6.1 Strasbourg and Württemberg
In general the Dutch influence is smaller in the catholic south than in other parts of Germany. Italy and even Flanders are more important for Bavarian and Frankish decorative painting than the minor masters from Holland. In a church regulation of Munich in 1720 we read: ‘one has to stick to the style of the great Italian masters, who truly praise God in their paintings und do not fall into coarse and mean forms in the strive for too much imitation of nature like the German and Dutch masters’.1
Therefore, when we cross Southern Germany from west to east, we can only point to isolated manifestations of Dutch orientated art, without gaining a coherent picture. In Strasbourg it was Johann Wilhelm Baur (1607-1642), to whom attention has been paid by Cornelis de Bie and Arnold Houbraken already.2 He was a pupil of Friedrich Brentel (1580-1651) [1], whose landscape paintings are connected to the work of Paul Bril and Adam Elsheimer. Baur himself was also indebted to the Flemish-German landscape tradition [2-4].3
1
Friedrich Brentel
Forest landscape with the flight to Egypt, dated 1638
Strasbourg, Musées de Strasbourg
2
Johann Wilhelm Baur
Cavalry skirmish in a hilly landscape, dated 1637
3
Johann Wilhelm Baur
Nobles on a stairway at a seaside villa, c. 1640
Private collection
The still-life painter Sébastien Stoskopff (1597-1657) also found his inspiration in the Flemish circle. At the expense of the city of Strasbourg he became a pupil of Daniel Soreau in Hanau between 1615 and 1619. Later on he moved to Paris, England and Italy and from 1641 on he was back in his hometown.4 For quite a long time he held on to a simple and side by side array in his still-lifes [4]. Then he reached, via Dutch-looking vanitas still-lifes, a type of realistic and surprisingly successful trompe l’oeils [5]. When his patron, Johann van Nassau-Idstein showed them at the court in Vienna, they were greatly admired [6-7].5
4
Sébastien Stoskopff
Still life of books and a candle, dated 1625
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, inv./cat.nr. 2528
5
Sébastien Stoskopff
Vanitas still life with musical instruments en artworks, dated 1657?
Brandenburg (state), private collection Lessing (familie)
6
Sébastien Stoskopff
Still life with glasses and silver goblets, c. 1645
Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, inv./cat.nr. 2232
7
Sébastien Stoskopff
Trompe-l'oeil with triumph of Galatea, c. 1650-1651
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv./cat.nr. 3553
8
Christian Wehrlin
Game piece with hare, poultry and fruit
Strasbourg, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg (Palais Rohan), inv./cat.nr. 1554
The apparently younger Christian Wehrlin (active 1750-1774) also tends to a Dutch treatment of still-life, this time more in the decorative manner of Abraham van Beyeren [8].6 The draughtsman Joan Walter (1610-1679), who died in Strasbourg in 1677, was of Dutch descent, but was not a great artist. He specialized in drawing plants and topographically correct depictions of castles in the surroundings of Idstein [9-10]. His patron was the same Johann van Nassau-Idstein [11] who also employed Stosskopf.7 Walther also owned works of this painter.
Dutch portraiture in Strasbourg was represented by Bartholomäus Hopfer II (1628-1699), who was born in Augsburg.8 He received his training in Amsterdam from Govert Flinck and the few works that are known by him, prove that he used his apprenticeship well. He was active in Strasbourg from 1656 until his death in 1699 [12-15].9
9
Joan Walter
Three tulips, dated 1661
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1596 (Bibliothek)
10
Joan Walter
Garden of Idstein, allegory of spring, dated 1663
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France
11
Joan Walter
Portrait of Count Johann of Nassau-Idstein (1603-1677), dated 1664
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, inv./cat.nr. L.408, fol. 6
12
Bartholomäus Hopfer (II)
Old man with a Vanitas stillife, c. 1656-1660
Strasbourg, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg (Palais Rohan), inv./cat.nr. 2042
13
Bartholomäus Hopfer (II)
Portrait of Johann Steudner (1620-1666), Minister in Augsburg, dated 1655
Berlin (city, Germany), Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, inv./cat.nr. 9392
14
Bartholomäus Hopfer (II)
Portrait of a Strasbourg family, c. 1656-1699
Strasbourg, Musée Historique de la Ville de Strasbourg
15
Bartholomäus Hopfer (II)
Portrait of an unknown man with an orange twig in his hand
Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, inv./cat.nr. 3355
16
Johann Christophorus Storer
Self portrait of Johann Christophorus Storer (1620-1671), before 1653
Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv./cat.nr. 1626
17
attributed to Johann Christophorus Storer
Portrait of Georg Schweiger
Württemberg is not very fruitful to us. Not much can be made of Jacob Weyerman’s comment that Constantijn Netöer had portrayed all local princes there.10 The portrait painter Johann Christophorus Storer (1620-1671) from Konstanz assimilated elements of the style of Anthony van Dyck [16]. Theodor Frimmel, however, attributes a portrait in the style of Nicolaes Maes to him [17].11 Johann Heinrich and Theodor Roos worked in Württemberg and Strasbourg as well.
