Susanna Maria von Sandrart
Susanna Maria von Sandrart (born August 10, 1658 in Nuremberg ; † December 20, 1716 there ) was a draftsman and engraver in Nuremberg, part of an artistically active, economically successful and respected family association .
biography
Susanna's father Jacob von Sandrart (1630–1708), draftsman and copperplate engraver, married Regina Christina Eimmart (1636–1708) in Regensburg in 1654 , from whom no artistic activity is known, although she too came from a well-known family of copperplate engravers. The couple moved to Nuremberg in 1656, where they received citizenship in 1674 . Both had a total of nine children, three of them were active as artists: Johann Jacob (born 1655), Susanna Maria (born 1658 as the third child) and Joachim (born 1668). The family's home was on “Auf dem Neuen Bau”, today's Maxplatz, where Jacob Sandrart also had his workshop, where he sold books and engravings. The house was also a temporary meeting point for the “ Nuremberg Painters Academy ”, co-founded by Sandrart in 1662 , the oldest art academy in German-speaking countries.
Only a few details are known about the life of Susanna Maria von Sandrart outside of her professional activity and the associated environment. This information comes mainly from the so-called " Folioband ", a compilation of her graphic work, which she provided with some texts. About her upbringing and training, she wrote in the foreword that she had been instructed by her mother in household chores and similar activities from her youth, but that she finally got a desire to draw and of her own accord started “to etch something on the copper. As now my soul. Father saw that I had a natural inclination for this art, He had induced me to do several things, and gave me copper to erase under my hands; finally also those that he can use in his art dealership. ” She developed into a recognized reproduction graphic artist who was often praised by contemporaries and produced numerous series of copper engravings for the family-owned publishing house , but also illustrations for other publications in Nuremberg and elsewhere.
In 1683 she married Johann Paul Auer, a painter and member of the Nuremberg Academy of Painting, twenty years her senior. So even though both had very similar professional interests, Susanna withdrew entirely to her role as a housewife and mother. One son died immediately after birth in 1684, a second as a one-year-old toddler in 1687. After a short marriage, her husband also died. In the “Folio Volume” she described that after a marriage of only four years and 10 weeks she was fortunate enough to support her father and brother in their work and in this way to support herself without being a burden to anyone. All of the works in the book were made by her own hand and most of it was created during her widowhood, "I bit by God's destiny and on my soul. Parents advise me to go into the other marriage Ao [Anno] 1695 with Wolfgang Moritz Endter as a widower. "
Endter (1653–1723) was a grandson of the Nuremberg printer , bookseller and publisher Wolf Endter the Elder. Ä. and a successful, very wealthy businessman himself in these fields. His first wife had died a year earlier. Susanna became the stepmother of six daughters between the ages of ten and twenty from Endter's first marriage. Before that, during her long widowhood, she was artistically very productive. That changed fundamentally, "because I then have to stop this work completely due to the large housekeeping". In any case, only a few graphic works by her are known from the time after the second marriage. From text passages in the “Folioband” one can conclude that she was in a very bad mood in the last years of her life. One drawing was made “in the 56th year of my age, with almost dark eyes” , in other places she wrote of “suffered anxieties” and “gloomy times” without explaining this in detail. Susanna Maria von Sandrart died in Nuremberg at the age of 58.
The widower had a consolation book published for the sick and dying, which Susanna had put together and etched . He laid down the arrangement of the texts, provided a preface and had the text printed under the title “Auserlesees Handbuch / For godly sick and dying ...” in 1716, the year of Susanna's death. The part that his wife had in the publication was not mentioned - this, however, in accordance with the customs of the time; If at all, women could only publish under a male pseudonym .
Professional development
An essential background for Susanna Maria von Sandrart's development as a graphic artist was the fact that many people in her environment were active in this or similar fields. Artists did not appear here in isolation, rather numerous family members made their living from art production and art trade. Marriages were often made with men or women from related professions. With Susanna and her brothers, the third generation of the family was already artistically active, starting with Joachim von Sandrart , Susanna's great uncle, an important German artist and art writer of the 17th century who lived and worked in Nuremberg for many years. All this established the reputation and influence of the family and supported Susanna's inclination and ambition.
