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Conrad Meit or (usual in German) Conrat Meit (1480s in
Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city ** Worms (electoral district) * Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio Bormio ( lmo, Bormi, rm ...
; 1550/1551 in
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
) was a German-born Late Gothic and
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
sculptor, who spent most of his career in the
Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. The royal tombs that were his largest works still had elaborate Late Gothic architectural frameworks by others, but Meit's figures were Renaissance in conception and style. Meit's work, with its delicately worked plasticity and pronounced corporality, brought an entirely new form of expression to Late Gothic church sculpture. The anatomy of his nude figures draws more from
Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
than from classical sculpture. Later many of his works in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Antwerp, Tongerlo Abbey, and elsewhere were destroyed in the Reformation and French Revolution, leaving the three royal monuments at the then newly built Royal Monastery of Brou,
Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient province of Bresse ( frp, Brêsse, links=no). In 2018, ...
, as his outstanding surviving large works. A number of small works, including portrait busts in wood, and small statuettes in various materials have survived. The documented tombs and the signed
alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...
statuette of ''Judith'' (illustrated below) are the main secure works for defining his style.


Life and works

Meit's date of birth at Worms on the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sour ...
is unknown, and his early life and training are not recorded. He was employed at the court of
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony Frederick III (17 January 1463 – 5 May 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise ( German ''Friedrich der Weise''), was Elector of Saxony from 1486 to 1525, who is mostly remembered for the worldly protection of his subject Martin Luther. Fre ...
before 1506 and came to work at the
Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...
court at the request of
Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ;  – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is know ...
, where he probably worked in Cranach's workshop between 1505 and 1511. He then went to Middelburg to work for Philip of Burgundy, the illegitimate son of
Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belon ...
,
Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habs ...
, who was later to be suddenly made
Bishop of Utrecht List of bishops and archbishops of the diocese and archdioceses of Utrecht. Medieval diocese from 695 to 1580 Founders of the Utrecht diocese * * * * * Bishops * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ...
. From 1514 until her death in 1530 Meit was
court sculptor A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
to the Archduchess Margaret of Austria, the regent of the Netherlands, mainly based at
Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
. In 1534 he moved to Antwerp, buying a house there and joining the Guild of St Luke there in 1536. Works produced by Meit there are documented until 1544, but were all lost to later
iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be consid ...
.


Tomb group at Brou

For Margaret of Austria Meit made his most famous works, the figures on the group of three monumental royal tombs for Margaret, her husband
Philibert II, Duke of Savoy Philibert II (10 April 1480 – 10 September 1504), nicknamed the Handsome or the Good, was the Duke of Savoy from 1497 until his death. Biography Born in Pont-d'Ain, Philibert was the son of Philip (Filippo) the Landless and his first wife ...
and his mother Margaret of Bourbon, produced from 1526 to 1531. These are at the then newly built Royal Monastery of Brou,
Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient province of Bresse ( frp, Brêsse, links=no). In 2018, ...
, today in France, but then in the province of
Bresse Bresse () is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté of eastern France. The geographical term ''Bresse'' has two meanings: ''Bresse bourguignonne'' (or ''louhannaise''), whic ...
, part of the
Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy ( it, Ducato di Savoia; french: Duché de Savoie) was a country in Western Europe that existed from 1416. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The ...
. The Late Gothic architectural surrounds were already mostly completed, but not installed, by a Flemish team, and Meit's team added the five life-size effigy figures and the many smaller figures. Meit's team was himself and three assistants, one of whom was his brother. By no means all the carving of the figures seems to be by Meit himself, and for example he does not seem to have carved any of the putti himself, though he may well have designed them. Philibert had died at the age of 24 in 1504, so Meit's images of him are based on other portraits, and rather idealized. His majestic grave monument is placed in the middle of the Abbey's choir, with the two female tombs set against the wall on either side of it. The three aligned figures are turned towards each other, as though in communication. Though to the side, Margaret's tomb is the largest. Philibert's tomb consists of two levels and two effigies, one above the other. The upper part, in expensive imported white
Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Ma ...
, represents the Duke in ceremonial costume, surrounded by Italian-style angels (''putti''). Below this ten small female figures, called the
sibyl The sibyls (, singular ) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he described local traditi ...
s, point towards the lower effigy, which shows him naked except for a cloth over his genitals. The putti used to be turned to face the effigy, but in a modern restoration several were turned to face outwards. Margaret of Austria's tomb also has an upper effigy in marble and a lower one in alabaster. In the upper one she is shown as an older woman (she died at 50) in full state dress, wearing the crown-like archducal hat. Below she is shown in her youth, wearing a loose robe with her long hair unbound, and somewhat idealized. The two lower figures of the married couple vary the normal "transi" or
cadaver tomb A cadaver monument or ''transi'' (or memento mori monument, Latin for "reminder of death") is a type of church monument to deceased persons featuring a sculpted effigy of a skeleton or an emaciated, even decomposing, dead body. It was particularly ...
iconography, where a lower figure is shown as decayed remains, and connects to a broader theme of Resurrection in the abbey's art. Below their formal effigies, the couple are shown in their most perfect state, as they would be at the
resurrection of the dead General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...
. To the north, the tomb of Margaret of Bourbon consists of a single effigy placed within an ''enfeu'' and lying upon a piece of black marble, with pleurants beneath, a traditional Burgundian feature. The princess is dressed in an ermine cloak and her feet rest on a
greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
, symbol of loyalty. Behind the effigy, ''putti'' bear escutcheons with the initials of Margaret and her husband. File:Bourg en Bresse eglise de brou 016.JPG, Margaret of Austria's tomb File:Eglise de Brou4 marguerite d'autriche.jpg, Margaret of Austria, upper effigy File:Eglise de Brou5 marguerite d'autriche.jpg, Margaret of Austria, lower effigy File:Eglise de Brou7 Philibert II de Savoie.jpg, Top level of Philibert's tomb File:Monestir de Brou Filibert II.jpg, Philibert's upper effigy File:Church brou angels.jpg, Putti around Philibert's tomb File:Bourg en Bresse eglise de brou 024.JPG, One of the Sibyl figures on the base of Philibert's tomb File:Bourg en Bresse eglise de brou 020.JPG, Margaret of Bourbon's effigy


