Sebastian Dadler

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Sebastian Dadler (born March 6, 1586 in Strasbourg , † July 6, 1657 in Hamburg ) was a German goldsmith and medalist .

Live and act

Sebastian Dadler was the son of the ship's carpenter Jacob Dettler and his wife Apollonia. His technical training is not documented. He himself said that he probably worked as a privileged court goldsmith in Vienna around 1612 , for which there is no evidence. In August 1611 he married Rosina Esther in Augsburg, whose father made money there as a harness maker. In 1619 he tried to work as a goldsmith in Augsburg, whereas the local goldsmiths of the guild intervened. They asked the city council to grant Dadler citizenship in Augsburg only on condition that he did not work as a goldsmith there. 1621 inherited Dadler, who had only had an insufficient income until then. A short time later he left the city due to a lack of career prospects for Dresden .

Elector Johann Georg I hired Dadler as a court artist and court goldsmith. Here he worked for ten years for 300 guilders a year. During this time he created representative medals, mostly on behalf of the prince. These showed scenes of current battles from the perspective of the Protestants. Since Dresden was threatened during the Thirty Years War , Dadler, like all residents, had to work on the city's fortifications . In November 1632 a town clerk recorded that the goldsmith had to work on the hill for another 18 days , but had left for Hamburg. Why Dadler went there is unknown.

After 1632 Dadler worked as a freelance artist on his own account. There is no record of where he lived during this time. In 1647 he married Margaretha / e Neumann in Danzig . In the meantime, he had created numerous medals depicting portraits, religious and family celebrations, and cities. He also captured scenes from current war events, which earned him special recognition. Since he was regarded as an imaginative and technically gifted specialist, he received commissions in particular from princes from Eastern and Northern Europe, including Warsaw , Riga , Vilnius and Stockholm . Later he also worked for clients from the United Netherlands , which at the time was considered the stronghold of medal production in Western Europe.

In 1636 the Emperor Hamburg confirmed the privilege he had granted on the Elbe. For this reason, the city of Hamburg commissioned Dadler with a large silver medal. The front of this work of art shows a Mercury standing with legs apart over the Elbe and symbolizing the self-confidence of the Hanseatic city. This medal can be seen today in the coin cabinet of the Museum of Hamburg History . In 1648 Dadler moved from Danzig to Hamburg, possibly because, as a freelance artist, he could find better trading and communication opportunities here than in the outskirts of Danzig. As a newcomer, he was not given citizenship in Hamburg , but was considered a protective relative . The Wedde instructed him to pay nine marks a year in taxes.

Christina, Queen of Sweden 1632 , medal from Dadler.
Medal undated (1648) on the Peace of Westphalia. Christina of Sweden, portrait r. Front.
The reverse of this medal: Christina of Sweden as Minerva with an olive branch in her left arm, with her right she touches the tree of life .

The time in Hamburg, where he lived until the end of his life, turned out to be very successful for Dadler: shortly after his arrival, the signatories of the Peace of Westphalia ordered a medal from him for the closing ceremony of the contract negotiations. In 1648 he worked for the end of the Eighty Years' War and the coronation ceremony of Friedrich III. , a year later for the coronation of Christine of Sweden , the ratification of the Peace of Westphalia and the wedding of John II Casimir , who was King of Poland. Other occasions were the thanksgiving and peace festival in Electoral Saxony in 1650 , the assembly of the Estates General of the Netherlands a year later and again John II Casimir, who took over Kiev .

In 1653 the Hamburger Bank commissioned the "Bank Portugalese" with a face value of ten ducats, presumably because of the fifth anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia. Dadler made a gold medal showing Hamburg and the prosperous shipping on the Elbe on the front and back, and praising peace. Based on this model, numerous Portugalesers were created until 1841 , which were made for a wide variety of occasions.

Dadler took up the tradition of wedding medals, which have been verifiable in Lübeck since the 1580s, and also introduced them to Hamburg.

Sebastian Dadler died in July 1657. He was buried in the cemetery in Hamburg-Neustadt . His work is represented in many important coin cabinets and museums. Numerous students, including Johann Reteke, who died in 1685, and his son of the same name († 1720), worked according to his tradition.

literature

Web links

Commons : Sebastian Dadler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Illustration of a Lübeck wedding medal by Dadler from 1657.
  2. ^ Bruno Dorfmann: The medalists Johann Rethe (Reteke) father and son, in Riga - Stockholm - Hamburg around 1615/20 to 1720. In: Journal of the Association for Hamburg History. Volume 46, 1960, pp. 105-129 ( digitized version );
    Elisabeth Sudeck: Reteke, Johann . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 28 : Ramsden-Rosa . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1934, p. 187 . - still mixes father and son Reteke.
personal data
SURNAME Dadler, Sebastian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German goldsmith and medalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1586
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1657
Place of death Hamburg