DOI article:
Kozieł, Andrzej: Rembrandt van Rijn and Michael Willmann, or a story of dispelling a certain myth
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14573#0170
156
ANDRZEJ KOZIEŁ
Dlabacż13 and Georg Kaspar Nagler14 wrote about Willmann's work in their lexicons. Soon afterwards, it
was Rembrandt, in the late 1640s at the peak of his créative abilities and fame, and not the less known Backer,
who had already died in 1651, thought to be the real Willmann's teacher. That is what Augustin Knoblich,
the first artist's monographer, wrote in 1868, arguing that Willmann "sank entirely in his [Rembrandt's]
manner and copied his paintings with such a striking fidelity that many of them were thought to be the
originals"15. The methods of interpreting the relations between Willmann and Rembrandt was appreciated in
later studies, among the others: Hugo Cimbal16, Willy Drost17, Erich Hubala18, Jaromir Neumann's19, even
the last artist's monographist, Hubertus Lossow's, who - relating directly to Houbraken's account - wrote
about Willmann almost as a co-worker and a friend of the master from Amsterdam, dangerously approach-
ing his account to Krumbhermer's story20.
This conviction about close relations between Willmann and Rembrandt was présent in référence
literaturę despite the opinions of scholars of Willmann's création questioning the records of his éducation in
Rembrandt and Backer's workshops. In 1902 Erich Klossowski undermined the reliability of Houbraken's
account, quoting directly Willmann's biography published by Sandrart as the only reliable source of know-
ledge about the artist's éducation in Amsterdam21. Dietrich Maul acted alike; he completely rejected the
thesis about Willmann's éducation in Backer's workshop as he found no évidence in the archivai documents
connected with the activity of the artist from Amsterdam22. Ernst Kloss was also critical of Houbraken's ac-
count as he defined it as "such a superficial and erroneous summary that it can hardly be treated seriously
as a source"23. What is important, the relations between Willmann and Rembrandt were not confirmed by
the artist's own notes, discovered in 1980s in the Premonstratensians monastery library in Strahov, the dis-
trict of Prague. There were over few dozen of painting and graphie recipes and tables of proportions of chil-
dren's bodies, along with a so-called family chronicie, ail of them attached on separate cards to the сору
owned by Willmann of the third part of a popular treatise by Gualterus Hermenius Rivius Der furnembsten,
notwendigsten, der gantzen Architektur angehârigen mathematischen und mechanischen Kunst...24. The only
13 "Hier [in Amsterdam] traf ihn das Gluck, in die Schule des beriihmten Jakob Backers zu kommen. In dieser Schule arbeitete
er nach Backer, und Rembrandt..." - G.J. Dlabacż, Allgemeines historisches Kiinstler-Lexikon fur Bôhmen undzum Theil auch
fur Màhren und Schlesien, vol. 3, Prag 1815, col. 374.
14 "begab er sich nach Amsterdam, wo ihn J. de Backer in sein Haus aufnahm. Willmann richtete aber auch ein Augenmerk
auf Rembrandt, und kopierte mehrere Werke desselben." - G.K. Nagler, Neues allgemeines Kiinstler-Lexikon oder Nachrichten
von dem Leben und Werken der Maler, Bildhauer, Baumeister, Kupferstecher, Lithographen, Formschneider, Zeichner, Medailleure,
Elfenbeinarbeiter etc., vol. 24, Leipzig 1851, p. 409.
15 "Jedenfalls aber blieb Rembrandt Willmann's vorzuglichstes Bild. Er vertiefte sich ganz in seine Manier und copierte Bilder
desselben mit so tâuschender Treue, dass sie Viele fur Orginale des Ersteren hielten." - A. Knoblich, Leben und Werke des
Malers Michael Lucas Leopold Willmann, 1629-1706, Breslau 1868, p. 2.
16 H. Cimbal, Michael Willmann. Sein Leben und seine Werke, [s. 1.] 1903, p. 8.
17 W. Drost, Barockmalerei in den germanischen Lândern, Wildpark-Potsdam 1926 ("Handbuch der Kunstwissenschaft",
ed. A.E. В r i n к m a n n), p. 283.
