DOI article:
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 Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43437#0190
Kevin take when evaluating unsigned works. Yet it is surprising to actually observe
E. Kandt how much of the same sort of soft drapery with rippling eddies and attenuated,
fluttering ends visually manifests in both sketches. One can indeed understand
why the chalk drawing has continued to retain its credibility as a work poten-
tially related to Schluter’s oeuvre for such a long time.
The aforementioned Rococo quality seen in the Allegory of Time is again
in keeping with the late-Schliiterian visual language found in the Kameke Villa
drawing, which itself demonstrates some very progressive, even precursory
traits heralding Rococo stylistic elements like the figure of the seated woman
with a parasol in the lunette window and the unusual palm-like ornaments on
the staircase balustrade, (fig. 20) The advantage of utilizing the previously-men-
tioned three architectural drawings for our examination here is that they all also
contain both free-form sketched elements along with the precisely-measured
and drawn non-figurative ones. Although the difference in size between these
works should also be taken into consideration, the Villa von Kameke drawing is
especially comparable to the Gdańsk pieces in its very similar approach to creat-
ing the figural forms by using short, deft lines of the pen, however, no shaded
areas appear on the ones from the Gdańsk museum. The remarkably clear and
simplified compositions in the Gdańsk works and the Kameke Villa drawing are
equally in tune with a typical Schliiterian design conception.71
If accepted, then one could argue that the Gdańsk drawings are probably
in some way associated with Andreas Schluter or his school owing to the
particular allegorical themes, distinctive stylistic traits, and their Rococo
tendencies, thus, being datable to a time from the later years of his Berlin
period beginning c. 1705 until c. 1711 for reasons which will be pointed out
below. Although the precise dating for the Gdańsk works has not yet been
established, further reliable evidence for this dating may only be obtained
when the drawings are remounted.72 Should the drawings be found to have
been done before 1706-07, for example, when Schluter was still head of
a large sculpture workshop and architectural office,73 then they might have
71 This observation about Schliiterian compositional simplicity and clarity is pointed out
in: Eva Miihlbacher, Das Giebelrelief des Joachimsthalschen Gymnasiums in Berlin. Ein Werk des
Schluter-Schulers Johann Georg Glume, “Forschungen und Berichte - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin”
1965, Bd. 7, p. 32. [p. 26-33]; Kevin Kandt, Andreas Schluter and the Survival of Netherlandish
Baroque Classicism. Sources and Influences for Sculpture in the Service of Politics in Late 17th and
Early 18th Century Berlin, [in:] Aus Hippocrenes Quell’..., p. 330, 358; Peschken, Review..., p. 170.
72 Both drawings were, at some time before 1945, glued onto cardboard which does not
allow an adequate examination of the paper, e.g. to observe any watermarks. Conservation is
highly necessary in this case in order to preserve them from the potentially harmful effects of
the presumably high acidic-content of their mounts and would also provide a better opportunity
to study the paper itself more extensively.
73 The period leading up to and immediately following the dismantling of the so-called
Miinzturm adjacent the Royal Palace in July 1706 and the unlucky event which occurred at
the Lustschloss in Bad Freienwald in July 1707 was a period of great turmoil in the artist’s
188
E. Kandt how much of the same sort of soft drapery with rippling eddies and attenuated,
fluttering ends visually manifests in both sketches. One can indeed understand
why the chalk drawing has continued to retain its credibility as a work poten-
tially related to Schluter’s oeuvre for such a long time.
The aforementioned Rococo quality seen in the Allegory of Time is again
in keeping with the late-Schliiterian visual language found in the Kameke Villa
drawing, which itself demonstrates some very progressive, even precursory
traits heralding Rococo stylistic elements like the figure of the seated woman
with a parasol in the lunette window and the unusual palm-like ornaments on
the staircase balustrade, (fig. 20) The advantage of utilizing the previously-men-
tioned three architectural drawings for our examination here is that they all also
contain both free-form sketched elements along with the precisely-measured
and drawn non-figurative ones. Although the difference in size between these
works should also be taken into consideration, the Villa von Kameke drawing is
especially comparable to the Gdańsk pieces in its very similar approach to creat-
ing the figural forms by using short, deft lines of the pen, however, no shaded
areas appear on the ones from the Gdańsk museum. The remarkably clear and
simplified compositions in the Gdańsk works and the Kameke Villa drawing are
equally in tune with a typical Schliiterian design conception.71
If accepted, then one could argue that the Gdańsk drawings are probably
in some way associated with Andreas Schluter or his school owing to the
particular allegorical themes, distinctive stylistic traits, and their Rococo
tendencies, thus, being datable to a time from the later years of his Berlin
period beginning c. 1705 until c. 1711 for reasons which will be pointed out
below. Although the precise dating for the Gdańsk works has not yet been
established, further reliable evidence for this dating may only be obtained
when the drawings are remounted.72 Should the drawings be found to have
been done before 1706-07, for example, when Schluter was still head of
a large sculpture workshop and architectural office,73 then they might have
71 This observation about Schliiterian compositional simplicity and clarity is pointed out
in: Eva Miihlbacher, Das Giebelrelief des Joachimsthalschen Gymnasiums in Berlin. Ein Werk des
Schluter-Schulers Johann Georg Glume, “Forschungen und Berichte - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin”
1965, Bd. 7, p. 32. [p. 26-33]; Kevin Kandt, Andreas Schluter and the Survival of Netherlandish
Baroque Classicism. Sources and Influences for Sculpture in the Service of Politics in Late 17th and
Early 18th Century Berlin, [in:] Aus Hippocrenes Quell’..., p. 330, 358; Peschken, Review..., p. 170.
72 Both drawings were, at some time before 1945, glued onto cardboard which does not
allow an adequate examination of the paper, e.g. to observe any watermarks. Conservation is
highly necessary in this case in order to preserve them from the potentially harmful effects of
the presumably high acidic-content of their mounts and would also provide a better opportunity
to study the paper itself more extensively.
73 The period leading up to and immediately following the dismantling of the so-called
Miinzturm adjacent the Royal Palace in July 1706 and the unlucky event which occurred at
the Lustschloss in Bad Freienwald in July 1707 was a period of great turmoil in the artist’s
188