DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0586
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IX.—PETEE PLOTNEE.
Peter Flotner, sculptor, medallist, drauglitsman and wood-
engraver (?);1 place and date of birth unknown; removed from
Ansbacli to Nuremberg, where his name first appears as “ the foreign
wood-carver ifrom Onolzbach, Master Peter by name,” in a resolution
passed by the council on 1 October, 1522, to confer on him the rights
of citizenship gratuitously; took the oath as a citizen on 8 August,
1523; was tlrrice married, and had a son, Caspar, by his first wife;
resided permanently at Nuremberg, where he died on 23 October,
1546.2
Recent authorities :—-
J. Reimers, “ Peter Flotner nach seinen Handzeichnungen und
Holzschnitten,” Munich, 1890.
Iv. Domanig, “ Peter Plotner als Plastiker und Medailleur.” Jahrb.
cL TcunstMst. Scimml. d. allerli. Kaiserhauses, 1895, xvi, 1.
K. Lange, “ Peter Flotner, ein Bahnbrecher der deutschen Renais-
sance,” Berlin, 1897. Professor Lange gives a summary
(p. 1) of all the literature on Flotner down to the date of the
appearance of his own book. His text of Neudorfer’s biography
of Flotner (pp. 3, 4) is more trustworthy than that printed in
Lochner’s edition.
Flotner signed liis works with initials, often accompanied by
mallet and chisel, or else witli a kincl of rebus, in wliich a heap of
ordure,3 sometimes pierced by a chisel or an arrow, figures promi-
nently; wings, whicli formed part of his armorial bearings, are also
introduced significantly into sorne of the ornamental and architectural
1 It is not proved tliat Flotner out his own blocks, but this is very likely in the
case of the fine ornamental subjects, for he was before all tliings a wood-carver, and
must have been versed in handiing all tools used on wood. The instruments that
accompany his monogram on several drawings and woodcuts are a mallet and a “ skew ”
chisel (the kind used by a wood-carver, not a sculptor in stone). In one case (Lange,
p. 16) an instrument, said to be a burin, accompanies the chisel, but this cannot allude
to the practice of wood-engraving, in which the knife was exclusively used at that
period.
2 The correctuess of tliis date was doubted by Reimers, on the ground that the
illustrations to the works of Rivius were not published till 1517 and 1518, and that
Neudorfer, writing in 1517, spoke of him as if still alive. But Neudorfer’s words,
inaccurately printed by Loclmer, will bear another interpretation, while tlie date given
above is supported not only by the epitaph in St. John’s Churcliyard, but also by the
record of his burial, between 11 September and 13 December, 1546, in the “ grosse
Totengelaut von S. Sebald.” (See Lange, pp. 4, 5.)
3 Alluding perhaps to “ Flade.” The artist’s name occurs in documents dating
from his lifetime as Flattner or Flatner.
IX.—PETEE PLOTNEE.
Peter Flotner, sculptor, medallist, drauglitsman and wood-
engraver (?);1 place and date of birth unknown; removed from
Ansbacli to Nuremberg, where his name first appears as “ the foreign
wood-carver ifrom Onolzbach, Master Peter by name,” in a resolution
passed by the council on 1 October, 1522, to confer on him the rights
of citizenship gratuitously; took the oath as a citizen on 8 August,
1523; was tlrrice married, and had a son, Caspar, by his first wife;
resided permanently at Nuremberg, where he died on 23 October,
1546.2
Recent authorities :—-
J. Reimers, “ Peter Flotner nach seinen Handzeichnungen und
Holzschnitten,” Munich, 1890.
Iv. Domanig, “ Peter Plotner als Plastiker und Medailleur.” Jahrb.
cL TcunstMst. Scimml. d. allerli. Kaiserhauses, 1895, xvi, 1.
K. Lange, “ Peter Flotner, ein Bahnbrecher der deutschen Renais-
sance,” Berlin, 1897. Professor Lange gives a summary
(p. 1) of all the literature on Flotner down to the date of the
appearance of his own book. His text of Neudorfer’s biography
of Flotner (pp. 3, 4) is more trustworthy than that printed in
Lochner’s edition.
Flotner signed liis works with initials, often accompanied by
mallet and chisel, or else witli a kincl of rebus, in wliich a heap of
ordure,3 sometimes pierced by a chisel or an arrow, figures promi-
nently; wings, whicli formed part of his armorial bearings, are also
introduced significantly into sorne of the ornamental and architectural
1 It is not proved tliat Flotner out his own blocks, but this is very likely in the
case of the fine ornamental subjects, for he was before all tliings a wood-carver, and
must have been versed in handiing all tools used on wood. The instruments that
accompany his monogram on several drawings and woodcuts are a mallet and a “ skew ”
chisel (the kind used by a wood-carver, not a sculptor in stone). In one case (Lange,
p. 16) an instrument, said to be a burin, accompanies the chisel, but this cannot allude
to the practice of wood-engraving, in which the knife was exclusively used at that
period.
2 The correctuess of tliis date was doubted by Reimers, on the ground that the
illustrations to the works of Rivius were not published till 1517 and 1518, and that
Neudorfer, writing in 1517, spoke of him as if still alive. But Neudorfer’s words,
inaccurately printed by Loclmer, will bear another interpretation, while tlie date given
above is supported not only by the epitaph in St. John’s Churcliyard, but also by the
record of his burial, between 11 September and 13 December, 1546, in the “ grosse
Totengelaut von S. Sebald.” (See Lange, pp. 4, 5.)
3 Alluding perhaps to “ Flade.” The artist’s name occurs in documents dating
from his lifetime as Flattner or Flatner.