18 E. Hubala, Malerei, [in:] Barock in Bôhmen, ed. K.M. Swoboda, Miinchen 1964, p. 203.
19 J. Neumann, Expresivnî tendence v ceské barokni malbë. 1, "Galéria",43 (1975), p. 156.
20 "Im Hause Rembrandts ist er offenbar oft gewesen, hat mit ihm iiber Malerei gesprochen und sicherlich in seiner Werkstatt
gearbeitet, wenn auch kein eigentliches Schulerverhâltnis bestand" H. L о s s о w, Michael Willmann (1630-1706) - Meister der
Barockmalerei, Wurzburg 1994, p. 21. See A. Kozieł, (review) H. L о s s о w, Michael Willmann (1630-1706) - Meister der
Barockmalerei, Wurzburg 1994, "Dzieła i Interpretacje", 3 (1995), p. 132.
21 E. Klossowski, Michael Willmann, Breslau 1902, pp. 6-7.
22 D. Maul, Michael Willmann. Ein Beitrag zur Barockkunst Schlesiens, StraBburg 1914, pp. 2-3.
23 "ein so fluchtiges und fehlerhaftes Résumé, daB er alB Quelle nicht ernstlich in Frage kommt" - E. Kloss, Michael
Willmann. Leben und Werke eines deutschen Barockmalers, Breslau [1934], p. 12.
24 G. H. Rivius, Der furnembsten notwendigsten der gantzen Architektur angehârigen mathematischen und mechanischen
Kunst eygentlicher Bericht und verstendliche Unterrichtung, Nurnberg 1547, part 3 (Strahovskâ knihovna, Prague, sign. AY XII 15).
Rivius's work reprint was published within the séries "Dokumenta Technica. Darstellungen und Quellen zur Technikgeschichte",
ed. K.-H. M an ego ld, W. Treue, serieII: "QuellenschriftenzurTechnikgeschichte", Hildesheim-NewYork 1981. For Willmann's
notes, see mainly R. Klessmann, Willmann i Niderlandy, [in:] Michael Willmann (1630-1706). Exhibition catalogue, Residenz-
galerie Salzburg, 15 VI-25 IX 1994, Muzeum Narodowe we Wrocławiu, 22 X - 11 XII 1994, ed. M. Adamski, P. Łukaszewicz,
F. Wagner, Salzburg 1994, p. 74, note 49; L o s s o w, op. cit., pp. 18-19, 13 1 ; A. Kozieł, Why Did Michael Willmann Study
Proportions of Children's Bodies? Some Remarks on the Artist's Notes in the Strahov Library, Prague, "Umëni", 47 (1999), no. 6,
pp. 453 471.
ANDRZEJ KOZIEŁ
Dlabacż13 and Georg Kaspar Nagler14 wrote about Willmann's work in their lexicons. Soon afterwards, it
was Rembrandt, in the late 1640s at the peak of his créative abilities and fame, and not the less known Backer,
who had already died in 1651, thought to be the real Willmann's teacher. That is what Augustin Knoblich,
the first artist's monographer, wrote in 1868, arguing that Willmann "sank entirely in his [Rembrandt's]
manner and copied his paintings with such a striking fidelity that many of them were thought to be the
originals"15. The methods of interpreting the relations between Willmann and Rembrandt was appreciated in
later studies, among the others: Hugo Cimbal16, Willy Drost17, Erich Hubala18, Jaromir Neumann's19, even
the last artist's monographist, Hubertus Lossow's, who - relating directly to Houbraken's account - wrote
about Willmann almost as a co-worker and a friend of the master from Amsterdam, dangerously approach-
ing his account to Krumbhermer's story20.
This conviction about close relations between Willmann and Rembrandt was présent in référence
literaturę despite the opinions of scholars of Willmann's création questioning the records of his éducation in
Rembrandt and Backer's workshops. In 1902 Erich Klossowski undermined the reliability of Houbraken's
account, quoting directly Willmann's biography published by Sandrart as the only reliable source of know-
ledge about the artist's éducation in Amsterdam21. Dietrich Maul acted alike; he completely rejected the
thesis about Willmann's éducation in Backer's workshop as he found no évidence in the archivai documents
connected with the activity of the artist from Amsterdam22. Ernst Kloss was also critical of Houbraken's ac-
count as he defined it as "such a superficial and erroneous summary that it can hardly be treated seriously
as a source"23. What is important, the relations between Willmann and Rembrandt were not confirmed by
the artist's own notes, discovered in 1980s in the Premonstratensians monastery library in Strahov, the dis-
trict of Prague. There were over few dozen of painting and graphie recipes and tables of proportions of chil-
dren's bodies, along with a so-called family chronicie, ail of them attached on separate cards to the сору
owned by Willmann of the third part of a popular treatise by Gualterus Hermenius Rivius Der furnembsten,
notwendigsten, der gantzen Architektur angehârigen mathematischen und mechanischen Kunst...24. The only
13 "Hier [in Amsterdam] traf ihn das Gluck, in die Schule des beriihmten Jakob Backers zu kommen. In dieser Schule arbeitete
er nach Backer, und Rembrandt..." - G.J. Dlabacż, Allgemeines historisches Kiinstler-Lexikon fur Bôhmen undzum Theil auch
fur Màhren und Schlesien, vol. 3, Prag 1815, col. 374.
