Instytut Historii Sztuki <Posen> [Hrsg.]: Artium Quaestiones (10.2000)

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KEVIN E. KANDT

the Arthur’s Court (1616-17).* 28 Another fine civic décoration was the
Neptune Fountain, with its bronze figure probably done by the Flemish
artist Peter Husen (1612-15), located in the Langen Markt before the Ar-
thur’s Court.29 Works by Willem van der Meer, Hans Vredemann de
Vries, Isaac van den Block, Simon Herle, Anton Môller, and Andréas
Stech, in the Main Town Hall and Arthur’s Court would hâve also pro-
vided any citizen ample opportunity to contemplate didactic images
replete with venerable models of idéal antique civic virtue, Renaissance
humanist philosophy, and moralizing Protestant Christianity; ail
lavishly represented in paintings and sculptures showing Roman history,
mythological allegory, biblical scenes, and emblems.30 * * * * *

the attic were eight allegorical figures of Virtues executed by Peter Ringering (c. 1648-49),
after preliminary drawings by local sculptor Hans Caspar Gockheller (discovered by
Janusz Paiubicki in the National Muséum, Gdansk), that were engraved by Jeremias
Falck. The figures show a rather eccentric local classical style in a mixture of “antique-
like” and contemporary forms that recall the work of Artus Quellinus’ Justitia from the
Amsterdam Town Hall (1652). Ch. Theuerkauff, “Bildwerk der Zeit des Grossen Kurfur-
sten und Friedrichs I,” in Barockskulptur in Mittel- und Osteuropa, K. Kalinowski (ed.),
Poznan 1981, pp. 173, 174-175 and Aurea Porta, catalogue vol., pp. 230-234.

28 Keyser, Die Baugeschichte der Stadt Danzig, pp. 366-368; Friedrich, Gdanskie
zabytki architektury, pp. 179-191 and Aurea Porta, catalogue vol., pp. 71-75.

29 For the Neptune Fountain, see: T. Hirsch, “Zur Geschichte Danzigs. Der Spring-
brunnen auf dem Langen Markte,” Neue Preussische Provinzialblàtter, 2(1852), pp. 161-
169; G. Cuny, Danzigs Kunst und Kultur, 81-82, and “Der Neptunbrunnen in Danzig -
300 Jahre Alt,” Mitteilungen des Westpreussischen Geschichtsvereins, 33(1934) nr. 2, pp.
30-37; H. Cari, “Der Neptunbrunnen auf dem Langen Markte zu Danzig,” Zeitschrift für
Kunstgeschichte, 6(1937), pp. 147-150 and “Neues über den Neptunbrunnen,” Mitteilungen
des Westpreussischen Geschichtsvereins, 36(1937), nr. 1, pp. 13-16.

30 The Main Town Hall is a prime example this complex blending of ancient myth,

classical philosophy, and biblical doctrine using characteristic images and motifs in ideo-

logical décorative programs of the early Baroque. The ornamentation found in its principal
rooms where the great stone fireplace, paintings and ceiling plafonds, and even the minor

details of carved, wooden reliefs ail play a rôle in the complicated iconongraphy of the
Town Council’s assertion of its city’s proud status. The interior painting and sculpture
were studied by, E. Iwanoyko, “Interpretacja niektorych elementow wystroju Wielkiej

Sali Rady w Ratuszu Gdanskim,” Gdanskie Studia Muzealne, 2(1978), pp. 9-24 and
Apoteoza Gdahska: Program ideowy malowidel stropu Wielkiej Sali Rady w gdanskim Ra-
tuszu Gtôwnego Miasta, Gdansk 1976, pp. 25-83; T. Domagala, “Wnqtrza reprezentacyj-
nego piqtra ratusza glownego miasta na podstawie inwentarza z konca XVII wieku,”

Gdanskie Studia Muzealne, 2(1978), pp. 25-47; T. Labuda, "Program obrazowy komory
palowej w gdanskim Ratuszu Glownego Miasta,” in Sztuka miast i mieszczahstwa XV-XVIII
wieku w Europie érodkowowschodniej, J. Harasimowicz (ed.), Warszawa 1990, pp. 303-317.
For an analysis of similar iconographie thèmes in the Arthur’s Court interior, see: T.
Labuda, “Sqd Ostateczny Antoniego Môllera z Dworu Artusa w Gdansku. Problemy ikono-
grafii,” Gdanskie Studia Muzealne, 4(1985), pp. 69-78; K. Cieslak, “Wystrôj Dworu Artusa
w Gdansku i jego program ideowy w XVII wieku,” Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, 55(1993), nr. 1,
pp. 29-48 and also in a revised version, Porta Aurea, 1(1992), pp. 39-50; J. Friedrich, “O sy-
metrii w Orfeusza Hansa Vredemana de Vries,” Porta Aurea, 1(1992), pp. 95-101.