Jakob Sandtner

Jakob Sandtner (* in Straubing ) was a master wood turner who lived in the 16th century. For his time he made amazingly precise city models of some Bavarian cities. The models are important cultural and historical documents and are among the oldest reliable city models.

Life

Sandtner's year of birth is not known. The first written mention of Sandtner comes from the year 1561. It can be assumed that he was already an established woodturner at that time; possibly he was already married. Apparently without an order, he made a scale model of Straubing out of linden wood, correctly measured down to the smallest detail. As with his later models, however, he took the liberty of widening streets a little for the sake of clarity and showing important buildings on a slightly larger scale for emphasis.

When the city model was completed in 1568 and the Bavarian Duke Albrecht V heard about the model of his residence city, he bought it. He was very interested in mapping his territory, which was made possible by new findings in the topography with previously unknown precision. A few years earlier, Albrecht had hired the mathematician Philipp Apian to draw up a map of Bavaria. Sandtner received successively from Albrecht the order to make further city models for the other royal cities of Munich , Landshut , Ingolstadt and Burghausen and to use a more detailed scale than the Straubing model. They were intended as pieces of jewelery for the Kunstkammer in Munich established by Albrecht around 1563/67 , and after their completion they were displayed there as part of the Bavaria illustrata , to which Apian's Bavarian country tables also belonged. In addition, Albrecht wanted to use the models to express his claim to power over the residential cities of the Bavarian duchies, which had been reunited since the end of the Landshut War of Succession in 1506.

During these years, Sandtner moved his residence to Munich, where Albrecht paid for his maintenance. Not much is known about Sandtner's working method, but due to the high level of detail in the models, the production must have been accompanied by extensive measurements. In addition, Sandtner was probably supported by assistants, because the last model was already completed in 1574. From 1576 Sandtner was employed among the workers at the ducal court. When Albrecht died in 1579, his son Wilhelm V came to power. He quit Sandtner the following year. The trigger for this decision was possibly also the poor financial situation of the court. Sandtner then moved to Ingolstadt with his wife and children and hired himself as a soap boiler . The sources report that Sandtner went on a trip to Venice - after which his traces of life disappear. Sandtner left four children.

City models

City model of Munich

Small city model of Ingolstadt

The models of the Bavarian royal cities are now in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich. These are in detail:

• Straubing , 1568, scale 1: 1666
  A copy of the Straubing city model is set up in the entrance hall of the Gäubodenmuseum in Straubing.
• Munich , 1570, scale 1: 616
  Elector Maximilian I had two building complexes added to the Munich model: the Jesuit college with the Michaeliskirche and the extended residential buildings. A copy of the Munich city model is in the Munich City Museum .
• Landshut , 1570, scale 1: 750
• Ingolstadt , 1572/73, scale 1: 685, the so-called large city model on behalf of Duke Albrecht V, and in 1571 a smaller one on behalf of the city council of Ingolstadt. The small model and a copy of the large city model are in the Ingolstadt City Museum.
• Burghausen , 1574, scale 1: 662

In the inventory of the Kunstkammer created by Johann Baptist Fickler in 1598, a city model of Jerusalem also appears, which is also in the National Museum today. It is neither signed nor dated, but it has striking similarities in the production method to the other models, so that it can be assumed that this also comes from Sandtner and was made around 1570. However, this is a fictional image, a so-called ideal model , not a real image that mixes various architectural styles in a rectangular street grid.

Sandtner also seems to have made a model of Rhodes , but it was not kept in the Kunstkammer and has been lost.

literature

• Alexander Freiherr von Reitzenstein: The old Bavarian city depicted on models by the master carpenter Jakob Sandtner, made in the years 1568–1572 on behalf of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria. With numerous illustrations . Munich 1967.
• Alfons Huber: "Jacoben Sandtner, Dräxl von Straubing". News about his life and artistic work . In: Annual report of the historical association for Straubing and the surrounding area 99 (1997), pp. 171–192.
• Christina Grimminger: The Ingolstadt city model by Jakob Sandtner from around 1572-73. An assessment of its documentary value from the perspective of house research . In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt , 110 (2001), pp. 105–116.
• Franz Schiermeier City Atlas Munich, maps and models from 1570 to today . Published by the Munich City Archives and the Munich City Museum, 2003. ISBN 3-9809147-0-4
• Heike Messemer: Truth and Invention - Jakob Sandtner's Straubing City Model from 1568 . In: Annual report of the Historical Association for Straubing and the Surrounding Area , 116 (2014), Straubing 2015, pp. 183–214.
• Franz Schiermeier: City model of Munich 1570 by Jakob Sandtner . Published by the Bavarian National Museum Munich, Franz Schiermeier Verlag Munich, 2018. ISBN 978-3-943866-61-2

Individual evidence

1. ^ Straubing »Culture, Sport & Leisure» Culture & Education »City Archives. Retrieved February 17, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Jakob Sandtner - JSR-Straubing. Retrieved February 17, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Kurt Scheuerer: The small city model by Jakob Sandtner Stadtmuseum Ingolstadt (accessed on September 12, 2016)

Web links

Commons : Jakob Sandtner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bavarian National Museum City model made of carved pear wood, e.g. T. painted
• City of Munich, Department for Urban Planning and Building Regulations (Editor; Editing: Monika Geiß, Kerstin Oertel, Tabea Dafner. Simone Pahlke): The future of urban model workshops. PDF file over 8 MB (exchange of experience between the urban planning offices on January 23 and 24, 2007 in Munich - results; also overview of existing model workshops)