Christoph Gertner Arnstadt, Thuringia circa 1580-1620

ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS Christoph Gertner Arnstadt, Thuringia, circa 1580-1620

Adoration of the Shepherds

Oil on black slate and agate 26.4 x 13.9 cm The present painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on black stone (slate or basalt?) and agate (according to the owner and conservator), 26,4 X 13.9 cm, can be unequivocally attributed to Christoph Gertner, even on the basis of photographs.

It represents the same subject (shepherds, Mary, and Joseph adoring the Christ Child) has almost identical dimensions (26.4 x 13.9 cm versus 26.5 x 14 cm) to a painting that has been attributed to Christoph Gertner, now in a private collection in New York.1 It is also similarly constructed. In both instances a circular piece of lighter colored stone, in the New York example alabaster, has been inserted into an opening and conjoined to darker colored stone, in New York, black marble. With the exception of the head of the Virgin, the poses and gestures of the figures in both instances are identical. The touch (with impasto highlights on the edges of the folds, and the black of the stone used for shadows, for example).

The painting under consideration is however not a copy of the New York version, but a another version of the invention. The composition has been altered to concentrate on the Shepherds and Holy Family at the bottom; the shepherd on the left has been pushed to the edge of the composition, and the amount of the scene in heaven has been diminished slightly. The face of the Virgin has been painted somewhat differently: she looks more down to the right as well. The Virgin’s garment is also a carmine red color in the painting under consideration, versus white in the New York version.

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 3 These two paintings on stone are related to a very similar composition of the same subject in Dresden (Staatliche Kunstsasmmlungen, Kuperstich-Kabinett, C1963-1969, pen and dark brown ink, brush and grey brown wash, over metalpoint and graphite). Interestingly, the drawing (46.9 x 28.8 cm) is considerably larger than either of the paintings. Several details of the figures have been changed. The drawing enlarges and extends the composition upward, adds angels, humans, and animals (a dog to the lower right) and seems to have been squared for transfer; this suggests that it may have been a modello for a larger painting.2

Gertner may have been born in Arnstadt, Thuringia (according to a commonly read A in the monogram he uses, CGA) probably in the 1580s, and in the early 1600s served several courts, including those of Wolfenbüttel, Oldenburg, Bückeburg, and the administrator of Halberstadt; traces of him are lost in the 1620s. This painting, like the other in New York and the drawing, reveal his knowledge of court art, and especially the compositions of Hans von . This is easy to understand, because Gertner’s patron Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was a court councilor of Rudolf II in Prague, where he lived for a time in the house of Hans von Aachen, by whom he owned several works. Gertner no doubt was familiar with Von Aachen’s works. Von Aachen also painted several such paintings on stone, sometimes combined from several pieces.

In her book on painting on stone, Hana Seifertová notes that in his earlier painted oeuvre Gertner opted for slate tablets (this observation can be slightly refined) because of his preference for nocturnal scenes. The discovery of the present painting reinforces this observation. Another of her observations made in regard to the New York version, which she accepts, illustrates and discusses, can also be reinforced in regard to the way in which Gertner uses the stones to suggest the miracle of the nativity:

This remarkable combination attests to Gertner’s departure from the conventional use of stone tablets in painting, as well as the artist’s own originality, recasting in a manner wholly his own the inspiring force of Prague’s art scene.3

Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann

Notes 1. Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Christoph“ Gertner, Adoration of the Shepherds,” in Jean-Luc Baroni, Master Paintings and Sculpture, an exhibition at Adam Williams Fine Art Ltd., New York, 2003, cat. No. 7, illustrated. 2. Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Addenda“ to Christoph Gertner,” Studia Rudolphina, 10, 2010, 122-128, especially 124-126. 3. Hana Seifertová, Malby na kameni/Paintings on Stone, Prague, Národní Galerie v Praze, 2007, p. 141.

