions . In: K. Enenkel (Ed.): Petrarch and His Readers in the Renaissance. Leiden 2006.
12. ↑ continue R. Wohlfeil u. T. Wohlfeil: Visualizations of the class society. Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder Ä. - Petrarca master . In: W. Schulze (Ed.): Corporate society and social mobility. Munich 1988, 268-319.
13. ^ H. Zimmer: History of the German craft. Mannheim (Edition Vermittlerverlag R. Welz). Mannheim 2005.
14. ↑ Master of Petrarch. In: Art Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford 2002