Architect van kasteel Arnsberg
1580 Beeldhouwer sculpturer Willem van Tetrode
Netherlandish sculptors in sixteenth-century
northern Germany
Anna Jolly
It has often been said that by
the mid-sixteenth century a journey to Italy had become a fashionable
necessity for any aspiring young artist from northern Europe. Sculptors
like Glambologna, Johan Gregor van der Schardt, Hubert Gerhard or Adriaen
de Vries all traveled to ltaly to study the works of antiquity and the
Renaissance, joining one of the prominent workshops in Florence, Rome
or Venice. Later they entered the networks of royal and imperial patronae
in ltaly and southern Germany, which promised lucrative commissions
or employment at court. Most of these artists worked in what is perhaps
the most courtly medium of sculpture, bronze.'
Unknown engraver, View of Arnsberg with the castle and Wedinghausen
monastery, from Franz Hogenberg and Georg Braun, Civitates orbis terrarum,
Cologne 1572- 1617, engraving, circa 1588. Amsterdam, University Librarv,
Map Room
Apart from this elite, there was another
group of Netherlandish sculptors, indeed a large number of them, who migrated
to northern European countries, and there entered a different network
of princely patronage.
Ironically, it was the ltallan writer Lodovico
Guicciardini, who recorded in his Descrittione di tutti i paesi Bassi
first published in 1567, that many able sculptors and architects left
the Netherlands to work for high salaries at the courts of princes in
various northern European states, including Germany and Scandinavia.
Some of them were already masters when they left, others remained on
the level of assistants and did not attract interest from later scholars
beyond a mention in Thieme-Becker's Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden
Künstler. Yet, there are some important artists among them who have
fallen between the stools of nationally oriented scholarship.
Largely ignored by scholars in their country of origin because of their
emigration, they were most frequently studied by local historians in
the area where they had worked and subsumed under misleading stylistic
umbrella terms like "Weserrenaissance." But they were rarely portrayed
in the larger context of artistic and historical developments in Europe.
Who were these artists, who went not to ltaly but to Germany or Scandinavia?
Were they unfashionable in
This text is based on a paper originally presented at a symposium
on Adriaen de Vries and sixteenth-century Netherlandish sculpture organized
by the Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History at the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, in February 1999.
I am most grateful to Frits Scholten and Ilja Veldman for their generous
support and advice during my time as visiting scholar in Amsterdam.
My sincere thanks also go to the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van
Wetenschappen and the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften
for funding this project with a Casimir-Ziegler scholarship. 1 For a
recent discussion of sculptors' migration to ltaly see F. Scholten et
al, exhib. cat. Adriaen de Vries 1556-1626, Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum),
Stockholm (Nationalmuseum) & Los Angeles (j. Paul Gettv Museum) 1998-2000,
pp. 13-16. 2 L. Guicciardini, Descrittioize di tutti paesi Bassi, 3rd
cd., Antwerp 1588, P. 132: "Et di qui poi si spargono maestri per l'Inghilterra,
per tutta l'Alamagna, & specialmente per la Danimarca, per la Suetia,
per la Norvegia, per la Pollonia, & per altri paesi Settetrionali, insino
per la Moscovia, senza parlare di quelli che vano per la Francia, per
la Spagna & per il
Arnsberg sterfplaats van kunstenaar Willem van Tetrode in 1587 of 1588
De sterfplaats van de beroemde beeldhouwer Willem van Tetrode is Arnsberg. De plaats aan de roer heeft veel connecties met Nederland in de 16e eeuw onder meer door het klooster. Van Tetrode werkt er als architect aan het slot van Arnsberg.
Gilde Willem van Tetrode kwam waarschijnlijk via Van Adrichem van het Delfse Heilig Sacramentsgilde naar Keulen. Deze grote stad aan de Rijn was een belangrijke toevluchtsoord in Duitsland voor katholieken uit Holland. Van Tetrode maakte er Bacchus voor de burgemeester van Keulen, de rijke wijnhandelaar Peter Terlayn von Lennep. En voor de aartsbischop Salentin von Isenburg werkte hij nog enkele jaren als beeldhouwer en architect. Willem van Tetrode stierf op 14 november 1580 in Arnsberg. (bron: kroniek over klooster Weddinghausen).
Mecenas
Dank zij de zilversmid Thomas Cruse (samen name as actor Tom Cruise) uit Delft zijn zo'n zeven modellen van beeldjes van Van Tetrode bewaard gebleven. Ook in Duitsland is waarschijnlijk veel werk in kastelen verloren gegaan in oorlogen.
Portugal meestal met grote voorziening genoemd door prinsen van republieken en potentaten, wat niet minder mooi is dan geeerd
En van hieruit verspreidden meesters zich vervolgens naar Engeland, Duitsland, Scandinavie, Polen tot aan Moskou.
