2.1 Emden
The character of art in Emden was largely determined by painting of the neighbouring country. At first, that is at the end of the 16th century, a distinctly Flemish impact can be traced. An offshoot of the flow of refugees, which spread over Holland after the fall of Antwerp (1585),1 reached as far as these eastern provinces. Emden was a religious center of the reformed church, ‘de herberg van Gods verdrukte gemeente’ (the tavern of God’s oppressed community). Here the first national synod was held in 1571. A large part of the population -- namely the Reformed -- had spoken Dutch since the middle of the 17th century, and since the ‘Reduction of Groningen’2 the States General were entitled to keep a garrison here, as was the case in places such as Leerort and Stickhusen.3 No wonder, with such narrow religious and political relationships, that the artistic connections were not a few. As our focus is on the fine arts, we will not take into account the wide presence of Netherlandish architecture in Emden.4
After and because of the Flemish immigration Flemish artists prevailed.5 A member of the widely ramified Coninxloo family, Hans van Coninxloo I (c. 1540 ̶ in or before 1595), a brother of the well-known Gillis van Coninxloo II (1544-1606/07), emigrated to Emden in 1571. There are two paintings known by him with representations of The Wedding of Cupid and Psyche (in Emden and Prague) [1-2], which are true copies of the well-known print by Hendrick Goltzius [3].6 Attributed to the younger Hans van Coninxloo II (c. 1565-1620) is a Moses striking water from the rock (in Emden) [4], of which the figure group is partly modelled after a print by Jan Harmensz. Muller (1571-1628) [5].7 This Coninxloo was, with interruptions, from 1603 until 1618 in Amsterdam and became a master in Emden in 1619.8
1
Hans van Coninxloo (I)
Hercules on Olympus, dated 26 February 1592
Prague, Národní Galerie v Praze, inv./cat.nr. O 1662
2
Hans van Coninxloo (I) after Hendrick Goltzius
Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, dated 9 June 1592
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum
3
Hendrick Goltzius after Bartholomeus Spranger
Wedding of Cupid and Psyche, dated 1587
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-1881-A-4866X
4
Hans van Coninxloo (II) or Hans van Coninxloo (I)
Moses striking water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:2-13), after 1590
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum
5
Jan Harmensz. Muller
The baptism of Christ, 1590
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-OB-32.099
The paintings of a local (?) like Johannes Wraghe I ( † 1576) [6-7] are still clearly Flemish orientated.9
What we know from Hindrick Pijman (c. 1580-after 1647), who is mentioned by Houbraken as the first teacher of Jan de Baen, also looks entirely Flemish. The museum in Emden owns a series of the Four elements [8-11], of which the panel representing Fire appears to be a direct copy after Jan Brueghel I [12].10 The drawing with the Village at the riverside with rowing boats in the album amicorum of Gottfried Müller of 1617 is done in the manner of Jan Brueghel as well [13].11
6
Johannes Wraghe (I)
Moses striking water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:2-13), 1576
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum
7
Johannes Wraghe (I)
Solomon’s Judgement: the two mothers come before Solomon and quarrel with each other (1 Kings 3:16-22), probably 1576
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum
8
Hindrick Pijman
Allegory of Water (one of the four elements)
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. OLM 37/2
9
Hindrick Pijman
Allegory of Earth (one of the four elements)
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. OLM 37/2
10
Hindrick Pijman after Jan Brueghel (I)
Allegory of Fire (one of the four elements)
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. OLM 37/1
11
Hindrick Pijman
Allegory of Air (one of the four elements)
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. OLM 37/4
12
Jan Brueghel (I)
Allegory of Fire: Venus in the Forge of Vulcan, dated 1606
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, inv./cat.nr. A 75
13
Hindrick Pijman
Village at the riverside with rowing boats, dated 1617
Berlin (city, Germany), Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, inv./cat.nr. 79 A 8
The work of Martin Faber (1586/87-1648) [14], however, clearly demonstrates a Dutch training.12 A fine example is the accurately drawn portrait of Johan Sems (1572-1635), known to us from a print [15]. Faber spent time in Italy and in the South of France and returned to Emden in 1616. In this town a Liberation of St. Peter of 1616 is preserved, which was painted under strong Utrecht influence [16-17].13 His landscape drawings [18-19] are found frequently in 18th- and 19th-century auctions.14 Also as an architect he liked to stick to Dutch models. The New Church in Emden was built 1643-1648 in the style of the Noorderkerk in Amsterdam.15
14
Martin Faber
Self-portrait of Martin Faber (1586/87-1648) with maulstick, dated 1614
Marseille, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, inv./cat.nr. 465
15
Jacob Matham after Martin Faber
Portrait of Johan Sems (1572-1635), 1623
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-1886-A-10142
16
Martin Faber
Liberation of Saint Peter (Acts 12), dated 1616
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. 9
17
Martin Faber
Liberation of Saint Peter (Acts 12), dated 1622
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. OLM 387
18
Martin Faber
Galleys on a river in a mountainous landscape, 1604-1616
Schloss Ehrenburg (Coburg), Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, inv./cat.nr. Z 2589 -K62
19
Martin Faber
View of a ruin with a figures in the foreground, dated 1624
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, inv./cat.nr. MB 264
Finally, Alexander Sanders (1624-c. 1684), a prolific portrait painter, is clearly influenced by the Haarlem school.16 He painted single [20-21] and group portraits [22-23], many of which are still in Emden. The perception and technique of his group portrait of the lady governors (‘buitenmoeders’) of the Emden hospice (Emden) [24] recalls the work of Jan de Bray, although he cannot shake off completely the provincial narrowness and clumsiness. The ‘emigrants’ Jan de Baen and Ludolf Bakhuizen, who both worked in their hometown for a while, are indistinguishable from their Dutch colleagues. They acquired the artistic freedom the provincials lacked.
