Sebald Fyoll

Sebald Fyoll (* between 1400 and 1410 in Nuremberg ; † 1462 in Frankfurt am Main ; also Sebald Fyol ) was a late Gothic painter in Frankfurt am Main.

Life

A Fyoll family had lived in Frankfurt from the earliest times: a Heinrich Viol appeared as a witness in public documents from 1215 to 1219, and the name was also mentioned several times in the city's log books of the 14th century. The extent to which Sebald Fyoll, who definitely immigrated from Nuremberg, was related to this family, or whether, as Otto Donner-von-Richter assumes, he portrayed an emigrated and re-immigrated offspring of the family, can no longer be concluded due to the incomplete sources of this time to verify.

The date of birth of Sebald Fyoll is in the dark, but based on archival sources it can be set to the first decade of the 15th century: according to this, he was immigrated from Nuremberg on April 25, 1425 through the marriage of a Frankfurt citizen daughter named only as Katharina and the performance of Citizens 'oath included in the citizens' association. An entry from the same source from 1430, in which a man of the same name from Nuremberg vouched for his brother-in-law, confirms the first note again.

The interest book of the Bartholomäusstift from 1425 already mentioned him as Sebaldus pictor , i.e. painter, and domus Nideck locata est [...] , that is, he lived in Haus Niedeck , the southwest corner house at the intersection of Kannengießergasse and Fahrgasse (house address: Kannengießergasse 1 / Fahrgasse 23). That parcel still exists today, but after the complete destruction of the district in the bombing war it was built over in a modern way. In addition, the medieval Niedeck house was built from scratch around the 16th century, so that no modern person has ever seen Sebald Fyoll's house.

The painter's financial circumstances can be perfectly reconstructed from the books of the time: while in the first years of his life in Frankfurt he only paid 6 Schillings Bede , and thus the lowest rate, his financial circumstances improved more and more over time, so that in 1463 he paid 1 pound 4 shillings, or about 24 shillings, in taxes. This is where the most important clue for Sebald's death can be found, because as early as 1464 the Bedebuch only mentions his son Konrad, born in 1426, who was always listed with his father in the previous years.

plant

Almost ten commissioned works by Sebald Fyoll were still documented at the end of the 19th century, although the actual number may have been considerably higher. The reason for this is, on the one hand, that the documents received only allow conclusions to be drawn about public works, ie work carried out for the city council, while those for private individuals have completely disappeared in the dark of time - if there ever were documents here.

It is accordingly difficult to gain an overview of the actual work as well as the actual qualities of the artist. The fact that he was employed several times for the city, as well as his income, which can be proven through the taxes paid, speaks to the highest degree that he was one of Frankfurt's more important painters in the 15th century. Meanwhile, he was certainly not one of the great masters of his time.

In addition to the above-mentioned difficulties with regard to verifiability, Fyoll was probably mostly specialized in painting and painting interiors; for various reasons , his panels did not survive the centuries. The fact that he did at least paint on wood can be proven in a legal battle led by his son shortly after his death. Since the death in 1463 apparently came very suddenly, a client whose name was unknown had already made advance payments of at least 12.5 pounds, i.e. 300 shillings, which the son was now unable to repay. In the municipal court book of 1464, the dispute over "eyner taffeln because, sin father blessed made sulle han and the nit gtan hait" is documented accordingly, which ultimately lasted until 1496.

Ink drawing of Rödelheim Castle, 1446

The only work from Fyoll's hand that has survived in a reproduction and the original was destroyed in 1945 is an ink drawing of a castle under construction in 1446 , which a knight Frank von Kronberg intended to build in Rödelheim in 1446 (see Rödelheimer Schloss ). Due to the already difficult relationship with Kronberg in the past , the council felt threatened by the building of the castle near the city limits at that time and had Fyoll obviously made the picture as evidence in order to be able to present the problem to the emperor . It can be clearly attributed to Fyoll when the municipal accounting book in December 1447 contains a corresponding entry with order, name and payment of 2 pounds, i.e. 40 shillings. Qualitatively, the drawing is visibly more of a purely illustrative character and thus probably not representative, but at least shows a certain ability to draw in perspective.

