Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
art-historian and
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, active in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
during the
Dutch Golden Age
The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...
. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the ''
Teutsche Academie
The ''German Academy of the Noble Arts of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting'', or ''Teutsche Academie'', refers to a comprehensive dictionary of art by Joachim von Sandrart published in the late 17th century. The first version was published in ...
'', published between 1675 and 1680.
Biography
Sandrart was born in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, but the family originated from
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
.
According to his dictionary of art called the ''
Teutsche Academie
The ''German Academy of the Noble Arts of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting'', or ''Teutsche Academie'', refers to a comprehensive dictionary of art by Joachim von Sandrart published in the late 17th century. The first version was published in ...
'', he learned to read and write from the son of
Theodor de Bry
Theodor de Bry (also Theodorus de Bry) (152827 March 1598) was an engraver, goldsmith, Editing, editor and publisher, famous for his depictions of early European colonization of the Americas, European expeditions to the Americas. The Spanish Inq ...
, Johann Theodoor de Brie and his associate
Matthäus Merian Matthäus is a given name or surname. Notable people with the name include:
;Surname
* Lothar Matthäus, (born 1961), German former football player and manager
;Given name
* Matthäus Aurogallus, Professor of Hebrew at the University of Wittenberg ...
, but at age 15 was so eager to learn more of the art of engraving, that he walked from Frankfurt to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
to become a pupil of
Aegidius Sadeler
Aegidius Sadeler or Aegidius Sadeler II (1570–1629) was a Flemish engraver who was principally active at the Prague court of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and his successors.
Life
Sadeler was born in Antwerp in the Sadeler family of print deale ...
of the
Sadeler family
The Sadeler family were the largest, and probably the most successful of the dynasties of Flemish engravers that were dominant in Northern European printmaking in the later 16th and 17th centuries, as both artists and publishers. As with othe ...
. Sadeler in turn urged him to paint, whereupon he travelled to
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
in 1625 to become a pupil of
Gerrit van Honthorst
Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname ''Gherardo delle Notti' ...
, and through him he met
Rubens when he brought a visit to Honthorst in 1627, to recruit him for collaboration on part of his
Marie de' Medici cycle
The Marie de' Medici Cycle is a series of twenty-four paintings by Peter Paul Rubens commissioned by Marie de' Medici, widow of Henry IV of France, for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Rubens received the commission in the autumn of 1621. After neg ...
. Honthorst took Sandrart along with him when he travelled to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. There he worked with Honthorst and spent time making copies of
Holbein Hans Holbein may refer to:
* Hans Holbein the Elder
Hans Holbein the Elder ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Ältere; – 1524) was a German painter.
Life
Holbein was born in free imperial city of Augsburg (Germany), and died in Issenheim, Alsa ...
portraits for the portrait gallery of
Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel
Henry Frederick Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel PC (15 August 160817 April 1652), styled Lord Maltravers until 1640, and Baron Mowbray from 1640 until 1652, was an English nobleman, chiefly remembered for his role in the development of the rule aga ...
.
Making all of those copies only served to arouse more curiosity in the young adventurer, and in 1627 Sandrart booked a passage on a ship from London to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, where he was welcomed by
Jan Lis (whose
Bentvueghels
The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique").
Activities
The members, which included ...
''bent'' name was "Pan"), and
Nicolao Renier. He then set out for
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, where he was met by his uncle on his mother's side
Michael le Blond, a celebrated engraver. With him, he crossed the mountains to
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 an ...
, and from there on to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where they met
Pieter van Laer
Pieter Bodding van Laer (christened 14 December 1599, Haarlem – 1641 or later) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He was active in Rome for over a decade and was known for genre scenes, animal paintings and landscapes placed in the environs ...
(whose bent name was "Bamboccio"). After a few years he undertook a tour of Italy, traveling to
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, where he drew studies of
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of s ...
, believed to be the entrance to the
Elysian fields described by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
. From there he traveled to
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and beyond, searching for literary sights to see and paint, and wherever he went he paid his way by selling portraits. Only when he was done traveling did he finally return to Frankfurt, where he married Johanna de Milkau in 1637.
Afraid of political unrest and plague, he moved to Amsterdam with his wife in 1637.
Painting career
In Amsterdam he worked as a painter of
genre works
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...
, and portraits. He won a very good following as a painter, winning a lucrative commission for a large commemorative piece for the state visit by
Maria of Medici in 1638, which hangs in the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
. This piece was commissioned by the Bicker Company of the Amsterdam ''
schutterij
Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...
