Vischer Family of Nuremberg
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VISCHER, the name of a family sculptors active in Nuremberg between 1453 and 1549, who contributed largely to the masterpieces of German art in the 15th and 16th centuries. Attribution between them can be confusing since they worked together out of the same workshop. The fame of Peter Vischer the Elder seems to have caused the tendency of over attribution to him verses his sons and even none family members.
1.
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[edit] Hermann Vischer the Elder
Hermann Vischer, the Elder came to Nuremberg as a worker in brass in 1453 and there became a "master" of his gild. There is only one work that can be ascribed to him with certainty, the baptismal font in the parish church of Wittenberg (1457). This is decorated with figures of the Apostles. He passed away January 1488.
2. His son,
[edit] Peter Vischer the Elder
(c.1455 - 1529), was born about 1455 in Nuremberg, where he died on the 7th of January 152 9. He became "master" in 1489, and in 1494 was summoned by Philip, Elector Palatine to Heidelberg. He soon returned, however, to Nuremberg, where he worked with the help of his five sons, Hermann, Peter, Hans, Jakob and Paul. His works are: the tomb of Bishop Johannes IV., in the Breslau cathedral (1496); the tomb of Archbishop Ernest, in Magdeburg cathedral (1497); the shrine of Saint Sebald in the Sebalduskirche at Nuremberg, between 1508 and 1519; a large grille ordered by the Fugger brothers in Augsburg (lost); a relief of the "Crowning of the Blessed Virgin" in the Erfurt cathedral (a second example in the Wittenberg Schlosskirche, 1521); the tombstones for Margareta Tucherin in the Regensburg cathedral (1521), and for the Eisen family in the Agidienkirche at Nuremberg (1522); the epitaph for the cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg in the collegiate church at Aschaffenburg (1525); the epitaph of the duchess Helene of Mecklenburg in the cathedral at Schwerin. Besides these works there are a number of others ascribed to Peter the Elder with less certainty. In technique few bronze sculptors have ever equalled him, but his designs are marred by an excess of mannered realism and a too exuberant fancy. His chief early work, the tomb of Archbishop Ernest in Magdeburg cathedral (1495), is surrounded with fine statuettes of the Apostles under semi-Gothic canopies; it is purer in style than the magnificent shrine of St Sebald, a tall canopied bronze structure, crowded with reliefs and statuettes in the most lavish way. The general form of the shrine is Gothic, 1 but the details are those of the 16th-century Italian Renaissance treated 1 This great work is really a canopied pedestal to support and enclose the shrine, not the shrine itself, which is a work of the 14th century, having the gabled form commonly used in the middle ages for metal reliquaries with much freedom and originality. Some of the statuettes of saints attached to the slender columns of the canopy are modeled with much grace and even dignity of form. A small portrait figure of Peter himself, introduced at one end of the base, is a marvel of clever realism: he has represented himself as a stout, bearded man, wearing a large leathern apron and holding some of the tools of his craft. This gorgeous shrine is a remarkable example of the uncommercial spirit which animated the artists of that time, and of the evident delight which they took in their work. Dragons, grotesques and little figures of boys, mixed with graceful scroll foliage, crowd every possible part of the canopy and its shafts, designed in the most free and unconventional way and executed with an utter disregard of the time and labor which were lavished on them.
The two figures for the tomb of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by Peter Vischer (King Arthur & Theodoric the Great), at Innsbruck Hofkirche, begun in 1521, are perhaps the most meritorious German work of this class in the 16th century, and show considerable Italian influence.
Peter Vischer the Elder is honored at the Walhalla, Hall of Fame and Honor which currently honors 191 German speaking individuals of the last 1800 years.
3. Peter's son
[edit] Hermann Vischer the Younger
c.1486–1517 The tomb of Elisabeth and Hermann VIII of Henneberg, sometimes attributed to Hermann and other times to the workshop in general, in the Stadtkirche, Römhild is one the finest pieces produced by the workshop. The design appears to have been based on a drawing (3 versions exist) by fellow Nuremberg resident, Albrecht Dürer.
4. Peter's son
[edit] Peter Vischer the Younger
(1487 - 1528) Initially less well known, he has come to be seen as the equal in quality of his father with whom he worked. The tomb of the electoral prince Frederick the Wise in the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg (1521), previously thought to be by the Elder, is now thought to be by the Younger (Frederick the Wise's brother John the Steadfast was done by Hans Vischer at the same church).
5. Peter's son
[edit] Hans Vischer
Thought to be excellent craftsman but less talented artist. Upon the death of his father (Peter Vischer, the Younger had already died a year earlier as well as his brother Hermann in 1517), Paul inherited the business and immediately sold it to his brother Hans. He completed the works in progress by his father such as the bronze grave plate for Prince-Bishop Lorenz von Bibra of Würzburg. In 1549, Hans left Nuremberg closing the chapter on the Vischers of Nuremberg.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- R. Bauer, Peter Vischer and das alte Nurnberg (1886)
- Cecil Headlam, Peter Vischer (1901).