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 4 Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 5 Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 6 Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 7 Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 8 Addenda to Christoph Gertner Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann

While Jürgen Zimmer is probably best known for his studies of Joseph Heintz the Elder,1 he has also shed light on many other aspects of art in Central Europe c. 1600, including several relatively unfamiliar artists who had contact with Rudolfine Prague. Among them is Christoph Gertner. Gertner has attracted serious attention since the 1960’s. Friedrich Thöne, Heinrich Geissler, Hilde Lietzmann, and Hana Seifertova, among others, have helped to establish the contours of Gertner’s oeuvre and career.2 Zimmer’s article of 1984 is, however, the largest and most complete essay on Gertner.3 In it Zimmer also provides a full catalogue of Gertner’s oeuvre in the form of a list (Verzeichnis) that is really a catalogue raisonné, but which with his characteristic modesty he called “unkritisch-kritisch”. Although other paintings and drawings by Gertner, some of them with quite interesting content, have emerged on the market, or have otherwise been published in the past quarter century, Zimmer’s essay remains fundamental to the study of this artist.4 The present paper offers homage and gratitude in the form of a contribution of a few additions to his oeuvre.

According to inscriptions Gertner made on his drawings, he was born in Arnstadt, Thuringia, probably c. 1575, to reckon from the dates on his earliest drawings. The first such drawing plausibly to be attributed to him is dated 1600.5 Clear mention of Gertner is found in a document of 4 June 1604, which states that he is to receive a salary from the court in Wolfenbüttel, also indicating that he would be paid in addition for individual works that he might supply.6 In 1605 Gertner was however already active for the court in Bückeburg, for whose Schlosskapelle he later, in 1610, delivered a painting of the Last Judgment. In 1617 he worked for Count Anton Günther of Oldenburg, painting pictures in the Saal of his Schloss. In 1621 Gertner entered the service of Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg, Administrator of Magdeburg and Halle. Gertner’s last signed drawing is dated 1623, but it not known exactly where or when he died.7

Gertner’s career was thus closely connected with a number of the smaller German courts, but it has also long been recognized that the content and style of his drawings in particular are related to works by artists who were active at the imperial court in Prague. Gertner’s drawings frequently derive, for example, from Heintz. If the inscription “CG” on a drawing of a female figure dated 1600 in fact identifies him as its author, Gertner would have already been responding to Heintz’s works by that date: the drawing is inscribed with Heintz’s monogram, suggesting it is a copy after a sheet by him. Many other drawings and paintings evince Gertner’s familiarity with works by other Prague artists. Gertner’s paintings also seem to have attracted some attention at the imperial court, since two of them probably belonged to the collections of Rudolf II.8

Gertner could have met Duke Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in Prague, if he did not even accompany him there. The duke occupied an important position in imperial administration, and frequently visited Prague from 1600 until his death in 1613. Heinrich Julius acquired several paintings by Prague school artists, notably by Von Aachen and his workshop, and ordered works from Heintz and Adrian de Fries. Von Aachen also served in a diplomatic capacity for the duke. A personal link with Von Aachen is moreover clear, because the duke even stayed with him on one of his sojourns in Prague.9

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 9 In any case, in the light of Von Aachen’s connection with Heinrich Julius and Gertner’s entry into his service by 1604, it is not surprising that Gertner also was affected by the work of Von Aachen. The drawings to be attributed to him here, all in Dresden, where several other Gertner drawings are to be found, attest to aspects of Von Aachen’s impact. They may all be related to Von Aachen.