Other large works

When the young
Philibert of Chalon Philibert de Chalon (18 March 1502 – 3 August 1530) was the last Prince of Orange from the House of Chalon. Biography Born at Nozeroy to John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Philibert served Emperor Charles V as commander in Italy, fighting in the War o ...
,
Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...
died in war on 3 August 1530, his mother Philiberta of Luxembourg decided to honour him in the most grandiose way possible. After a princely funeral at
Lons-le-Saunier Lons-le-Saunier () is a commune and capital of the Jura Department, eastern France. Geography The town is in the heart of the Revermont region, at the foot of the first plateau of the Jura massif. The Jura escarpment extends to the east an ...
on 25 October 1530, she hired Conrad Meit and another famous artist of the time, Jean-Baptiste Mario of
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, to create a fitting tomb. They began work at the church of Cordeliers de Lons-le-Saunier immediately after completing work on the tombs at Brou Abbey. Work on Philibert's unfinished tomb was abandoned in 1534 after Philiberta died and a fire destroyed the church; a portion remained visible in 1637 but it was later completely destroyed. The work included 25 life-size statues, now lost, and the Virgin and Child now at Brussels Cathedral. Another project for Tongerloo Abbey, just outside Antwerp, included 16 life-size statues, now lost, for which he received a payment in 1542. He also carved a
Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...
, now in
Besançon Cathedral Besançon Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Jean de Besançon) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint John located in the city of Besançon, France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Besançon. The cathedral consists of a large nave ...
, at the request of Margaret of Austria's chaplain, the Abbot Antoine de Montécut. The abbey of Saint Vincent de Besançon received it from the Abbot and displayed it in a small chapel dedicated to
Our Lady of Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows ( la, Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows ( la, Mater Dolorosa, link=no), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names ...
. Among his other works are two sculptures of Mary holding the baby Jesus, one at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, and the other at the Benedictine Abbey in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.


Portraits and statuettes

From surviving letters, Margaret had initially sought out Meit for his reputation as a portraitist, and he produced a range of portraits of her and her many relations. A terracotta bust of her nephew
Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Inf ...
is now kept at the Gruuthuse Museum,
Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city ...
. He produced a great quantity of small sculptures in bronze and boxwood, with some of the nudes, such as ''Adam and Eve'' (there are a number of pairs) and ''Judith with the Head of Holophernes'', often similar in style to the paintings of Cranach. A striking wood ''Lucretia'' in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the List of largest art museums, largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. ...
, New York, is in a more expressive style. There is also an early ''Falconer'' in Vienna, and a wood ''Entombment'' in Munich. Together, these works look forward to later small-scale sculpture in the German Renaissance. Meit's portraits of Margaret varied between those showing her at the age when her husband was still alive, before Meit knew her, and those showing her at her age when they were made, and also reflect her different roles as Regent, archduchess, widow and family member. Some remain in the main
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
collections in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
. There are also small boxwood busts of Philibert and Margaret in the
Waddesdon Bequest In 1898, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed to the British Museum as the Waddesdon Bequest the contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of a wide-ranging collection of almost 300 ''objets d'art et de ver ...
in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docu ...
, with similar ones in Berlin and Munich; a larger pair in marble, for her library, are now lost. An alabaster head, perhaps representing
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
, is in the
Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and f ...
. There are bronzes, which are probably designed by Meit but with others doing the casting. File:Grablegung Christi BNM.jpg, Wood ''Entombment'' in Munich, dated 1496 File:Archduchess Margaret of Austria by Conrat Meit.JPG, Margaret of Austria in painted wood, Vienna File:Conrat Meit Margarethe von Österreich c1518 BNM.jpg, Margaret of Austria, c. 1518, Munich File:Conrad meit, med. di carlo V, 1520 ca..JPG,
Medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
of
Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Crown of Castile, Castil ...
, about 1520 File:Kunsthistorisches Museum 09 04 2013 Eve Conrat Meit 1.jpg, ''Eve'', in
boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost Sout ...
, c. 1530, Vienna File:Conrad_Meit_-_Adam_und_Eva,_c._1510-17_(detail).png, Adam and Eve, c. 1510-1517, in
boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost Sout ...


