Johann Jakob Walther (23 January 1604 – 1676/7

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

) was a painter and natural history illustrator, who chronicled the life of Strasbourg during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, but is best known for his work ''Horti Itzeinensis'' aka the ''Nassau Florilegium'' depicting flowering plants from the gardens of Johann, Count of Nassau-Idstein at

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsch ...

. Walther was the son of Gerard Walther. He probably trained in the workshop of miniaturist Friedrich Brentel. He left Strasbourg around 1618 and returned in 1635. He was elected to the Grand Council of the city in 1659. His meeting in Strasbourg with the Count was a decisive moment in his career, since the Count became one of his most important patrons. This was an era when the purpose of a florilegium was to serve as a pictorial catalogue of a garden, and correspondence shows that the Count invited Walther to Idstein near

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

to spend the spring and summer months there to paint flowers and fruits from the garden - Walther did so on at least eight occasions between 1654 and 1674. The paintings were bound into anthologies of which only three versions are known - one at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London has 133 flower studies and a number of views of the garden that are painted on paper and bound in two volumes, another at the

National Library of France National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, a codex of 54 gouaches on parchment, and the final set at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main which has two volumes of the Florilegium with 130 gouaches of flowers on parchment. Walther was the great-uncle of the painter .

Bibliography

* ''Strassburg im Dreissigjährigen Kriege, Fragment aus der Strassburgischen Chronik des Malers J.J. Walther, nebst Einleitung und biographischer Notiz von Rudolf Reuss'', Strasbourg, 1879, 41 p. * ''Das Vogelbuch (Johann Jakob Walther); nach den Tafeln der Graphischen Sammlung Albertina in Wien bearbeitet von Armin Geus'', Harenberg, Dortmund, 1982, 95 p. * Jenny de Gex (dir.), ''So many sweet flowers : a seventeenth-century florilegium / paintings by Johann Walther 1654'' (préface de Gill Saunders), Pavilion, Londres, 1997, 104 p. * Laure Beaumont-Maillet, ''Le 'Florilège de Nassau-Idstein' par Johann Walter, 1604-1676'', Anthèse, Arcueil, 1993, 95 p. * Emmanuel Bénézit et Jacques Busse, ''Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays'', vol. 14, 1999 (4th ed.), p. 420 * ''D'après nature : chefs-d'œuvre de l'art naturaliste en Alsace de 1450 à 1800 : Schongauer, Grünewald, Baldung, Hermann, Walter...'' (exposition à Strasbourg, Église protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune, 25 juin-2 octobre 1994), Ed. Creamuse, Ed. Andromaque, Strasbourg, 1994, 199 p. * François Lotz, ''Artistes peintres alsaciens décédés avant 1800'', Kaysersberg, Ed. Printek, 1994, p. 150. * François Joseph Fuchs, « Johann (Jacob) Walt(h)er », notice du ''Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne'', Strasbourg, Fédération des Sociétés d'Histoire et d'Archéologie d'Alsace, 2002, n°39 p. 4081-4082. *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walther, Johann Jakob Artists from Strasbourg German botanical illustrators German illustrators 1604 births 1676 deaths