Portogallo, il piu delle volte chiamati con gran' provvissione da Principi,
da Republiche, & da altri Potentati, cosa non meno maravigliesa che honorata"
("And from here masters then spread to England, to the whole of Germany,
and especially to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland and to ether northern
countries, even as far as Moscow, not mentioning these who went to France,
Spain and Portugal, and most were summoned with great salaries bv princes,
republics and bv ether ruiers, a matter no less marvellous tha n honorable").
3 Important earlier contributions are E. Neurdenburg, "Hendrick de Keyser
Beeldhouwer," Oudheidkundigjaarboek I934, PP. 15-23, R. Hedicke, Cornelis
Floris und die Florisdekoration, vols., Berlin '9 I 3, VOI. 1, pt. 2: erbreitung
des Floris Stils," pp. I2-1-69, H. Appel, Niederrheinische Skulptur von
1560 bis 1620 und ihre Beziehtien zu den Niederlanden, Emsdetten 1934,
and J. Soenke, "Triumph des Manierismus in Stadthagen," in 0. Bernstorf
and J. Soenke, Niederlaendische Kunst in Stadthagen (Schaumburger Stuedien
6), Bueckeburg i964, PP. 35-80. A useful survey of emigrant artists in Europe,
including these of Netherlandish origin in Germany, is G. Troescher, Kunst-
und Kuenstleriveinderiingepi in mitteleuropa 800-i800, 2 vols., Baden-Baden
1953 - 1954
Van Tetrode in Cologne It is known from the inscription on a print designed
by Adriaen de Weerdt af ter two sculptures of Mercury and Minerva by Willem
Danielsz. van Tetrode that the latter was working as an architect for the
elector and archbishop, Salentin von Isenburg, in 1575 (fig. 13) . Van Tetrode
is an exceptional case in this context, since he had spent part of his career
in ltaly and also worked in bronze. He was one of the few Netherlandish
sculptors to return to his country in the 1560`s, but he left the Netherlands
again, after
Tetrode died as a victim of the plague which hit the area
in 1580 and adds that he had built Arnsberg Castle. Gebhard von Truchsess
converted to Protestantism in 1582, and tried to enforce the Reformation
in his territory. The pope and the emperor reacted by dismissing him from
his positions as archbishop and elector. In the following years, the castle
of Arnsberg served von Truchsess as a base during an armed conflict, the
socalled "Cologne War," against his designated successor and opponent
Duke Ernst of Bavaria which ended with Gebhard's expulsion from the territory.50
The castle of Arnsberg was partly damaged during this period and finally
destroyed in the eighteenth century. Another group of sculptures by van
Tetrode dating from his Cologne period, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury, were
originally in the house of the wealthy Cologne Ratsherr and wine-merchant
Peter Terlan von Lennep (d. 1577) on the Heumarkt in the center of Cologne.
These sculptures were reproduced in another print of 1574, also after a
design by Adriaen de Weerdt, which records their location in the inscription
beneath the figure of jupiter (fig. 16).
It cannot be determined from
the print whether the original figures were bronze statuettes or other decorative
sculptures of interior architecture. The print apparently served as a model
for some figures on a chimney-piece that originally stood in Horst Castle
near Gelsenkirchen, a castle belonging to Salentin von Isenburg's marshal
Rütger von der Horst who held a highly influential political position at
the elector's court.;" 50 E.W. Zeeden, Hegemonialkriege und Glaubenskaempfè
1556-1648 (Propylaen Geschichte Europas 2),
Tetrode Frankfurt, Berlin & Vienna 1975 P. 231 51 For de Weerdt in Cologne see
Veldman, op. cit. (note 41), PP. 3741, and for the prints after van Tetrode's
works in Cologne see Nijstad, op. cit. (note 46), pp. 270-71, and D. de
Hoop Scheffer (ed.), Hollstein's Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings
and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700, in progress, Amsterdam 1949, vel. 51, Rotterdam
1998, P. 234. 52 This chimney-piece is todav at Schloss Hugenpoet in Essen Kettwig,
see P. Clemen (ed.),
Die Kunstdenkmaeler der Stadt und des Kreises Duesseldorf
Duesseldorf 1894, PP. 123-24. An earlier observation of the relationship
between print and chimney-piece by Appel, op. cit. (note 3), P. 34, has
been overlooked in recent scholarship. For the history of Horst Castle and
its owners see Klapheck, op. cit. (note 41), and K. Gonska, Dat Huess zor
Horst: die Adelsfamilie von der Horst im Emscherbruch und ihre Erben im
16. und 17. Jahrhundert (Materialien zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte in
Nord- und Westdeutschland 10), Marburg 1994.
