Matthäus Merian (25 March 1621 – 15 February 1687) was a Swiss engraver and portrait painter.

Biography

He was born in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

as the eldest son of Matthäus Merian the Elder and his first wife Maria Magdalena née de Bry; like his father he became an engraver. He was the half-brother of

Maria Sybilla Merian Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 164713 January 1717) was a German Entomology, entomologist, naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to document observations about insects directly. Merian was a desce ...

and the brother of Caspar Merian. He is documented as having served

Carl Gustaf Wrangel ''Fältmarskalk'' Carl Gustaf Wrangel (also Carl Gustav von Wrangel; 23 December 1613 – 5 July 1676) was a Swedish statesman and military commander who commanded the Swedish forces in the Thirty Years' War, as well as the Torstenson, Bremen, ...

as an importer of wine and other luxury goods and is known for his portraits. He became a teacher of

Bartholomäus Kilian Bartholomäus Kilian (1630–1696), was a German engraver and member of the Kilian family of engravers. Biography He was born in Augsburg as the son of Wolfgang Kilian and besides being a pupil of his father, he trained with the engravers Matthä ...

. After the death of his grandfather Johann Theodor de Bry, his father took over his publishing house in

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 ...

, where Matthew the Younger became a pupil of Joachim von Sandrart. With him he went to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 1637, to Paris in 1641 and to London in 1639 with Anthonis van Dyck. In 1642, Merian returned to Frankfurt, but from 1643 to 1647 he stayed in Italy to study. In 1647 he took part as a political agent and representative of several princes at the Peace Congress in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, of whose participants he made portraits. From 1647/48 he was also in the service of

, whom he portrayed several times. After the death of his father in 1650, he ran the publishing house together with his younger brother Caspar Merian and published further volumes of the ''

Topographia Germaniae ''Topographia Germaniae'' (1642 – c. 1660s) is a multi-volume series of books created by engraver Matthäus Merian and writer Martin Zeiler, and published in Frankfurt in 38 parts. Engravers Wenceslaus Hollar, Caspar Merian, and Matthäus Merian ...

'' and the ''

Theatrum Europaeum ''Theatrum Europaeum'' was a journal on the history of the German-speaking lands by Matthäus Merian Matthäus is a given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: ;Surname * Lothar Matthäus, (born 1961), German former football play ...

''. Apart from these series, however, the publishing house produced hardly any books. Merian achieved his greatest successes as a portraitist, for example in 1658 at the coronation of Leopold I in Frankfurt. Merian also created altarpieces, among others for

Bamberg Cathedral Bamberg Cathedral (, official name Bamberger Dom St. Peter und St. Georg) is a church in Bamberg, Germany, completed in the 13th century. The cathedral is under the administration of the Archdiocese of Bamberg and is the seat of Archbishop of ...

and the Barfüßerkirche in Frankfurt. Merian died on 15 February 1687 in Frankfurt. His grave in the Peterskirchhof in Frankfurt is preserved.

Gallery

File:Carl Gustaf Wrangel 1662.jpg, Portrait of

(1662) File:Matthaeus Merian the Younger - Hans Christoffer von Königsmarck (1600 – 63) - Google Art Project.jpg,

Hans Christoff von Königsmarck Count Hans Christoff von Königsmarck, of Tjust (12 December 1605 – 8 March 1663) was a German soldier who commanded Sweden's legendary flying column, a force which played a key role in the Swedish military strategy in the Thirty Years' War ...

(1660–1663) File:Jagdschloß Grunewald-93.jpg,

Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Eschwege (9 May 1617 – 24 September 1655) was from 1632 until his death Landgrave of the apanage of Hesse-Eschwege, which stood under the suzerainty of Hesse-Kassel. Background Frederick was born in Kassel. As ...

as a falconer (before 1655); located at the

Jagdschloss Grunewald The Jagdschloss Grunewald, a hunting lodge, is the oldest preserved castle of Berlin, Germany. It is on the south waterfront of the Grunewaldsee and is part of the locality Dahlem (Berlin), Dahlem in the borough Steglitz-Zehlendorf. The Jagdsc ...

References

Sources

* Rudolf Wackernagel: ''Selbstbiographie des jüngeren Matthäus Merian''. In
Basler Jahrbuch 1895.
S. 227–244. * Daniela Nieden: ''Matthäus Merian der Jüngere (1621–1678)''. Diss., Univ. Freiburg/Br. 2002, Göttingen 2002. * Andreas Priever: ''Die ‘causa’ Merian. Streit im Chor der Frankfurter Barfüßerkirche''. In: Andrea Bendlage, Andreas Priever, Peter Schuster (Hrsg.): ''Recht und Verhalten in vormodernen Gesellschaften''. Festschrift für Neithard Bulst. Bielefeld 2008, S. 233–253. *

External links

Matthäus Merian
on

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City. It is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly-traded company based in Berlin that is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Ex ...

1621 births 1687 deaths Swiss engravers Artists from Basel-Stadt Matthaus Younger Burials at St Peter's Cemetery, Frankfurt {{engraver-stub