THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
GERMANY, THE LOW COUNTRIES, HUNGARY
Though introduced early into Germany, the style of the Italian
Renaissance made its way but slowly in a country where the ideas of the
Middle Ages long held possession of people's minds. It was not till
after about 1515, when the spread of books and engravings quickened its
general acceptance, that the new movement gained ground there. The
German goldsmiths, when once they had cast aside the Gothic style,
seized upon Renaissance ornament with such avidity that by the second
half of the sixteenth century they had acquired a widespread fame, and
would seem by their richness of invention to have completely cast into
the shade the Italian jewellers of their own day.
From an early period there had been a steady flow of artists leaving
Germany to study in the great Italian ateliers. The principal of these,
and one who influenced his countrymen more than any, was Albert Dürer,
who showed in the engravings produced after his journey to Italy a
perfect apprehension of Italian design. As it travelled northward,
Renaissance ornament increased in freedom from classic rule, and in the
hands of the later draughtsmen and engravers who executed patterns for
the goldsmiths, it lost much of its original purity, and assumed a mixed
style, composed of strap and ribbon work, cartouches, and intricate
complications of architectural members; while the industrious
affectation of the jewellers of the day for manipulative difficulties
led to the production of ornaments whose effect is sometimes marred by
over-elaboration of detail.
In addition to other circumstances, we must remember that the greater
wealth of the middle classes was a powerful factor in the increasing
production of jewellery. The goldsmiths consequently occupied an
important position; and that there was a great demand for their services
is proved by the fact that patterns for jewellery executed on their
behalf by the foremost engravers of the day form no unimportant part of
the engraved work produced by these artists.
In Germany, as elsewhere, success in trade resulted in a demand for
objects of luxury. The city of Augsburg, situated on a great trade
route, early attained to a height of commercial prosperity, while
Munich, and especially Nuremberg, not far distant, flourished to an
equal degree. Under the stimulating patronage of wealthy families, such
as the Fugger family of Augsburg, articles of jewellery of every kind
were produced in abundance, and throughout the sixteenth century found
their way over nearly the whole of Europe. In addition to these three
cities, Prague during the last few years of the sixteenth and the
commencement of the seventeenth century was likewise a centre for the
manufacture of an immense amount of enamelled jewellery. This industry,
carried on with considerable activity owing to the influence of the
Archduke Ferdinand of Tirol (1520-1595), brother of Maximilian II, was
most flourishing in the time of the Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1612),
King of Hungary and Bohemia, under whose patronage several remarkable
specimens of German goldsmith's work now at Vienna were executed, such
as the Austrian Imperial Crown, made in the year 1602.
The epoch of about forty years that terminated at the death of
Rudolph II in 1612, and known as the Rudolphine period, witnessed the
production, mainly in Southern Germany, of the greater part of the
enamelled jewellery now extant. Renaissance jewellery, as we speak of
it, may be said to have almost ceased after that period, at a date which
coincided with the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in Germany, and the
Civil War in England.
Its proximity to Italy rendered Augsburg more quickly subject to the
influence of the Italian style than Nuremberg and Munich, though by the
middle of the sixteenth century the whole of Southern Germany followed
the style of decoration of the Italian masters so thoroughly, that it is
difficult to assign a large proportion of the ornaments of the period to
either nation, since the distinguishing feature of the hall-mark finds
no place on jewellery, as on other objects in the precious metals. It is
true that the extraordinary development of cartouche and strap ornament
on German work, as on that of the Netherlands, serves in many cases to
distinguish it from the Italian, yet there is sufficient similarity in
details of ornamentation, in masks and figures, as well as in the method
of enamel-work and the setting of gems, to account for the divergence
of opinion that exists as to the provenance of all the jewels of the
period. Such is the glamour that surrounds Italian art, that it has been
the custom to assign every fine jewel of the Renaissance to Italy; but a
careful examination of existing examples has left us convinced that by
far the greater number of them are not Italian, but of German origin,
and belong to the second half of the sixteenth century and the early
years of the seventeenth. Portraits, alone, by such German painters as
Wolgemut, Strigel, Burgkmair, Altdorfer, Hans Baldung Grien, Lucas
Cranach, and Bartholomäus Bruyn, show that by the very commencement of
the sixteenth century the wealth of the merchant princes of Southern
Germany resulted in an even greater display of jewellery than was
indulged in by the Italians.
Various other considerations contribute to this conviction. First and
foremost is the question of the designs from which the jewellers drew
their ideas. A certain number of original drawings for jewellery by
German artists exist. Of these there are examples of the work of the two
greatest, namely Dürer (1471-1528) and Holbein (1497-1543). To Holbein's
drawings, which were executed in England, detailed reference is made in
a later chapter. In his designs for jewellery, as in all else, Dürer,
the son of a goldsmith and descended from one on his mother's side,
maintains a high standard of excellence.
