Willibald Imhoff

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Portrait of Willibald Imhoff ( Titian )

Willibald Imhoff (born November 16, 1519 in Nuremberg ; † January 25, 1580 ibid) was a Nuremberg patrician , art collector, merchant and banker from the old Imhoff councilor and merchant family .

He was the son of Hans VI. Imhoff and Felicitas Pirckheimer, a daughter of the humanist and Dürer's friend Willibald Pirckheimer . His paternal grandfather was the Nuremberg merchant Hans V. Imhoff (1461–1522), his uncle Andreas I. Imhoff .

In his youth, Imhoff stayed in his family's trading offices in Lyon and Antwerp to learn wholesale and long-distance trade. From 1540–42 he traveled to France and then until 1544 to Spain. In 1545 he married Anna Harsdörffer (1528–1601), daughter of Wolff Harsdörffer and Ehrentraud Welser . Even after that, as a partner in the trading company, he made regular trips to Lyon and Saragossa.

Since his grandfather Willibald Pirckheimer died in 1530 without male heirs, his library and a large part of his art collection passed to Willibald Imhoff. The art collection was gradually expanded by Imhoff to the "art cabinet" and comprised hundreds of medals, around 70 silver implements and many paintings, including works by Albrecht Dürer (including his " Portrait of Johann Kleeberger " ), Holbein , Cranach , Tizian and Paris Bordone . He bought a large number of ancient and contemporary statues and busts made of marble or clay, as well as paintings, a rich collection of copper engravings, numerous hand drawings by famous masters, faience, Venetian glasses, and expanded the Pirckheimer library. After the death of Andreas Dürer (Albrecht's brother) Imhoff was able to acquire numerous works by Albrecht Dürer.

His economic success enabled him to purchase the Straub family's estate on Egidienplatz in 1562. He expanded this house further and made it the repository of his rich collection of antiques and works of art. He hosted prominent guests there such as the Cologne elector Salentin von Isenburg in 1575 and the Augsburg prince-bishop Marquard II in 1576. He finally bought a house on the Füll from the patrician Franz Tucher in 1562.

He also increased his grandfather's coin collection many times over. He also cataloged the coin collection of Duke Albrechts V of Bavaria .

literature

  • Hendrik Budde: The "art book" of the Nuremberg patrician Willibald Imhoff and the animal and plant studies by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Hoffmann . In: Yearbook of the Art History Collections in Vienna. Volume 82/83, 1986/87, pp. 213-241.
  • Hendrik Budde: The art collection of the Nuremberg patrician Willibald Imhoff with special consideration of the works of Albrecht Dürer . Munster 1996.
  • Helga Jahnel: The Imhoff, a Nuremberg patrician and large merchant family: A study of the imperial city economic policy and cultural history at the turn of the Middle Ages to the modern age (1351-1579). Wuerzburg 1957.
  • Peter Rudolf Jante: Willibald Imhoff. Art lover and collector . Lueneburg 1985.
  • Horst Pohl: Willibald Imhoff. Grandson and heir of Willibald Pirckheimer . Nuremberg 1992.
  • Dietmar Trautmann:  Imhof, Willibald. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 150 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Doris Wolfangel: Dr. Melchior Ayrer (1520-1579). Medical dissertation Würzburg 1957, p. 37.
personal data
SURNAME Imhoff, Willibald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art collector and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1519
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1580
Place of death Nuremberg