For the rest we can only mention two still-life painters. One is Pieter Steenwijck (c. 1615-after 1656), who was pupil of his uncle David Bailly and painted a still-life with books with the inscription: ‘Ich Simon Heller, Bürger und Handelsmann der heyligen Reichs-Stadt Heilbronn’ [I, Simon Heller, citizen and merchant in the city of Heilbronn in the Holy Roman Empire] [18].12 Did Steenwijck, like his brother Harmen, travel to Germany or did he paint this work in his homeland for a German client? Johann Friedrich Grüber (c. 1620-1681), a Württemberg court painter in Stuttgart, painted at least one sumptuous still-life of which the Dutch character is particularly striking [19].13 It comes so close to works by Cornelis de Heem [20] that it is safe to assume he was trained in the Netherlands.14
18
Anonymous Northern Netherlands (hist. region) second half 17th century
Vanitas still life with nautilus shell, second half 17th century
19
Johann Friedrich Grüber
Still life of fruit, with porcelain vessels and sumptuous silver vessels, dated 1659
Ludwigsburg, private collection Schloss Ludwigsburg, inv./cat.nr. 3352
20
and Alexander Coosemans Johann Friedrich Grüber
Rich still life with musical instruments and fruit, after c. 1650
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. SK-A-2564
Notes
1 [Gerson 1942/1983] Feulner 1929, p. 157.
2 [Gerson 1942/1983] De Bie 1662, p. 113-114 and p. 251 (under Carolus Creten); Houbraken 1718-1721, vol. 2, p. 332-333 (as Jean Guilliam Bouwer).
3 [Van Leeuwen 2017] On Baur: Roethlisberger 1988 and Bonnefoit 1997. The painting in the Städel Museum was attributed to Baur by Marijke de Kinkelder, former employee of the RKD and accepted by Roethlisberger; Sander/Brinkmann 1995 considered it to be by an imitator of Jan Baptist Weenix; the attribution to Baur also is not accepted by Bonnefoit (Bonnefoit 1997, p. 20, ill.)
4 [Van Leeuwen 2017] On Stosskopff: Heck/Böhmer 1997.
5 [Gerson 1942/1983] Paintings in Strasbourg, Vienna and Prague. Brauner 1933. [Van Leeuwen 2017] The painting in Prague was exchanged by the Bohemian-Moravian Gallery in 1944 with the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe.
6 [Gerson 1942/1983] Strasbourg no. 383. [Van Leeuwen 2017] In Thieme/Becker 1907-1950, vol. 34 (1940), p. 259-260, the artists is identified with Cristiano Matteo Verlin, who was active in Turin from 1756 on and left for England in 1774. The painting in Strasbourg is fully signed Christian Wehrlin, another (RKDimages 286087) is monogrammed CW.
7 [Gerson 1942/1983] Lugt/Vallary-Radot 1936, no. 55-109. See also Gerson 1942/1983, p. 354. [Van Leeuwen 2017] Graser/Sonnabend 2017.
8 [Van Leeuwen 2017] According to Ekkart, he was born in Amsterdam and went to Augsburg after his training in Amsterdam: Ekkart 1973; Ekkart 1974.
9 [Gerson 1942/1983] Painting in Strasbourg [fig. 78, ed. 1983], drawings in Vienna and Berlin. [Van Leeuwen 2017] More examples in RKDimages.
10 [Gerson 1942/1983] Weyerman 1729-1769, vol. 4, p. 149. [Van Leeuwen 2017] On Storer and Van Dyck: Apphuhn-Radtke 2000, p. 73, 78, 81, 216, 286.
11 [Gerson 1942/1983] Auction Vienna 1919-12-16, no. 32. About his drawings that are influenced by Italian models: Thöne 1938-1939.
12 [Gerson 1942/1983] Auction Cologne 1930-05-27, no. 114. [Van Leeuwen 2017] Auction Aachen, 1930-05-22/23, not Cologne, 1930-05-27 (communication Paul van Kooij, July 2017). The attribution was rightly rejected by Fred Meijer (RKD) in June 2018; however, it is still assumed that the work with the German inscription was painted by a Northern Netherlandish artist.
13 [Gerson 1942/1983] Ludwigsburg; Thöne 1935, no. 37 (signed and dated 1659).
14 [Van Leeuwen 2017] The still-life in the Rijksmuseum bears a false signature of Cornelis de Heem and was catalogued as such until recently. Now it is attributed to Johann Friedrich Grüber on the basis of comparison to signed works that surfaced on the art market (more examples in RKDimages).