Shortly before laying down his office, Salentin had elevated Rütger to
the position of Stadholder of Recklinghausen and had conferred large land
holdings to him. The chimney-piece from Horst is decorated with a frieze
representing scenes from the Trojan War after a set of prints from the
circle of Raimondi (fig.17). In shallow niches at the corners and in the
middle of the central frieze are three single figures, Venus, jupiter
and Mercury (figs. 18a-c), which closely follow the print by de Weerdt.
lt is known that Rutger von der Horst owned a large print collection and
lent reproductions to the artists working on chimney-pieces for his castle.53
The sculptor of this chimney-piece has not been identified yet. It is
dated 1578, well after the building of Horst Castle had been completed.
Furthermore, it shows a remarkable quality, in the carving of the figurative
reliefs and ornamental details, which sets it apart from two earlier chimney-pieces
from the same castle that were made by Heinrich and Wilhelm Vernucken
Schloss Horst nicht weit von Duesseldorf und erbaut zwischen 1554 und 1572, ist das bedeutendste Renaissanceschloss
des nordwest-deutschen raumes, und beeinflusste den renaissance zeitlichen
Baustil im gesamten niederlaendisch und niederrheinischen raum massgeblich.
during the 1560s. Wilhelm had left Horst in 1577 to work for Duke Wilhelm
iv in Kassel. It is conceivable, therefore, that Van Tetrode was in some
way involved in the design of the chimney-piece in his position as architect
to Salentin von Isenburg. A relief showing the figure of Marcus Curtius
on horseback at the center top of the same chimnev (fig. 19) closely follows
another sculpture design possibly by van Tetrode, which is known from
a bronze statuette of a Warrior on horseback in the J. Paul Getty Museum
in Los Angeles (fig. 20).
54 The statuette can be linked stvlisticallv to other bronze statuettes
attributed to Van Tetrode, such as the figure of Hercules pomarius or
the Striding warrior (both Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). The composition of
the Warrior on horseback is also echoed in one of Hendrick Goltzius's
engravings in his series of Roman heroes of ca. 1586. Goitzius is known
to have followed van Tetrode's inventions more than once.
55 A bronze or plaster cast of the statuette may have served as a model
for the figure on the chimney-piece, which in the iconographical context
of civic virtue on the chimney acquired its specific identity as a Marcus
Curtius.Their close interrelation suggests that the design of the Warrior
on horseback should be dated to Van Tetrode's Cologne period, that is
to say after 1574 and before 1578. The above-mentioned print after Van
Tetrode's figures of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury was apparently also known
to Adriaen de Vries. The pose of de Vries's large figure of Neptune on
the Neptune fountain for King Christian IV of Denmark, completed in Prague
in 1617, is similar to that of jupiter on the print, particularlv regardin,-
the energetic forward thrust of their movement. Indeed, de Vries's working
from a print would explain the frontal view of his Neptune, in contrast
to the figura serpentinata of Giambologna's Neptune on his fountain in
Bologna. 56 lt has recently been suggested, that De Vries was Van Tetrode's
pupil, and this may account for his predilection for Van Tetrode's invention.
Schloss Horst ist das herausragendste Beispiel fuer den niederlaendischen
Manierismus, einer regional gefaerbten Spielart der Renaissance, in Westfalen.
Hinsichtlich seiner Bauskulptur und -ornamentik ist die zwischen 1556
und 1573 errichtete Anlage sogar von weit ueberregionaler Bedeutung.
Hollandse kunstenaar Willem van Tetrode in Florence
Willem van Tetrode (1530-1588) werkte 17 jaren als beeldhouwer (scultore) in Italie. Hij maakte de sokkel van het beroemde meesterwerk Perseus op het palazzo Vecchio in het hart van Florence. Negen beeldjes van Willem van Tetrode is te vinden in het belangrijke Uffizi. En op de mooiste plek in Toscanie, op ponte Vecchio, staat een buste van zijn beroemde leermeester Cellini.
Beeldenstorm
Willem van Tetrode is waarschijnlijk in Delft geboren. Een jaar na de beeldenstorm in Nederland kwam hij terug om de boom van Jesse te restaureren in de Oude Kerk van Delft. Daarna bouwde hij een nieuw hoofdaltaar voor de Oude Kerk van Delft. Maar toen Willem van Oranje ziek was en het ontzet van Haarlem een fiasco werd, kwam er een nieuwe beeldenstorm. Het werk van Van Tetrode ging daarbij verloren en is waarschijnlijk in delen verkocht om de salarissen van de soldaten te kunnen betalen.
Vlucht
Van Tetrode vlucht met veel andere katholieken naar Duitsland waar hij voor de bisschop van Keuken werkt onder meer in Arnsberg waar hij als architect een slot restaureert. De versterking ging verloren. Er is nog een ruine van over. Van Tetrode stierf in Arnsberg aan de Roer.
