DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Artykuły
DOI Artikel:Skibiński, Franciszek: Warsztat Abrahama van den Blocke i publiczne przedsięwzięcia budowlane w Gdańsku w pierwszej ćwierci XVII wieku
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71007#0271
Warsztat Abrahama van den Blocke i publiczne przedsięwzięcia budowlane
265
Abraham van den Blocke 's Workshop and Gdansk Public
Buildings in the First Quarter of the 17th Century
The article focuses on Abraham van den Blocke's
works carried out on Gdansk's major public buildings
in the early 17th century, the profile of his workshop,
and the position he held among the Gdansk artistic
and architectural circles in the early 17th century. It
also provides new information on the history of the
raising of Gdansk's major edifices of the time: the
Grand Armoury, Długa Street Gate, and the Artus
Manor.
Abraham van den Blocke was responsible, first
of all, for all the architectural decoration of the
buildings, and in the case of the latter two, probably
also for designing their architectural look. The first
facility Van den Blocke was employed for was the
Grand Armoury. According to the town bills, work
on it was carried out in 1605-8. Over the first period,
in 1605-6, he executed the stone decoration of the
gables crowned with the figures of soldiers and
sphinxes. In the following years, he worked on the
unpreserved interior decoration; moreover, Van den
Blocke executed an architectural casing of the well in
front ofthe building's eastern faęade. Subsequently,
he was employed to raise the Długa Street Gate. As
of spring 1613 until the spring of the following year,
he received regular weekly payments for stone-
masonry jobs. Immediately upon the completion of
the Długa Street Gate, the alteration of the Artus
Manor began. The preserved sources testify to the
simultaneous employment of two workshops for the
purpose: a building and stonemason ones,
respectively headed by Hans Strakowski and Abra-
ham van den Blocke. At the same time, some
unqualified workers, supervised by Philip Schu-
macher, performing certain auxiliary jobs and
transporting building and stonemasonry materials,
were present on-site. The works on the stately
southern faęade of the Artus Manor lasted until the
end of 1616. In the meantime, Abraham van den
Blocke was busy executing the architectural and
sculptural ornaments of the elevation, including
figural and decorative ones. Following this, he
continued the finishing works in the interiors, just
like he had previously done having completed the
elevation of the Grand Armoury. Van den Blocke
supervised some dozen individuals, mainly stone-
mason journeymen as well as sculptors.
The conclusions drawn from the scrutiny of town
bills are later compared with the information on
Abraham van den Blocke's workshop obtained from
the records of the Gdansk Guild of Masons,
Stonemasons, and Sculptors. As for the number of
workers, his workshop clearly exceeded other Gdansk
workshops, equalling some building ones. Although in
the case of the majority of journeymen there is no
information available as for their professional speciali-
zations, they were predominantly stonemasons. There
were relatively few journeymen and apprentices
defined as sculptors, though their number exceeded
equivalent figures for most other Gdansk workshops.
Abraham's workshop is also compared to the
studio of his father, Willem van den Blocke, the
leading sculptor of the late 16th century, whose
continuator it actually was in a way. Abraham was
committed to working with monumental architecture
to a much greater extent than his father, therefore his
workshop was clearly larger than that of his father,
the latter being typically sculptural. In Willem van
den Blocke's workshop, the journeymen defined as
sculptors constituted almost half of the workforce,
whereas relatively few of such journeymen worked
for Abraham. What is more, the son had a stronger
bond with Gdansk and with the local guild. As much
as Willem worked first of all for customers from
outside the city, Abraham was for many years
employed by members of the town elites to execute
both public and private commissions.