All of the works that can only be traced back to the city but no longer exist are artistic painting and gilding work, some of them also on building sculptures, starting from 1434. They mostly served to decorate the interiors of the Roman, who was then only a few decades in possession of the city and was being expanded . The most popular and best-known work for the town hall is probably the sign originally for the council chamber in Haus Frauenrode , which was located in the rotunda of the Golden Swan in the 20th century until it was destroyed in 1944 :

Eyns mans talk half a talk

They are supposed to be questioned

have been. No less important and at the same time last work for the city was a painting on the so-called New Bridge Tower in 1462. At that time, the Old Bridge had a defense tower at each end, the one on the Sachsenhausen side being the new one, the one on the north side of the Main being the Old one Was called the bridge tower.

Retable of the Coronation of Mary in the church of Aufenau (around 1450). Attribution to Sebald Fyoll by Stefan Kemperdick

While a scene with Christ on the Mount of Olives was attached to panels on the Old Tower for a long time , a picture of Mary was attached to the Sachsenhausen Tower . It was intended to serve the devotion and the invocation of the patron saints on the journey out of the city limits, which at that time was not safe. Exposed to wind, weather and the dust of the dirt roads, it had to be renewed regularly, most recently in 1403. In 1462 the time had come again, and Sebald Fyoll was commissioned to renew the painting. The payment of only 4 pounds, i.e. 80 shillings, compared with the remuneration for the ink drawing, however, shows that it was more about painting than large painting.

Recently, Stefan Kemperdick assigned the first two generations of the Fyoll family of painters in Frankfurt, i.e. Sebald and his son Conrad, a stylistically coherent body of work that was recognized earlier. In addition to the lost drawing of Rödelheim Castle, this includes the reredos of the Coronation of Mary in the church of Aufenau (around 1450) from the time of Sebald.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} The Fyoll family of painters and the Roman building . In: Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art . K. Th. Völckers Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1896, pp. 55-70
2. ↑ Bürgerbuch der Stadt Frankfurt 1410-1440 , p. 41: "Sebal Viol von Nurenberg meler has a burgerssen and honored and sworn. Actum feria sexta ante Walpurgis anno XIIIIc XXVo."
3. ↑ arithmetic book in 1447: "sabato post nativitatis Christ: ij <pound symbol> is Sebold meler daz slosz Redelnheim so vil gebuwet itzund it, abe czu conterfaiten and abe czu paint."
4. ↑ Book of arithmetic 1442: "sabbato post omnium sanctorum: item iij gld. Han we give the painter from the writing in the nuwen radstobin c to paint: one man's speech etc."
5. ^ Additions and corrections to art and artists in Frankfurt am Main from the thirteenth century to the opening of the Städel'schen Kunstinstitut . Publisher by Joseph Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1867, pp. 22–24
6. ↑ Kemperdick 2019.

literature

• Stefan Kemperdick: Frankfurt in the middle of the 15th century. The Fyoll family of painters . In: Martin Büchsel, Hilja Droste, Berit Wagner (eds.): Art transfer and form genesis in art on the Middle Rhine 1400–1500. Berlin 2019, pp. 257–276.
• Michaela Schedl: Panel painting of the late Gothic on the southern Middle Rhine (= sources and treatises on the Middle Rhine church history 135). Mainz 2016, here pp. 132–141.
• Friedrich Gwinner: Art and Artists in Frankfurt am Main from the thirteenth century to the opening of the Städel'schen Kunstinstitut . Publisher by Joseph Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1862, pp. 16–22.
• Friedrich Gwinner: Additions and corrections to art and artists in Frankfurt am Main from the thirteenth century to the opening of the Städel'schen Kunstinstitut . Publisher by Joseph Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1867, pp. 22–24.
• Otto Donner-von-Richter: The Fyoll family of painters and the Roman building . In: Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art . K. Th. Völckers Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1896, pp. 55-70.

Web links

• Medieval reredos in Hessen. Object documentation Aufenau