Wilhelm Besserer

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Wilhelm Besserer (* around 1539 probably in Speyer ; † 1601 probably in Speyer) was a German painter and cartographer who worked in Speyer all his life.

Origin and status

The origin of Wilhelm Besserer has not been proven with absolute certainty. The painter Hans Besser , who was born in Aachen and left his home country in 1537 and went to Speyer, is probably his father. (A descendant of Wilhelm Besserer could perhaps be the miniature and watercolor painter Johann Jacob Besserer (around 1600–1657), whose work is documented in Speyer from 1637 to 1648.) - Wilhelm Besserer acquired citizenship in Speyer in 1564 and belonged from 1579 to to the city council on his death.

Fields of activity

View of Speyer with the Klüpfelsau: Watercolor (visual card) from 1574

Cartographic work was carried out by Wilhelm Besserer in the Spessart , Hohenlohe , northern Baden and western Palatinate . His maps were primarily used to establish the property and its respective rights of use and less for orientation and finding the way in the area. In the event of legal disputes, he made many a card for taking evidence in court. For example, in 1573 Wilhelm Besserer painted a detailed land map for a legal dispute between Speyer and Dudenhofen about any rights of use for the hearing before the Reich Chamber of Commerce , the so-called Speyer land plan , in which the areas between Speyer and the Haardt were shown with parts of the Speyer Landwehr . A year later he created a watercolor, a so-called inspection map , for another trial of the city of Speyer, this time against the Bishop of Speyer , on which a view of Speyer and the area of ​​Klüpfelsau with the adjacent Rhine was reproduced.

The Rhine river map from 1590: A section from the first sheet with the town of Hagenbach

For the years 1580 and 1590 Wilhelm Besserer made two large maps of the Rhine river for the government of the Electoral Palatinate in Heidelberg . (The Rhine used to change the landscape very often [before the major correction in the 18th century] and that is why the Elector and Count Palatine as Lord of the Rhine [ Dominus Rheni ] had Rhine trips carried out from time to time in order to document the changes in words and pictures and thus to preserve his rights according to the so-called Rhine Regalia.) The map from 1580, about 1.75 m long, shows the course of the Rhine from Speyer to Mannheim in a pen drawing, executed with a slightly skilled hand. The map from 1590 is a three-part watercolor drawing, which is 12.37 m long and between 0.32 and 0.50 m high and shows the Rhine from the Alsatian border down to Germersheim . The first sheet ( Rhein Abrisz from Beinheim bisz vnder Dachszlandt ) measures 4.00 × 0.32–0.50 m, the second ( Rhein Abrisz from Knielingen bisz vnder Linckheim ) measures 3.77 × 0.32 m and the third ( Rhine Abrisz from Linckenheim a little to vnder Vndenheim ) 4.58 × 0.395 m. - Another Rhine map showing the changes in the banks of the Rhine near Otterstadt was created by Wilhelm Besserer in 1597. In addition, the tracing of a photograph of the Rhine from 1573, which was created by the Mainz painter Ulrich Bletzer and depicts the river from Oberwalluf to Bingen , has survived .

A map of the upper and lower Haardt area on both sides of the Alb near Mühlburg and Ettlingen is attributed to Wilhelm Besserer as part of further cartographic work , an undated and colored pen drawing measuring 0.38 × 0.52 m. In addition, there are the two country boards inspection in the matter of Hohenloe vnd Berlichingen: against Brandenburg. so the Schrotzburger hunting is prosecuted. Anno 1589 and inspection of the controversial facts between the most honorable prince vnd Herrenn, Herr Wolffgang Ertzbischoffen zu Meintz, etc. against the nobles vnd Vestenn Philips Heinrich, vnd Hansz Gottfridt von vnd zu Aschhausen ... 1594 .

literature

  • Wolfgang Adam, Siegrid Westphal (ed.): Handbook of cultural centers of the early modern age: Cities and residences in the old German-speaking area , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-020703-3
  • Paul Warmbrunn: The work of the painter and cartographer Wilhelm Besserer for the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Speyer in the 16th century , in: Mitteilungen des Historisches Verein der Pfalz Vol. 105 (2007) pp. 151–179
  • Fritz Hellwig, Wolfgang Reiniger, Klaus Stopp: Maps of the Palatinate on the Rhine 1513–1803: Catalog of the printed maps with an introduction to map history , W. Reiniger, Bad Kreuznach 1984, ISBN 3-923714-01-7
  • Ruthardt Oehme: The history of the cartography of the German southwest: With 16 color plates and 42 black and white maps , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Konstanz and Stuttgart 1961

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Besserer  - Collection of Images

Remarks

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Adam, Siegrid Westphal (ed.): Handbook of cultural centers of the early modern period: Cities and Residences in the old German-speaking area (2012), page 1817
  2. ↑ Ruthardt Oehme: The history of the cartography of the German Southwest (1961), page 122
  3. ^ Fritz Hellwig, Wolfgang Reiniger, Klaus Stopp: Maps of the Palatinate on the Rhine 1513–1803 (1984), page 19
  4. ↑ Ruthardt Oehme: The history of the cartography of the German Southwest (1961), page 65
  5. ↑ This map is attributed to the Hohenlohe cartographer Michel Hospein by Ruthardt Oehme (page 71), who follows the historian Karl Schumm , but according to the latest findings ( Gerhard Taddey , 1983) this can no longer be maintained.
personal data
SURNAME Better, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and cartographer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1539
PLACE OF BIRTH Speyer
DATE OF DEATH 1601
Place of death Speyer