To conclude, the role of Abraham van den
Blocke as an architect is tackled. Since the process
of designing architecture in the then Gdansk is hard
to trace, we can only suppose what was happening in
this respect. Architecture designing was at the time
a complex, interdisciplinary process participated
by representatives of different professions. In
compliance with the routine of the time, Abraham
van den Blocke may have played a major role in it
as a sculptor. Moreover, he may have conceived the
concept of the Długa Street Gate and the Artus
Manor, two innovatory projects of the then Gdansk.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska
265
Abraham van den Blocke 's Workshop and Gdansk Public
Buildings in the First Quarter of the 17th Century
The article focuses on Abraham van den Blocke's
works carried out on Gdansk's major public buildings
in the early 17th century, the profile of his workshop,
and the position he held among the Gdansk artistic
and architectural circles in the early 17th century. It
also provides new information on the history of the
raising of Gdansk's major edifices of the time: the
Grand Armoury, Długa Street Gate, and the Artus
Manor.
Abraham van den Blocke was responsible, first
of all, for all the architectural decoration of the
buildings, and in the case of the latter two, probably
also for designing their architectural look. The first
facility Van den Blocke was employed for was the
Grand Armoury. According to the town bills, work
on it was carried out in 1605-8. Over the first period,
in 1605-6, he executed the stone decoration of the
gables crowned with the figures of soldiers and
sphinxes. In the following years, he worked on the
unpreserved interior decoration; moreover, Van den
Blocke executed an architectural casing of the well in
front ofthe building's eastern faęade. Subsequently,
he was employed to raise the Długa Street Gate. As
of spring 1613 until the spring of the following year,
he received regular weekly payments for stone-
masonry jobs. Immediately upon the completion of
the Długa Street Gate, the alteration of the Artus
Manor began. The preserved sources testify to the
simultaneous employment of two workshops for the
purpose: a building and stonemason ones,
respectively headed by Hans Strakowski and Abra-
ham van den Blocke. At the same time, some
unqualified workers, supervised by Philip Schu-
macher, performing certain auxiliary jobs and
transporting building and stonemasonry materials,
were present on-site. The works on the stately
southern faęade of the Artus Manor lasted until the
end of 1616. In the meantime, Abraham van den
Blocke was busy executing the architectural and
sculptural ornaments of the elevation, including
figural and decorative ones. Following this, he
continued the finishing works in the interiors, just
like he had previously done having completed the
elevation of the Grand Armoury. Van den Blocke
supervised some dozen individuals, mainly stone-
mason journeymen as well as sculptors.
The conclusions drawn from the scrutiny of town
bills are later compared with the information on
Abraham van den Blocke's workshop obtained from
the records of the Gdansk Guild of Masons,
Stonemasons, and Sculptors. As for the number of
workers, his workshop clearly exceeded other Gdansk
workshops, equalling some building ones. Although in
the case of the majority of journeymen there is no
information available as for their professional speciali-
zations, they were predominantly stonemasons. There
were relatively few journeymen and apprentices
defined as sculptors, though their number exceeded
equivalent figures for most other Gdansk workshops.
Abraham's workshop is also compared to the
studio of his father, Willem van den Blocke, the
leading sculptor of the late 16th century, whose
continuator it actually was in a way. Abraham was
committed to working with monumental architecture
to a much greater extent than his father, therefore his
workshop was clearly larger than that of his father,
the latter being typically sculptural. In Willem van
den Blocke's workshop, the journeymen defined as
sculptors constituted almost half of the workforce,
whereas relatively few of such journeymen worked
for Abraham. What is more, the son had a stronger
bond with Gdansk and with the local guild. As much
as Willem worked first of all for customers from
outside the city, Abraham was for many years
employed by members of the town elites to execute
both public and private commissions.
To conclude, the role of Abraham van den
Blocke as an architect is tackled. Since the process
of designing architecture in the then Gdansk is hard
to trace, we can only suppose what was happening in
this respect. Architecture designing was at the time
a complex, interdisciplinary process participated
by representatives of different professions. In
compliance with the routine of the time, Abraham
van den Blocke may have played a major role in it
as a sculptor. Moreover, he may have conceived the
concept of the Długa Street Gate and the Artus
Manor, two innovatory projects of the then Gdansk.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska