DOI Artikel:
Kandt, Kevin E.: Some notes on two allegorical drawings attributed to Andreas Schlüter the Younger from the Jacob Kabrun collection in the National Museum of Gdańsk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43437#0162
Kevin E. Kandt
Some Notes on Two Allegorical Drawings
Attributed to Andreas Schluter the
Younger from the Jacob Kabrun Collection
in the National Museum of Gdańsk*
I. Introduction and Background
The National Museum in Gdańsk (Danzig) possesses two pen and ink draw-
ings described as an Allegory of Astronomy and an Allegory of Time, which
were long ago provisionally attributed to the sculptor and architect Andreas
Schluter (c. 1659-1714),1 who had spent his own early years in this Baltic port
town.2 (figs. 1-2) The drawings initially belonged to a successful Danzig merchant
Jacob Kabrun (1759-1814),3 one of those prominent citizens financially able
to pursue a passion as an art-connoisseur and assemble a noteworthy collection
* I am grateful to Dr. Jacek Tylicki of Toruń, Poland, for bringing the existence of these
drawings to my attention in June 1995 and sharing his observations on Baroque-period drawing
techniques. Many thanks also go to Dr. Gerd-Helge Vogel, and Dr. Goerd Peschken of Berlin for
reading the manuscript and offering their ideas. This text is a shorter version of an article which
shall be published in the forth-coming issue (Volume II) of Schluteriana - Studies in the Art, Life
and Milieu of Andreas Schluter (c. 1659-1714) edited by the present author.
1 These works, which are both approximately 16 x 9.2 cm (MNG/SD/759/R and
MNG/SD/758/R respectively), were listed as “... no. 8151, Allegorie auf die Zeit - Feder;
no. 8152, Allegorie auf die Astronomie - Feder...“ As a caveat regarding the definitive
authorship of all the drawings in the Kabrun collection, the authors stated: “Ob alle diese
Handzeichnungen Originale sind, muss dahingestellet bleiben.“ See: Julius Caesar Block
and Carl Ludwig von Duisburg, Catalog einer Sammlung von Kupferstichen, Holzdrucken,
Lithographien und Handzeichnungen welche von dem Anno 1814 hier verstorbenen Herrn
Jacob Kabrun der Kaufmannschaft hieselbst hinterlassen worden sind, Danzig 1861, p. 169. This
catalogue has been fully re-printed in: Jolanta Talbierska and Kalina Zabuska, Straty Wojenne
Kolekcja Jacoba Kabruna, Tom 1 - Ryciny. Historia i Dokumentajca [Wartime Losses. Jacob
Kabrun s Collection - vol. 1, Prints. History and Documentation], Poznań 2000.
2 Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler von der Antike
bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 30, Leipzig 1936, p. 118-123; Katarzyna Mikocka-Rachubowska,
“Schluter, Andreas”, [in:] Polski słownik biograficzny [Polish Biographical Dictionary], vol. 34,
Warsaw 1994, p. 527-530.
3 Zabuska, “Kolekcja kupca Jakuba Kabruna w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowegeo w Gdańsku
[The Collection of the Merchant Jacob Kabrun in the Collection of the National Museum
in Gdańsk],“Porta Aurea” 1994, t. 3 p. 75-90; Talbierska, K. Zabuska, Straty Wojenne..., p. 36-40.
160
Some Notes on Two Allegorical Drawings
Attributed to Andreas Schluter the
Younger from the Jacob Kabrun Collection
in the National Museum of Gdańsk*
I. Introduction and Background
The National Museum in Gdańsk (Danzig) possesses two pen and ink draw-
ings described as an Allegory of Astronomy and an Allegory of Time, which
were long ago provisionally attributed to the sculptor and architect Andreas
Schluter (c. 1659-1714),1 who had spent his own early years in this Baltic port
town.2 (figs. 1-2) The drawings initially belonged to a successful Danzig merchant
Jacob Kabrun (1759-1814),3 one of those prominent citizens financially able
to pursue a passion as an art-connoisseur and assemble a noteworthy collection
* I am grateful to Dr. Jacek Tylicki of Toruń, Poland, for bringing the existence of these
drawings to my attention in June 1995 and sharing his observations on Baroque-period drawing
techniques. Many thanks also go to Dr. Gerd-Helge Vogel, and Dr. Goerd Peschken of Berlin for
reading the manuscript and offering their ideas. This text is a shorter version of an article which
shall be published in the forth-coming issue (Volume II) of Schluteriana - Studies in the Art, Life
and Milieu of Andreas Schluter (c. 1659-1714) edited by the present author.
1 These works, which are both approximately 16 x 9.2 cm (MNG/SD/759/R and
MNG/SD/758/R respectively), were listed as “... no. 8151, Allegorie auf die Zeit - Feder;
no. 8152, Allegorie auf die Astronomie - Feder...“ As a caveat regarding the definitive
authorship of all the drawings in the Kabrun collection, the authors stated: “Ob alle diese
Handzeichnungen Originale sind, muss dahingestellet bleiben.“ See: Julius Caesar Block
and Carl Ludwig von Duisburg, Catalog einer Sammlung von Kupferstichen, Holzdrucken,
Lithographien und Handzeichnungen welche von dem Anno 1814 hier verstorbenen Herrn
Jacob Kabrun der Kaufmannschaft hieselbst hinterlassen worden sind, Danzig 1861, p. 169. This
catalogue has been fully re-printed in: Jolanta Talbierska and Kalina Zabuska, Straty Wojenne
Kolekcja Jacoba Kabruna, Tom 1 - Ryciny. Historia i Dokumentajca [Wartime Losses. Jacob
Kabrun s Collection - vol. 1, Prints. History and Documentation], Poznań 2000.
2 Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler von der Antike
bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 30, Leipzig 1936, p. 118-123; Katarzyna Mikocka-Rachubowska,
“Schluter, Andreas”, [in:] Polski słownik biograficzny [Polish Biographical Dictionary], vol. 34,
Warsaw 1994, p. 527-530.
3 Zabuska, “Kolekcja kupca Jakuba Kabruna w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowegeo w Gdańsku
[The Collection of the Merchant Jacob Kabrun in the Collection of the National Museum
in Gdańsk],“Porta Aurea” 1994, t. 3 p. 75-90; Talbierska, K. Zabuska, Straty Wojenne..., p. 36-40.
160