His drawings (as catalogued by Lippmann) include the following: (1) _In
the Kunsthalle, Bremen_. Three sketches for pendent whistles, where the
sound-producing part is formed of a ball with a hole in it, into which
the air is carried by a pipe. In two cases the ball is held in the mouth
of a lion, and in the third in the beak of a cock. The animals stand
each on a curved pipe, and have a ring above for suspension (L. 124).
(2) _In the British Museum_. Two sketches for ring-shaped
pendants--apparently whistles (Pl. XXVI, 1). In both cases is air blown
from a mouthpiece half-way round the ring into a ball held in an
animal's mouth (L. 252). (3) _In the possession of Herr von Feder,
Karlsruhe_. Four designs for brooches and clasps, richly ornamented (L.
433-435, and 437). Two of these sketches (L. 433 and 437) and several
others (the whereabouts of the originals of which is not known) were
etched by Wenzel Hollar in the seventeenth century, and are enumerated
in Parthey's catalogue of Hollar's works. The etchings after the two
known originals are numbered 2565 and 2561. The other jewels etched by
Hollar from Dürer's designs are the following: (1) A pendant in the
form of St. George and the Dragon within a laurel wreath, with a ring
above and below (P. 165). (2) A girdle-end formed of two dolphins with a
chain attached (P. 2559). (3) A buckle and buckle-plate--the buckle
formed of two dolphins, the plate ornamented with two cornucopiæ (P.
2560). (4) A round scent-case or pomander (P. 2567). In addition are
miscellaneous designs for ornaments, erroneously considered to
be patterns for embroidery (P. 2562-3-4 and 2566). A charming
representation of a pendent jewel is seen in Dürer's woodcut of the
Emperor Maximilian's Triumphal Arch suspended from the Imperial Crown
held by the figure of Genius.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXVI_ DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY BY DÜRER AND HOLBEIN]
Following Dürer there appeared a number of goldsmiths who, with the
spread of the new style over Europe, were prepared to perform the task
of remodelling personal ornaments in accordance with the taste of the
day. The most ingenious of them, together with some artists of
distinction, engraved with great fertility of imagination, for those who
were not capable of design, patterns for goldsmith's work and jewellery.
A large demand was made on the productive faculties of these engravers,
who included among their ranks not only the best artists, termed from
the usual small size of their productions "the little masters," but
many other designers of goldsmith's ornament; and from their works,
multiplied by means of engraving, the numerous craftsmen who worked in
gold, enamel, and precious stones, drew their subjects and ideas.
On the question of the production of jewellery from such engraved
designs, it is interesting to note the several points of similarity that
exist in the procedure of the ornamentists of the sixteenth century and
that of the English furniture-designers of the eighteenth. In both cases
the original producers of the designs were practical craftsmen, who
certainly executed objects after their published patterns; while the
patterns themselves were employed extensively as models. In both cases,
too, it is quite evident that in a number of instances fanciful designs
were produced which were never carried out. Hence one can readily
understand the difficulties that are encountered in attempting to
determine the provenance of such small and portable objects as personal
jewels, the engraved designs for which were in like manner widely
distributed. But there is the strong probability, after all, that the
greater number of jewels, after engraved designs of German origin, were
executed in, or not very far distant from the locality in which the
designs originated.
If designs are considered insufficient for the identification of jewels,
there exists a means much more certain, and one which should surely
prevent the attribution to Italians of jewels unquestionably the work of
German craftsmen. It may be remembered that Cellini in his _Trattati_,
in dealing with the goldsmith's art, advised jewellers to preserve
castings in lead of their works in gold and silver. In many cases
Cellini's recommendation has been literally carried out, and a
considerable number of proofs struck by German jewellers of details of
their jewels have fortunately come down to us. The Bavarian National
Museum at Munich contains a highly important collection of these leaden
casts, being a complete series used by a family of gold and silver
workers in Augsburg for upwards of 250 years (from about 1550 to 1800).
The jewellers of Augsburg were among the first in Europe, and these
models of their productions, bearing strong traces of the influence of
contemporary ornamentists, correspond in many details with original
jewels dating from those times.
Examples of these lead models for jewellery exist in other collections,
such as the Historical Museum at Basle. Of the same material but of
infinitely higher artistic importance, are the lead models by the hand
of Peter Flötner of Nuremberg. In addition to engraved designs, Flötner
executed models for goldsmiths, carved in stone and boxwood. From
these--of which original examples have survived--casts (so-called
plaquettes) were made in lead, which were used as patterns for craftsmen
in the same manner as engravings of ornament. Flötner's models, though
issued mainly for workers in gold and silver plate, were employed also
by the jewellers, and exercised considerable influence on their
productions.
Few engraved designs for jewellery are prior in date to the year
1550, though nearly all the prominent painter-engravers delighted in
exercising their inventive faculty in this direction. One or two plates
of pendants by Brosamer, and a buckle and whistle by Aldegrever,
represent almost the sole engravings of the kind before Virgil
Solis--the first to devise a more ambitious series of jewels. Amongst
the earliest is the _Kunstbüchlein_[124] or pattern book for goldsmith's
work, by Hans Brosamer (about 1480-1554). These woodcuts, which are
singularly attractive, are of a transitional character, with traces of
Gothic design. They include two pages of pendants composed of stones
between leafwork grouped round a central ornament and hung with
pear-shaped pearls. One pendant consists of a niche between pillars--a
similar style of ornament to that adopted by Androuet Ducerceau, and the
first assignable instance, says Herr Lichtwark,[125] of the use of
architecture in German jewellery of this time, though this same motive
was frequently represented later on by Erasmus Hornick and Mignot.
Three other pendants are in the form of whistles for wearing on the
neck-chain. In an engraving for a whistle of a similar kind by
Aldegrever (1502-1558), the lower part is formed of a case containing
an ear-pick and a knife for the finger-nails. Except for this design
(which finds a place in the background of his engraving of the pair of
folding pocket-spoons of the year 1539), Aldegrever's only example of
jewellery is the remarkable Gothic girdle-buckle with its buckle-plate
and tag (dated 1537). The characteristic fig-leaf ornament of the early
German Renaissance is better represented here than on any other
engraving of the period.
[124] Reproduced by Quaritch in 1897 from a copy now in the
possession of Mr. Max Rosenheim.
[125] Lichtwark (A.), _Der Ornamentstich der deutschen
Frührenaissance_, p. 111.
More modern in style is Mathias Zundt (1498-1586), whose compositions
(dated 1551-1554) are carried out with great fineness. Zundt lived at
Nuremberg, his great contemporaries, Virgil Solis and Erasmus Hornick
being natives of the same city.
It was to Virgil Solis (1514-1562), one of the most skilful and prolific
of the German _Klein-Meister_, that the jewellers and other craftsmen of
the day owed their finest inspirations. Virgil Solis's beautiful series
of pendants are executed with great charm and delicacy. They bear the
character of a transition from the graceful foliage of the early to the
full Renaissance, with its fanciful architectural forms, its scroll
ornament, arabesques, animals, and grotesque human masks and figures
(Pl. XXVII, 1, 2).
Erasmus Hornick likewise exercised a potent influence on the jewellery
of the time. He engraved in 1562 a series of pendants, chains, and other
jewels of the most delicate execution (Pl. XXVII, 4-6). The pendants in
form of an architectural niche with the subject placed in the centre,
are the prototype of all the jewels of this kind which we meet with
subsequently in the prints of the Flemish engraver Collaert.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXVII_ DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY BY SOLIS, WOEIRIOT,
HORNICK, AND BROSAMER]
While many important engravings were being issued for the benefit of the
jewellers of Nuremberg, a great quantity of jewellery was produced at
Munich under the patronage of the Dukes of Bavaria. Duke Albert V had as
court painter a skilful miniaturist, Hans Mielich (1516-1573), whom
he employed to paint in the form of an inventory exact copies in
miniature of his jewels and those of his wife, Anne of Austria,
preserved in his treasury. In addition to these drawings, now in the
Royal Library at Munich, are a number of others, which came into the
possession of Dr. von Hefner-Alteneck, and on his death in 1904 were
purchased for the sum of £2,500 for the Bavarian National Museum.[126]
Though the majority of these drawings for jewellery, in themselves
works of extraordinary beauty, were copies of objects then already in
existence, the presence of jewels similar to Mielich's designs leads to
the supposition that this artist exercised a strong influence on the
jewellers of his day, and that a number of jewels were also executed at
the command of the Duke from original sketches of his. None of the
actual objects depicted by Mielich have survived, save a large gold
chain set with pearls, rubies, and emeralds, which corresponds,
particularly in its rich enamel-work, to one of the drawings lately
added to the National Museum. This chain is known as the collar of the
Order of St. George. The size and quality of its stones and the great
beauty of the enamelled settings render it, without doubt, the finest
article of its kind in existence. It is preserved in the Royal Treasury
(Schatzkammer) at Munich, together with a number of other objects of the
same type.
[126] Most of Mielich's works have been reproduced by
Hefner-Alteneck in his _Deutsche Goldschmiede-Werke des 16^t^e^n
Jahrhunderts_.
