DOI Artikel:
Kozieł, Andrzej: Michael Wilmann - i. e. David Heidenreich: the "Rudolphian" drawings by Michael Willmann
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18946#0086
well as in the popularity of printed manuals the likes of Jost Amman’s
Kunstbüchlein.1,1
Heidenreich’s sketches differed from the examples present in typical drawing
manuals of guild masters, such as for example, the recently discovered work
belonging to a Wroclaw goldsmith Caspar Pfister.’1 Whereas these examples
were, to a large degree based on reproductions of prints or paintings by
other artists, Heidenreich’s works boast a decidedly inventive character. This
clear support of creating by using the imagination - “uyt den geest” - over
the traditional guild method of faithfully reproducing artistic or naturalistic
canons can only be attributed to ideological influences of the Prague artistic
circle under the Emperor Rudolph II. Embodied by the court painters and
sculptors, the academic ideal of the eloquent artist demonstrating
freedom of invention through his art, became the model for artists like
Heidenreich, coming from the traditional guild circles adding to their artistic
emancipation.1'
The “rudolphian” influence on Heidenreich, who spent time in Prague
during his studies around 1600 is seen in the stylistics of his drawings. Art
historians often pointed out at the dependence of the creations of Wroclaw
artist on the works of Hans von Aachen and Bartholomaeus Sprangen They
also underlined the expressive character of reception of the Prague artists,
a characteristic that is to be found in the works of other Wroclaw guild artists
such as those of Peter Schmidt and Bartholomaeus Strobel the Younger.’3 While
the influence of the Prague artists on the completed and signed drawings of
Heidenreich is very deep, sometimes even taking on the form of plagiarism,
or rather direct paraphrases of motifs directly from Hans von Aachen’s
paintings, ’4 the drawings found in his sketchbook, which show the individual
H. Dickel, Deutsche Zeichenbücher des Barock. Eine Geschichte der Künstlerausbildung,
Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 1987, pp. 103-146.
31 Oszczanowski/Gromadzki 1995, p. 10, no. 214-260.
32 For more on the model of artistic activity at the court of Rudolph II see Th. DaCosta Kaufmann,
“The Eloquent Artist: towards an Understanding of the Stylistics of Painting at the Court of
Rudolph II”, Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, I, 1982, pp. 119-142; also by the same author, The
School of Prague. Painting at the Court of Rudolph II, Chicago-London 1988, pp. 90-99. For
more on the influence of “Rudolphian” artists on the Wroclaw artistic circles see Oszczanowski/
Gromadzki 1995 and also H. Geissler, “Rudolphmische Filiationen in der Zeichenkunst um
1600”, in: Prag um 1600. Beitraege zur Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudols 11, Essen 1987,
pp. 70-83 as well as the review of this article by E Oszczanowski in Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, LIII,
1991, nos. 3-4, pp. 285-288; R Oszczanowski, “Ikonografia cesarza Rudolfa II (1576-1612)
w nowozytnej sztuce Slqska”, Dziela i Interpretacje, 1, 1993, pp. 27-63; J. Tylicki, Bartlomiej
Strobel i refleksy sztuki rudolfinskiej w Polsce, Ph. D. dissertation, Torun 1995; also by the same
author, “Spranger, Strobel i Schmidt. Przyczynek do wplywów praskiego niderlandyzmu na
Slqsku”, in: Niderlandyzm w sztuce polskiej, Warszawa 1995, pp. 263-278.
33 Geissler 1979/80, pp. 153, 169; Oszczanowski/Gromadzki 1995, p. 278.
34 Hercules Conquering Vices and Faults (Hermitage, Saint Petersburg) completed in 1601,
is a copy of a painting done by Hans von Aachen in about 1598. Futhermore, two identical
drawings Nude Male (Isrealite?, Laokoon?) Battling the Snakes (Kunsthalle, Bremen and
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin) copy this figure from a painting done by Hans von Aachen Allegory
84
Kunstbüchlein.1,1
Heidenreich’s sketches differed from the examples present in typical drawing
manuals of guild masters, such as for example, the recently discovered work
belonging to a Wroclaw goldsmith Caspar Pfister.’1 Whereas these examples
were, to a large degree based on reproductions of prints or paintings by
other artists, Heidenreich’s works boast a decidedly inventive character. This
clear support of creating by using the imagination - “uyt den geest” - over
the traditional guild method of faithfully reproducing artistic or naturalistic
canons can only be attributed to ideological influences of the Prague artistic
circle under the Emperor Rudolph II. Embodied by the court painters and
sculptors, the academic ideal of the eloquent artist demonstrating
freedom of invention through his art, became the model for artists like
Heidenreich, coming from the traditional guild circles adding to their artistic
emancipation.1'
The “rudolphian” influence on Heidenreich, who spent time in Prague
during his studies around 1600 is seen in the stylistics of his drawings. Art
historians often pointed out at the dependence of the creations of Wroclaw
artist on the works of Hans von Aachen and Bartholomaeus Sprangen They
also underlined the expressive character of reception of the Prague artists,
a characteristic that is to be found in the works of other Wroclaw guild artists
such as those of Peter Schmidt and Bartholomaeus Strobel the Younger.’3 While
the influence of the Prague artists on the completed and signed drawings of
Heidenreich is very deep, sometimes even taking on the form of plagiarism,
or rather direct paraphrases of motifs directly from Hans von Aachen’s
paintings, ’4 the drawings found in his sketchbook, which show the individual
H. Dickel, Deutsche Zeichenbücher des Barock. Eine Geschichte der Künstlerausbildung,
Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 1987, pp. 103-146.
31 Oszczanowski/Gromadzki 1995, p. 10, no. 214-260.
32 For more on the model of artistic activity at the court of Rudolph II see Th. DaCosta Kaufmann,
“The Eloquent Artist: towards an Understanding of the Stylistics of Painting at the Court of
Rudolph II”, Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, I, 1982, pp. 119-142; also by the same author, The
School of Prague. Painting at the Court of Rudolph II, Chicago-London 1988, pp. 90-99. For
more on the influence of “Rudolphian” artists on the Wroclaw artistic circles see Oszczanowski/
Gromadzki 1995 and also H. Geissler, “Rudolphmische Filiationen in der Zeichenkunst um
1600”, in: Prag um 1600. Beitraege zur Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudols 11, Essen 1987,
pp. 70-83 as well as the review of this article by E Oszczanowski in Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, LIII,
1991, nos. 3-4, pp. 285-288; R Oszczanowski, “Ikonografia cesarza Rudolfa II (1576-1612)
w nowozytnej sztuce Slqska”, Dziela i Interpretacje, 1, 1993, pp. 27-63; J. Tylicki, Bartlomiej
Strobel i refleksy sztuki rudolfinskiej w Polsce, Ph. D. dissertation, Torun 1995; also by the same
author, “Spranger, Strobel i Schmidt. Przyczynek do wplywów praskiego niderlandyzmu na
Slqsku”, in: Niderlandyzm w sztuce polskiej, Warszawa 1995, pp. 263-278.
33 Geissler 1979/80, pp. 153, 169; Oszczanowski/Gromadzki 1995, p. 278.
34 Hercules Conquering Vices and Faults (Hermitage, Saint Petersburg) completed in 1601,
is a copy of a painting done by Hans von Aachen in about 1598. Futhermore, two identical
drawings Nude Male (Isrealite?, Laokoon?) Battling the Snakes (Kunsthalle, Bremen and
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin) copy this figure from a painting done by Hans von Aachen Allegory
84