Table top by Asymus Stedelin
Table top by Asymus Stedelin , also table top by Martin Schaffner , is a table top painted by the Ulm painter Martin Schaffner (1477 / 78–1546 / 49). It represents a worldview of the Renaissance . The diverse contextual references are put together in a clear, manageable arrangement.
The table top is part of the collection of the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Kassel (inventory no. GK 22).
history
The client for the table top was the Strasbourg goldsmith Asymus Stedelin (Erasmus Stedelin). The table top is a work by Martin Schaffner from 1533.
Painting in the center of the tabletop
The center of the nearly square plate is occupied by the blue sky with a radiant star, the divine. Around the celestial core, seven personified planets are grouped in a circle, each with a car, on whose wheels one or two signs of the zodiac are painted, as well as a six-pointed star as a symbol of the earth . Rays spread from the stars. They are aimed at Ptolemy and the allegories of the seven virtues (the Christian triad Faith-Love-Hope and the four ancient cardinal virtues) and the seven liberal arts , which sit opposite each other in pairs in front of landscape panoramas. Each allegory has a color made visible in clothing, a metal and a day of the week . The assignment of metals to the planets differs in part from the alchemical tradition: there copper belongs to Venus, iron to Mars and lead to Saturn. Large banners explain the contextual references and are provided with warning and instructive notes. Ptolemy in the red robe sits at his desk and studies books. The terrestrial globe marks him as a scholar of antiquity , his planetary theory remained valid through the entire Middle Ages.
Theological Virtues and the Seven Liberal Arts
Hope-Grammar-Sun-Gold
To the right of Ptolemy sits the grammar with the book open. With her open gaze directed upwards and her folded hands, she also symbolizes hope . Gold , the noblest metal, and the sun are part of it.
Faith Rhetoric Moon Silver
On the next side of the table, dressed in white, follows the allegory of faith with the cross . A mirrored document also shows it as rhetoric . Their metal is silver , their heavenly sign the moon .
Strength-Arithmetic-Mars-Copper
Opposite, dressed in red, the arithmetic holds a calculator in front of them. Lion and broken pillar symbolize strength. Next to her are the copper jug and bowl . Mars steers the chariot in the sky .
Love-logic-mercury-mercury
On the third long side, the sign of Mercury joins the highest of the virtues, love . As a motherly woman, she is surrounded by two children. The book with the title “ Logica ” lying at your feet shows the year the table top was made in 1533. The older boy holds out an alphabet to his mother with the name of the client Asymus Stedelin. The liquid mercury is the associated metal.
Justice Geometry Jupiter Tin
Opposite, the blue-clad geometry in the sign of Jupiter measures with a compass at the cubit . Sword and scales show them at the same time as an allegory of justice . Vessels indicate the metal tin .
Temperance-Music-Venus-Lead
On the fourth long side sits the allegory of temperance , in the banner it is called “willingness”. It is symbolized by the water poured from a carafe into a mug of wine , which reduces the effect of the alcohol. Lute , harp and music book mark it as music at the same time . Two rolls of rolled lead are assigned to it as metal. Venus and Cupid sit in the heavenly chariot .
Wisdom-Astronomy-Saturn-Iron
The conclusion is a woman in black who looks at herself in a convex mirror. With the snake and the armillary sphere for measuring the celestial orbits, she is identified as cleverness , in the banner “ prudence ”, and as astronomy . The spores on the ground and a mine in the landscape refer to the metal iron . A mastermind pulls the planet car of Saturn .
literature
- Wolfgang Adler, Erich Herzog : Old Masters Picture Gallery, Wilhelmshöhe Palace. 2nd Edition. Westermann. Braunschweig 1982, OCLC 901137130 , pp. 23-24.
- Anja Schneckenburger Broschek: Old German painting. The panel paintings and altars from the 14th to 16th centuries in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Kassel . Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel, Kassel 1997, ISBN 3-931787-21-4 , pp. 231-261.
- Justus Lange: The Invention of the World. Martin Schaffner's painted tabletop from 1533 . Staatliche Museen, Kassel 2002, ISBN 3-931787-21-4 .
- Jens Kremb: Painted tabletops from the late Middle Ages . Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2016, ISBN 978-3-412-50172-3 , p. 109ff.