Fig. 1 Christoph Gertner, Annunciation, Kupferstich- Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

First of these is a drawing of the Annunciation.10 (Fig. 1) As Rudolf Arthur Peltzer noticed long ago, this drawing is closely related to Von Aachen’s signed and dated painting of 1605 that depicts this subject (, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen).11 This drawing bears both the initials H V A, and an inscription with that artist’s name. The position of the head of the Virgin and the placement of the cherubs above differ in the drawing and painting, however. The drawing is not a copy of the painting, but rather a variant or alternative composition, as Joachim Jacoby has observed; Jacoby also notes that a painting exists that corresponds to this variant.12

Christoph Gertner may be identified as the author of this Dresden drawing. The profile of the angel of the Annunciation is unmistakably that of other figures found in Gertner. The pinched, downward pointing nose, small head, and pointy chin are comparable to those seen in figures in many drawings by Gertner, for example in Paris in a drawing signed and dated 1609 (London, Courtauld Institute of Art).13 Other details of form, such as the thin, rectangular emphasized, feet with angularly pointed toes are also unmistakably his, as comparison to the same drawing also suggests. Finally, the application of washes – less varied in their tonality in comparison with Von Aachen’s – is characteristic of Gertner, as seen in many of his drawings.

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 10 This attribution allows for some further inferences. Since no print exists of the Von Aachen painting, or its variant, this drawing of the Annunciation allows for the hypothesis that Gertner had access to or was in close proximity with Von Aachen’s workshop c. 1605. It thus provides further evidence for his probable presence in Prague. At this time he may well have had reasons to emulate the imperial artist’s style. Not only was Gertner in ducal service at the time Von Aachen had originated his composition, but it was also probably approximately then that Heinrich Julius patronized Von Aachen and several other Prague court artists.14

The second drawing to be considered here may also be closely related to Von Aachen, whose monogram (along with the inscription of his name) it bears.15 It resembles a number of depictions of the Adoration of the Shepherds by Von Aachen, knowledge of which were widely spread through prints, and which were also frequently copied.16 Though close to Von Aachen’s ideas, this particular Dresden drawing is again not a simple copy, but alters his compositions. For example, the placement of the figures and the added number of angels in the sky are clearly different from similar features in Von Aachen’s work.

Gertner may again be identified as the author of this drawing. The physiognomies of the shepherd who kneels in adoration, as well as that of the shepherd who takes off his hat to the right (of the viewer), are especially revealing of Gertner’s hand. Similarly, the strong outlines, rather blocky application of washes, and comparative flattening of forms resulting from the corresponding comparative lack of gradation in modeling point to Gertner rather than to Von Aachen as the artist.17

Some stylistic elements may also result from the function that this drawing may have served. Gertner’s Adoration of the Shepherds is neither a simple variant nor a copy of a work invented by Von Aachen, but instead is close in composition and format to a small painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds on black marble and alabaster (formerly Jean-Luc Baroni, now Private Collection, United States) that has been attributed to Gertner. 18 It has correctly been remarked that in the painting Gertner experimented in a unique and original way with Von Aachen’s composition, and recasts in a manner wholly his own the inspiring force of the Prague art scene.19 The same may be said for the drawing.

The related but distinctive characteristics the Dresden drawing shares with Gertner’s painting of the same subject nevertheless indicate that it is not simply preparatory to that painting. The drawing differs in important details from the painting. One telling comparison: in the Dresden drawing the gesture of the shepherd to the viewer’s left who raises his hand with extended, crooked fingers may be related to similar features in the painting, but in the drawing he has a beard and wears a hat. Moreover, the drawing’s dimensions are significantly larger than those of this relatively small painting on stone. Unlike what may be found in Von Aachen’s practice, the depiction of areas of light and shadow in Gertner’s drawing also do not correspond to comparable patterns found on the stones that constitute the painting, again suggesting that is not preparatory to it.20

These details allow instead for the hypothesis that the drawing was made for another, larger version of the same subject, closely related in composition, but taller in format. The firm indication of outlines suggests that it may even have served as a sort of modello for the painting. The use of modelli for repeated compositions is also known from the work of Heintz.21 This sort of reworking of similar compositions in various formats and media is also known from the contemporaneous practice of Von Aachen himself: indeed it is found in his execution of paintings of the

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 11 Three Graces from c. 1604, one, smaller, version of which was probably made for Duke Heinrich Julius, the other, quite large, for the Duke of Saxony.22

