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DOI article:Kriegseisen, Anna: Colour schemes in façades of Gdańsk burgher houses of the second half of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66965#0148
Anna Kriegseisen
Gdańsk
ORCID: 0000-0001-5181-4758
Colour Schemes in Faęades of Gdańsk Burgher
Houses of the Second Half of the Sixteenth
and Early Seventeenth Centuries
https://doi.org/10.2688 l/porta.2022.21.06
Słowa kluczowe: schematy barwne, zestawienia barw, fasady, kamienice mieszczańskie,
Gdańsk, tynk, kamień, rzeźba
Keywords: colour schemes, colour combination, faęades, burgher houses, Gdańsk, plaster,
stone, sculpture
The period from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century in Gdańsk
was a time of heightened construction activity as a result of the excellent eco-
nomic and cultural climate. One of the defining features of the new, representa-
tive urban architecture, developed between 1550 and 1630, but lasting beyond
that period, was the faęade of the Gdańsk Mannerist burgher house: brick, nar-
row, usually three-axial, three-storey, with a triangular, often two-storey gable.
With its large, densely and symmetrically placed windows, it evolved into a sepa-
rate layer, superimposed on which was a structure of architectural divisions and
sculptural decoration made of stone (or mortar). The entrance, in the central
or side axis, was accented with a decorative portal. Cornices separated each
storey, and windows were often framed with bands of stone or, less frequently,
artificial stone. Vertical divisions might be accentuated with pilasters, and the
gable was often framed with a stone edging composed of strapwork elements.
Faęades in the Northern Renaissance or Dutch Mannerism style are anec-
dotally perceived as red and white, with red interpreted as the colour of the
raw brick, and white as the natural colour of the stone used in the sculptural
ornamentation. The present state of research allows us to confirm that, in fact,
this colour scheme was not dictated by the natural colours of the materials.
The faęades of burgher houses typically had a layer of finishing, unlike
the large surfaces of the faęades of castles and churches, whose planes were
sometimes broken up by patterns laid with overburned brick or glazed bricks.1
Faęades made of hand-formed and hand-fired bricks were not uniform in either
1 An example is to be found on the southern wall of St Mary’s Church in Gdańsk.
146
Gdańsk
ORCID: 0000-0001-5181-4758
Colour Schemes in Faęades of Gdańsk Burgher
Houses of the Second Half of the Sixteenth
and Early Seventeenth Centuries
https://doi.org/10.2688 l/porta.2022.21.06
Słowa kluczowe: schematy barwne, zestawienia barw, fasady, kamienice mieszczańskie,
Gdańsk, tynk, kamień, rzeźba
Keywords: colour schemes, colour combination, faęades, burgher houses, Gdańsk, plaster,
stone, sculpture
The period from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century in Gdańsk
was a time of heightened construction activity as a result of the excellent eco-
nomic and cultural climate. One of the defining features of the new, representa-
tive urban architecture, developed between 1550 and 1630, but lasting beyond
that period, was the faęade of the Gdańsk Mannerist burgher house: brick, nar-
row, usually three-axial, three-storey, with a triangular, often two-storey gable.
With its large, densely and symmetrically placed windows, it evolved into a sepa-
rate layer, superimposed on which was a structure of architectural divisions and
sculptural decoration made of stone (or mortar). The entrance, in the central
or side axis, was accented with a decorative portal. Cornices separated each
storey, and windows were often framed with bands of stone or, less frequently,
artificial stone. Vertical divisions might be accentuated with pilasters, and the
gable was often framed with a stone edging composed of strapwork elements.
Faęades in the Northern Renaissance or Dutch Mannerism style are anec-
dotally perceived as red and white, with red interpreted as the colour of the
raw brick, and white as the natural colour of the stone used in the sculptural
ornamentation. The present state of research allows us to confirm that, in fact,
this colour scheme was not dictated by the natural colours of the materials.
The faęades of burgher houses typically had a layer of finishing, unlike
the large surfaces of the faęades of castles and churches, whose planes were
sometimes broken up by patterns laid with overburned brick or glazed bricks.1
Faęades made of hand-formed and hand-fired bricks were not uniform in either
1 An example is to be found on the southern wall of St Mary’s Church in Gdańsk.
146