The special character of the family activities - graphics, book publishing and book sales - made it possible to directly involve many relatives. Work steps in reproduction graphics such as tracing templates or the sometimes simple manipulations of the printing technology also allowed adolescents to work, which in any case saved costs and in cases of particular aptitude and inclination, as with Susanna, almost inevitably led to higher professional qualifications. One of the favorable framework conditions was that graphics and book illustrations were always available in large numbers as inspiration and for imitation.
Despite generally favorable conditions, Susanna's training was gender-specifically restricted. She learned drawing and the techniques of etching and engraving exclusively in the workshops of her father and her great-uncle. Unlike her brother Johann Jacob, who was only a little older, she was unable to study while traveling, and there are no known stays outside of Nuremberg. As a woman, courses at schools and academies were closed to her. She even had no access to the “ painter's academy ” in her parents' house. In a publication, Joachim von Sandrart emphasized the importance of studies at such academies for budding artists, saying that they were “the best way to get to the science of external anatomy , measure and proportion of the human being.” Susanna von Sandrart's complete works can also be found Examples of all learning steps that were part of the usual teaching program of such academies (drawings based on ancient statues , landscapes, nude drawings, etc.), but these were exclusively copies based on existing templates. In this way she had followed an apprenticeship that she was not allowed to complete herself.
The "Folioband"
All works by Susanna Maria von Sandrart are contained in an extensive folio volume, as far as they can be clearly assigned - apart from two other etchings signed by her. The final compilation must have been made between 1713 and 1716. In the foreword she writes: “Under this I have mostly put together everything that I have made in my hand in the present book, to the end, so that one can see what I did not only bring my young friends to my seven-year-old Wittibstand in particular. I wanted to honor this book to my husband and wife, Wolfgang Moritz Endter, as a friendly reminder of mine, with all the best in body and soul. ” The volume contains charcoal, pencil and ink drawings, copperplate engravings, etchings and woodcuts on numerous topics and motifs - Pictorial representations of the well-known proverbs, the four elements , the four seasons, the five senses; Anatomy and costume studies, portraits , city images, religious motifs, studies after Raphael (whose works were widely used as reproductions in Europe), book illustrations and designs for book decorations. Susanna's second husband had the collection lavishly bound as a gift to the city of Nuremberg while she was still alive . The magnificent volume can still be found there in the library of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum .
literature
- Sabina Lessmann: Susanna Maria von Sandrart (1658-1716). Working conditions of a Nuremberg graphic artist in the 17th century. Georg Olms Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-487-09456-8 .
- Britta-Juliane Kruse: widows. Cultural history of an estate in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. De Gruyter Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-11-018926-7 .
- Nadja Bennewitz, Gaby Franger (Ed.): In the beginning there was Sigena. A Nuremberg women's history book. ars vivendi Verlag, Cadolzburg, 2000, ISBN 3-89716-092-7 , pp. 124-132.
- Andreas Curtius: The artist family Sandrart. In: Matthias Henkel, Ursula Kubach-Reutter (Ed.): 1662–1806. The early days of the Nuremberg Art Academy. An exhibition of the painting and sculpture collection of the museums of the city of Nuremberg in the city museum Fembohaus. Nuremberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-940594-42-6 , pp. 58-69.
Web links
- Literature by and about Susanna Maria von Sandrart in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Britta-Juliane Kruse: Widows. Cultural history of an estate in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. De Gruyter Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-11-018926-7 .
- ↑ Sabina Lessmann: Susanna Maria von Sandrart (1658-1716). Working conditions of a Nuremberg graphic artist in the 17th century. Georg Olms Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-487-09456-8 .
- ↑ Nadja Bennewitz, Gaby Franger (ed.): In the beginning there was Sigena. A Nuremberg women's history book. ars vivendi Verlag, Cadolzburg 2000, ISBN 3-89716-092-7 , pp. 124-132.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sandrart, Susanna Maria from |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 10, 1658 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nuremberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 20, 1716 |
| Place of death | Nuremberg |