The last decades of the sixteenth century saw the appearance of a new
species of ornamental design, whose chief advocate, Theodor de Bry
(1528-1598), of Liège, with his sons Johann Theodor and Johann Israel,
settled in Frankfort-on-the-Main about 1560. It is a rich and varied
surface decoration, often of white upon a black ground, composed of
scroll ornament richly set with flowers, fruit, grotesques, and figures
of animals, the whole being charmingly designed, and engraved with great
brilliancy of touch. In addition to his more famous knife-handles, de
Bry executed several engravings for clasps, buckles, and metal
attachments to girdles.
For the counterpart of the artistic style of de Bry one must look to the
Low Countries and particularly to the work of the engraver Hans Collaert
(1540-1622), of Antwerp, who developed remarkable fertility in the
production of patterns for jewellery. Collaert's designs require
special attention, because of the tendency, elaborated largely by him
and other engravers of the school of Antwerp, towards exuberant
cartouche ornaments with a mixture of extravagant and loosely arranged
strap-work, and stud -or boss-work. This style, full of grotesques and
arabesques, pervaded the work of every craftsman of the day, and dealt
a final blow to any further development of pure Renaissance ornament.
Collaert's chief series of pendants, eleven in number, published in 1581
under the title _Monilium bullarum inauriumque artificiosissimæ icones_,
are probably the best known of all designs for jewellery of this
epoch. One of these engravings, in particular, has been several times
reproduced. It is a large pendant hung from a cartouche and surmounted
by a figure of Orpheus with a lyre, with two seated female figures. The
rest of the jewel is made up of scroll ornaments and bracket-shaped
terminal figures, and is hung with three drop pearls. This pendant is
of peculiar interest in connection with its bearing on what has already
been said with regard to the attributions given to Cinquecento
jewellery. Two striking instances of misapplied attributions of this
kind may be quoted. In one[127] work the engraving in question is
described as: "Pendant par Benvenuto Cellini (Musée de Florence)"; and
in another[128] as: "Gehänge in der Bibliothèque nationale zu Paris
nach seinem [Cellini's] Model gearbeitet!"
[127] Jannettaz, _Diamant et pierres précieuses_, p. 423.
[128] Bucher, _Geschichte der technischen Künste_, II, p. 307.
It has been usual--while acknowledging the great influence of these
engravings on the jewellery of the time--to doubt whether jewels exist
which have been executed in exact imitation of them. To show that such
designs were actually followed, we may point to a jewel figured by Herr
Luthmer in his catalogue of Baron Karl von Rothschild's collection at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, which follows in every detail the particular
engraving by Collaert just mentioned as having been ascribed to Cellini.
Collaert's influence was considerable in his day, and his compositions
circulated not only in Flanders, but also in Germany and other prominent
jewel-producing centres. Jewels are repeatedly met with, which, though
they do not follow in every detail Collaert's published designs, are
obviously inspired by them. A very notable example of such is a jewel,
to be referred to subsequently (p. 247), in form of a gondola containing
figures of Antony and Cleopatra, which was sold by auction in London for
a very large sum a year or two ago. With Collaert were several minor
designers of jewellery, such as Abraham de Bruyn (1538-after 1600),
among whose engravings are seventeen models for pendants and portions of
jewels in the style of the admirable French jeweller-engraver Etienne
Delaune. Other Dutch and Flemish engravers of ornament belong more to
the seventeenth century, and will be dealt with later.
At the furthest corner of Germany from Flanders was the ancient kingdom
of Hungary, where jewellery was employed in almost Oriental profusion.
The native costume is luxurious even at the present day, and in olden
times the nobility made a practice of attaching to it a great part of
their fortunes in the form of precious stones, which, in enamelled
settings of button-shape, termed "boglars," were sewn on, or were
mounted in aigrettes, or set in girdles or dagger-sheaths. Independent
jewels enriched with enamel-work in the Renaissance taste were produced,
too, in considerable quantity. Fine examples of the latter are preserved
in the museum at Buda-Pesth; while to the exhibition held there in 1884
Cinquecento jewellery of great beauty and wealth was lent by noble
Hungarian families. All these display striking similarity to the jewels
executed at Augsburg, Prague, and elsewhere in the latter part of the
sixteenth and the early years of the seventeenth century. In addition to
those which betray the influence of foreign styles, there are jewels of
native work, whose surface is enriched with the so-called _Draht-Email_.
This "filigree-enamel," which was executed from the fifteenth to the
seventeenth century in Hungary and throughout the valley of the Danube,
is composed of bright opaque colours fired between cloisons or
partitions composed of twisted wire.
[Illustration: Design for a pendent whistle by Hans Brosamer.]