20
Alexander Sanders
Portrait of an unknown man, c. 1670
Bremen, Museum im Roselius-Haus, inv./cat.nr. B 330
22
Alexander Sanders
Regents of the elmshouse in Emden, dated 1659
Emden, Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek
21
Alexander Sanders
Portrait of an unknown woman, c. 1670
Bremen, Museum im Roselius-Haus, inv./cat.nr. B 329
23
Alexander Sanders
Regents of the orphanage and infirmary in Emden, dated 1659
Emden, Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek
24
Alexander Sanders
Group portrait of the lady governors of the Emden hospice, c. 1660
Emden, Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, inv./cat.nr. OLM 27
Notes
1 [Van Leeuwen 2017] Gerson stated 1577, the year the calvinist republic in Antwerp (1577-1585) was established. On immigration from the Southern Netherlands: Briels 1976; Briels 1978; Leuschner 2016.
2 [Van Leeuwen 2017] The Groningen Reduction refers to the capitulation of the city of Groningen to the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau, later the Prince of Orange, and Willem Lodewijk van Nassau-Dillenburg on July 22nd 1594. This marked the end of Spanish rule and at the same time connected the city in the Republic, where the city was merged with the surrounding district. The term reduction comes from the Latin (reductio) and means the return, so the return to the Republic (in Wikipedia only in Dutch).
3 [Gerson 1942/1983] Muller 1939, p. 31-43.
4 [Van Leeuwen 2017 ] On the architecture of the Steenwinckel family in Emden: Allgulin 1932.
5 [Gerson 1942/1983] Summary in Starcke 1899. Images also in Siebern 1927.
6 [Van Leeuwen 2017] Riewerts 1932, esp. p. 70-71, fig. 3. The painting in Emden was lost in World War II (List of missing paintings [unpublished], A. Kanzenbach, 2016).
7 [Van Leeuwen 2017] Riewerts 1936, esp. p. 73-75, fig. 3, as Hans van Coninxloo II. This painting in Emden is also lost in World War II (List of missing paintings, A. Kanzenbach 2016). In Starcke 1891 still listed as Hans van Coninxloo I.
8 [Gerson 1942/1983] On Hans Coninxloo I and II: Starcke 1897, Starcke 1898; Riewerts 1936, Bredius 1905, p. 75. [Van Leeuwen 2017] However, the paintings Bredius mentions in Rouen by Jan van Coninxloo II are by the father of Hans van Coninxloo I, who might have fled to Emden as well after 1558 (C. Engellau-Gullander in Saur 1992-, vol. 20 [1998], p. 527).
9 [Gerson 1942/1983] A Giovanni Wraghe from Antwerp was in 1583 a pupil and collaborator of Hendrick van den Broeck (c. 1530-1597) in Perugia (Orbaan 1910, p. 291, note 1). [Van Leeuwen 2017] This Giovanni Wranghe is Johannes Wraghe II, possibly a son of Hans Verhagen I (Wraghe) who worked in Emden, the latter probably identical to a master Johannes Wraghe who was a master in the guild in Antwerp in 1571. Annette Kanzenbach already made the comparison between the elder Verhagen’s Solomon’s Judgment and the same subject by Frans Floris I in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (RKDimages 277949), placing its stylistic roots in Antwerp (Kanzenbach 2009, p. 60, note 1).
10 [Gerson 1942/1983] Houbraken 1718-1721, vol. 2 (1719), p. 303; Starcke 1899, p. 168-169. [Van Leeuwen 2017] Many versions of the composition of ‘Fire’ are known, of which the one in Lyon seems to be the best. Starcke 1899 indicates a version, formerly in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin (burned in 1945) as the model of Pijman’s painting . See http://janbrueghel.net/object/allegory-of-fire-venus-in-the-forge-of-vulcan-berlin .
11 [Gerson 1942/1983] Oertel 1936, p. 99.
12 [Van Leeuwen 2017] On Martin Faber: Gmelin 1967; the Ostfriesische Landschaft (Kanzenbach 2007) (http://www.ostfriesischelandschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/BIBLIOTHEK/BLO/Faber.pdf ).
13 [Van Leeuwen 2017] Formerly Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum, lost in World War II. The museum bought another painting of the same subject in 1998. Other lost paintings by Faber from the Emden collection are: The raising of Lazarus (1617) (RKDimages 232736), Paulus before Felix, 1633 (91 x 128 cm), Thomyris with the head of Cyris (114 x 202 cm) (lostart.de). The ‘Utrecht’ influence Gerson mentions is actually the influence of the Flemish artist Louis Finson (c. 1575-1617), with whom he collaborated in Italy and France, both working in the style of Caravaggio. Another painting by Faber of 1616, still painted in France, is kept in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valence (RKDimages 278267).
14 [Van Leeuwen 2017] See also RKDexcerpts.
15 [Van Leeuwen 2017] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuwe_Kerk_(Emden) .
16 [Van Leeuwen 2017] In Gerson Digital : Germany, vol. II [Masters of Mobility], an article on Alexander Sanders by Annette Kanzenbach (Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden) will be included.