Wenceslaus Jamnitzer

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Wenceslaus Jamnitzer. Medal by Valentin Maler (1571).
Wenceslaus Jamnitzer. Etching by Jost Ammann .
Writing case made of silver
500th birthday of Wenzel Jamnitzer (German postage stamp, 2008)

Wenzel Jamnitzer (* 1507 or 1508 in Vienna ; † December 19, 1585 in Nuremberg ) was a German goldsmith , copperplate engraver and die cutter .

Life

He was a member of a family from Moravia who had been a goldsmith for 160 years and was known under the names Jamnitzer , Jemniczer , Gemniczer and Jamitzer .

According to old reference works, he was the most famous goldsmith of his time. Among other things, he was in the service of all German emperors of his creative time. He probably invented a machine for embossing ornamental strips .

Jamnitzer, who came from Vienna, became a master in 1534 and settled in Nuremberg. He married Anna Braunreuchin in the same year and had eleven children with her. Three of his children, Hans, Abraham and Wenzel also became goldsmiths. He worked with his sons and sons-in-law Martin Holweck, Hans Straub and Valentin Maler in his workshop in Zisselgasse (today Albrecht-Dürer-Str. 17). His magnificent vessels and jewelry boxes are made with virtuoso skill. Jamnitzer turned away from the customary design of art objects according to Gothic taste and oriented himself towards the style of the Italian Renaissance . In addition to precious metals, he sometimes used mussels, corals, snail shells and smaller bird eggs in his products. The replication of small animals and plants developed into a characteristic of his work. His art was so popular that the Emperors Karl V , Ferdinand I , Maximilian II and Rudolf II commissioned him continuously as their court goldsmith.

Also globes about 1,566 were from Jamnitzer, according to data of Johann Richter (astronomer) , cast.

Jamnitzer carried out scientific studies in order to raise the training and technical knowledge of his craft. In 1568 he published the font Perspectiva corporum regularium . From 1573 he represented the goldsmiths in the town's small council. From 1571–1576 he worked with Johan Gregor van der Schardt on a table fountain for the imperial court in Vienna, from which four caryatids have been preserved and are kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna .

Wenzel Jamnitzer was buried in the Johannisfriedhof in Nuremberg (grave no. 664). His grave is adorned with a bronze epitaph designed by Jost Amman .

Historical environment

In the 16th century, Nuremberg, along with Magdeburg , Hildesheim and Trier, had become an important center for goldsmiths. The handicraft was in solid demand for its products, because it was customary to give valuable gifts to guests when visiting the emperor or other nobles . The more valuable or exclusive, the more likely you were to believe that you were voting for the recipient for yourself or for a cause.

With the spread of the Reformation, the order situation for goldsmiths became more difficult. The decoration of the Protestant churches was done much more sparingly with art objects than in the Catholic churches.

With the Thirty Years' War approaching , the rulers had hardly any funds to buy luxury items, because most of the money was now used to finance mercenary armies and weapons. Gold cups and other jewelry items were even melted down for this purpose, which will probably have affected some of the works of the Jamnitzer who had died decades earlier.

Works (selection)

Daphne , National Museum of the Renaissance

Goldsmith work

His best-known works, in addition to Merkel's centerpiece, are the imperial cup, welcome cups, trophies and a table cassette exhibited in the Green Vault .

As a master's mark , he had his family coat of arms with a lion's head and a W above it.

Publications

  • Perspectiva Corporum Regularium . Nuremberg 1568 ( digitized [accessed on November 21, 2019] Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library, call number: Optica.21).
  • Basic and actual instruction and explanation of this artistic round measure or calibration rod . (Unpublished manuscript in Dresden, Mathemat.-Physikal. Salon).
  • A very artificial u. Wolgetzierter desk sampt all artificially. Silver u. gilded newly invented instruments . 1585 (Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum London).

literature

Web links

Commons : Wenzel Jamnitzer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Kuhr: Ancestry of the Jamnitzer family in Nuremberg . In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg 61, 1974, pp. 122–128; Erich Mulzer: The Jamnitzer House in Nuremberg and the goldsmith Wenzel Jamnitzer . Ibid, pp. 48-89.
  2. ↑ Doris Wolfangel: Dr. Melchior Ayrer (1520-1579). Medical dissertation Würzburg 1957, p. 32.
  3. ↑ a b c Rudolf Bergau :  Jamitzer, Wenzel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 691 f.
personal data
SURNAME Jamnitzer, Wenzel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gamnitzer, Wenzel; Jamitzer, Wenzel; Gamitzer, Wenzel; Gamiczer, Wenceslaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German goldsmith, engraver and stamp cutter
DATE OF BIRTH 1507 or 1508
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1585
Place of death Nuremberg