14 "begab er sich nach Amsterdam, wo ihn J. de Backer in sein Haus aufnahm. Willmann richtete aber auch ein Augenmerk
auf Rembrandt, und kopierte mehrere Werke desselben." - G.K. Nagler, Neues allgemeines Kiinstler-Lexikon oder Nachrichten
von dem Leben und Werken der Maler, Bildhauer, Baumeister, Kupferstecher, Lithographen, Formschneider, Zeichner, Medailleure,
Elfenbeinarbeiter etc., vol. 24, Leipzig 1851, p. 409.
15 "Jedenfalls aber blieb Rembrandt Willmann's vorzuglichstes Bild. Er vertiefte sich ganz in seine Manier und copierte Bilder
desselben mit so tâuschender Treue, dass sie Viele fur Orginale des Ersteren hielten." - A. Knoblich, Leben und Werke des
Malers Michael Lucas Leopold Willmann, 1629-1706, Breslau 1868, p. 2.
16 H. Cimbal, Michael Willmann. Sein Leben und seine Werke, [s. 1.] 1903, p. 8.
17 W. Drost, Barockmalerei in den germanischen Lândern, Wildpark-Potsdam 1926 ("Handbuch der Kunstwissenschaft",
ed. A.E. В r i n к m a n n), p. 283.
18 E. Hubala, Malerei, [in:] Barock in Bôhmen, ed. K.M. Swoboda, Miinchen 1964, p. 203.
19 J. Neumann, Expresivnî tendence v ceské barokni malbë. 1, "Galéria",43 (1975), p. 156.
20 "Im Hause Rembrandts ist er offenbar oft gewesen, hat mit ihm iiber Malerei gesprochen und sicherlich in seiner Werkstatt
gearbeitet, wenn auch kein eigentliches Schulerverhâltnis bestand" H. L о s s о w, Michael Willmann (1630-1706) - Meister der
Barockmalerei, Wurzburg 1994, p. 21. See A. Kozieł, (review) H. L о s s о w, Michael Willmann (1630-1706) - Meister der
Barockmalerei, Wurzburg 1994, "Dzieła i Interpretacje", 3 (1995), p. 132.
21 E. Klossowski, Michael Willmann, Breslau 1902, pp. 6-7.
22 D. Maul, Michael Willmann. Ein Beitrag zur Barockkunst Schlesiens, StraBburg 1914, pp. 2-3.
23 "ein so fluchtiges und fehlerhaftes Résumé, daB er alB Quelle nicht ernstlich in Frage kommt" - E. Kloss, Michael
Willmann. Leben und Werke eines deutschen Barockmalers, Breslau [1934], p. 12.
24 G. H. Rivius, Der furnembsten notwendigsten der gantzen Architektur angehârigen mathematischen und mechanischen
Kunst eygentlicher Bericht und verstendliche Unterrichtung, Nurnberg 1547, part 3 (Strahovskâ knihovna, Prague, sign. AY XII 15).
Rivius's work reprint was published within the séries "Dokumenta Technica. Darstellungen und Quellen zur Technikgeschichte",
ed. K.-H. M an ego ld, W. Treue, serieII: "QuellenschriftenzurTechnikgeschichte", Hildesheim-NewYork 1981. For Willmann's
notes, see mainly R. Klessmann, Willmann i Niderlandy, [in:] Michael Willmann (1630-1706). Exhibition catalogue, Residenz-
galerie Salzburg, 15 VI-25 IX 1994, Muzeum Narodowe we Wrocławiu, 22 X - 11 XII 1994, ed. M. Adamski, P. Łukaszewicz,
F. Wagner, Salzburg 1994, p. 74, note 49; L o s s o w, op. cit., pp. 18-19, 13 1 ; A. Kozieł, Why Did Michael Willmann Study
Proportions of Children's Bodies? Some Remarks on the Artist's Notes in the Strahov Library, Prague, "Umëni", 47 (1999), no. 6,
pp. 453 471.