Fame

Meit placed his own portrait bust in the library of Margaret of Austria at Malines, which can be seen as a significant step in the development of the status of the artist. Meit's work was valued by both
Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
, who met him in the Netherlands in 1520–21, and may also have known him from Germany, and Lucas Cranach the Elder. Dürer referred to him as the ''...gute ��bildtschniczer mit nahmen Conrad, desgleichen ich kein gesehen hab, der dienet des kaisers tochter, frau Margareth'' (the good sculptor named Conrad, the like of which I have not seen, who served the Emperor's daughter, lady Margaret). His reputation as an important sculptor stretched across the whole of northern Europe in the early Renaissance, but after his death both he and his sitters were lost to memory, unidentified by inscriptions on the works, and one figure was recorded in the 17th century as by Dürer, of an unidentified figure. It did not help that many works were lost, and that he memorialized the last of the Chalons Princes of Orange in the Brou tombs, and that these soon became sited in French territory, ruled by kings with no family interest in those buried there. Interest in his work revived in the late 20th century, especially in his statuettes, where "sculpture exists for its own sake in a manner unprecedented in the north, with no relation to or support by architecture".Belkin


Notes


References

*Belkin, Kristin. "Meit, Conrad." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 21 Apr. 2015
subscription required
*Burk, Jens Ludwig, "Conrat Meit, Margaret of Austria's Court Sculptor in Malines and Brou"
PDF version
Centre des monuments nationaux (France) *Bernard Ceysson. ''La Escultura:La tradición de la escultura antigua desde el siglo XV al XVIII''. Barcelona, Carroggio, 1996. . *Cohen, Kathleen, ''Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol: The Transi Tomb in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance'', 1973, University of California Press, , 9780520018440
google books
*Fusco, Peter, et al., ''Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: European Sculpture'', 1997, Getty Publications, , 9780892365135
google books
*Mueller, Theodor, ''Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain: 1400–1500'', 1966, (Pelican History of Art) Penguin Books * Thornton, Dora, ''A Rothschild Renaissance: The Waddesdon Bequest'', 2015, British Museum, *Woods, Kim W., "Meit, Conrat."
Grove Art Online ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press ...
. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 21 Apr. 2015
subscription required


Further reading

* Jacques Baudoin, ''La sculpture flamboyante en Bourgogne et Franche-Comté'', éd. de Borée, 1993 * Renate Eikelmann (ed.): ''Conrat Meit. Bildhauer der Renaissance – „desgleichen ich kein gesehen …“'' Hirmer, München 2006, * Constance Lowenthal: ''Conrat Meit''. Ann Arbor (Michigan) Univ. Microfilms International, 1981; Originally: New York University PhD Dissertation. 1976 * von der Osten, G., and Vey, H., ''Painting and Sculpture in Germany and the Netherlands'' (1969) * Marie-Anne Sarda et Magali Philippe, ''Le Monastère royal de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse'', Fondation BNP Paribas, 2005, * Georg Tröscher: ''Conrat Meit von Worms. Ein rheinischer Bildhauer der Renaissance''. Urban, Freiburg im Breisgau 1927 * ''Exposition: Vivre et mourir à la Renaissance, la destinée européenne de Philibert de Chalon, Prince d'Orange (1502–1530)'' 20 September 2002 – 23 March 2003, Archaeological Museum of Lons le Saunier


External links


Blogpost with good pictures


at the Bavarian National Museum (in German, on Internet Archive)
Conrad Meit's boxwood sculptures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meit, Conrat People from Worms, Germany 15th-century German sculptors 16th-century German sculptors German male sculptors Early Netherlandish sculptors Renaissance sculptors Court sculptors