'', and shows the members posing around a bust of Maria of Medici, with a poem by
Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel (; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch poet, writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most ...
hanging below it. The state visit was a big deal for Amsterdam, as it meant the first formal recognition of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
of the seven provinces by
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. However, Maria herself was fleeing
Richelieu at the time and never returned to France. This piece cemented his reputation as a leading painter, and in 1645 Sandrart decided to cash in and go home when he received an inheritance in Stockau, outside
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
, he sold his things and moved there. He received 3000 guilders for 2 books of his Italian drawings, that according to Houbraken
were resold in his lifetime for 4555 guilders.
Though he rebuilt the old homestead, it was burned by the French. He sold it and moved to
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
, where he painted for the family of
Maximilian I, the Elector of Bavaria. When his wife died in 1672, Sandrart moved to
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, where he married Hester Barbara Bloemaart, the daughter of a magistrate there. This is where he started writing.
His large 1649 painting ''Peace-Banquet'' commemorating the
Peace of Münster
The Peace of Münster was a treaty between the Lords States General of the Seven United Netherlands and the Spanish Crown, the terms of which were agreed on 30 January 1648. The treaty, parallelly negotiated to but not part of the Peace of We ...
, now hangs in Nuremberg's town hall.
File:Joachim von Sandrart.jpg, Self-portrait in 1641
File:Sandrart, Joachim von - February - 1642.jpg, Personification of ''February'' (one of a series), 1642
File:Joachim von Sandrart 001.jpg, ''November'' (same series).
File:Joachim von Sandrart - Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria.jpg, Painting of Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian I (17 April 157327 September 1651), occasionally called the Great, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Duke of Bavaria from 1597. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War during which he obtained the title of a Prince- ...
, 1643.
File:Joachim von Sandrart - Erzherzogin Maria Anna (1610-1665), Kurfürstin von Bayern.jpg, Pendant marriage portrait Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610–1665)
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (German: ''Maria Anna von Habsburg, Erzherzogin von Österreich'', also known as ''Maria Anna von Bayern'' or ''Maria-Anna, Kurfürstin von Bayern''; 13 January 1610 – 25 September 1665), was a German regent, E ...
, 1643.
Teutsche Academie
He is best known as an author of books on art, some of them in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, and especially for his historical work, the ''Teutsche Academie der edlen Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste'', published between 1675 and 1680, and in more recent editions. This work is an educational compilation of short biographies of artists, as "a printed supplement to or surrogate for an academic course," inspired by
Karel van Mander
Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembe ...
's similar ''Schilder-boeck''. Both Sandrart and van Mander based their
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
sections on the work of
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...
. His work in turn became one of the primary sources for
Arnold Houbraken
Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters.
Life
Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadtwisting'' (Twyndraat) fr ...
's ''Schouburg'', who wrote a little poem about him:
Sandrart published the first biography of the German artist
Matthias Grünewald
Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century. His first name is also given ...
, and incorrectly bestowed on the artist the name ''Grünewald'' by which he is now popularly known. Sandrart also copied a mistake in
Cornelis de Bie
Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish ''rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier.
He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish a ...
's ''
Het Gulden Cabinet
''Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const'' or ''The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting'' is a book by the 17th-century Flemish notary and ''Chamber of rhetoric, rederijker'' Cornelis de Bie published in Antwerp. Writte ...
'' on
Hendrick ter Brugghen
Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...
whom De Bie has erroneously called "Verbrugghen". De Bie corrects this mistake in a manuscript and attacks Sandrart for having copied the mistake without proper research in a later work of his.
Public collections
*
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...
Collection Rijksmuseum
/ref>
References
*
* Teutsche Academie der Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste, Joachim von Sandrart, Nürnberg 1675, 1679, 1680
External links
Sandrart's commemorative painting of Maria de Medici's visit in 1638, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Link to the Sandrart.net digitalization project
for the Teutsche Academie
The ''German Academy of the Noble Arts of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting'', or ''Teutsche Academie'', refers to a comprehensive dictionary of art by Joachim von Sandrart published in the late 17th century. The first version was published in ...
His portrait
engraved by Philipp Kilian
Philipp Kilian (1628 in Augsburg – 1693 in Augsburg), was a German Baroque engraver.
Biography
According to Houbraken he engraved the portrait of Johann Heinrich Roos which Roos's teacher Barent Graat sent him when he was writing his ''Sch ...
after a painting by Johann Ulrich Mayr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandrart, Joachim Von
1606 births
1688 deaths
Artists from Frankfurt
17th-century German painters
German male painters
German Baroque painters
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
German portrait painters
Members of the Bentvueghels
German art historians
Artist authors
German male non-fiction writers
German expatriates in the Dutch Republic
Rembrandt scholars
German people of Belgian descent