The third drawing to be considered here is that of a single figure, an angel.23 This angel seems to depend from one found another composition of the Annunciation by Von Aachen that was disseminated by an engraving by Lucas Killian dated 1600.24 The angel in the drawing assumes the pose of Von Aachen’s creature, who holds a lily lightly in his left hand, while his bent knees are supported by a cloud. While replicating the general pattern of the folds of the angel’s garments seen in the print, the Dresden drawing alters its flowing drapery, and also the pose of the right hand, which is flexed in a gesture of humility and respect; similarly, the angel’s head is lowered in humility.

The artist who drew this angel is again to be identified with Gertner. The physiognomy, treatment of washes, depiction of hair, bolder outlining, and the use of washes that tend to flatten out forms again speak for his hand. These features may be compared to those seen in the relatively large figures in a monogrammed and dated drawing of 1611 representing the Feast of the Gods (Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Graphische Sammlung) done in similar techniques.25 In the case of the Dresden drawing, the presence of only one figure and the comparatively large scale suggest that it is a study for part of a painting.

Variation in functions may also account for apparent differences in techniques and modes of presentation seen in Gertner’s drawings. Like Von Aachen, Gertner may have varied the style of his drawings according to their function.26 A generally broader mode of representation is used for an individual study, whereas delineation and clearer articulation of forms mark a fuller compositional study, and possible modello.

Taken as a group, these drawings by Gertner bring up several further issues. Their religious content reveals another side to Gertner’s art, not seen in his many mythologies, which have in part been associated with his work for the court in Wolfenbüttel.27 At the same time the drawings may be related to relatively small paintings, including one that was executed on stone. These were the sorts of objects that would have been made for collectors. These factors raise the possibility that the drawings were either themselves destined for, or connected with such paintings, and accordingly made for other patrons than the Duke – for other private clients, or even for the market.

Finally, the presence of this group in Dresden, where other drawings by Gertner with an old Saxon provenance are also found,28 allows for the hypothesis that like Von Aachen at the same time, Gertner produced works for this court, or at least that it was interested in his sort of art. Indeed Von Aachen made paintings of the Three Graces equally for Dresden and Wolfenbüttel.29

If this hypothesis is correct, the Saxon court would have been another of the many German courts which Gertner served.

In any event, it was especially through his drawings that Gertner had an impact on a number of still little studied but relatively prolific artists who were also active in Wolfenbüttel and elsewhere in northern .30 He may thus be regarded as an important figure for the transmission of styles and contents of art based on Rudolfine Prague throughout the Holy Roman Empire. These are but some of the many issues that may be more thoroughly investigated in the further pursuit of studia rudolphina.

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 12 Notes 1. Jürgen Zimmer, Joseph Heintz der Ältere als Maler, Weissenhorn, 1971; idem, Joseph Heintz der Ältere Zeichnungen und Dokumente, Munich and Berlin, 1988. 2. Friedrich Thöne,Wolfenbüttel . Geist und Glanz einer alten Residenz, Munich, pp. 75ff, 250 ff;idem , “Bemerkungen zu Zeichnungen in der Herzog August Bibliothek zu Wolfenbüttel,” 6, 1967, pp. 167-206; Heinrich Geissler, review of Thöne, Wolfenbüttel. Geist und Glanz einer alten Residenz, Pantheon, 25, 1967, pp. 145-147; idem, Zeichnung in Deutschland, Deutsche Zeichner 1540-1640, Stuttgart, 1980, 2, cat. no. N 1-4, pp. 118-121, Hilde Lietzmann, Herzog Heinrich Julius zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg (1564-1623). Persönlichkeit und Wirken für Kaiser und Reich, Braunschweig, 1993, pp. 21f, 110; and Hana Seifertová, “Pittura su pietra der rudolfinischen Zeit und ein Vanitasgemälde von Christoh Gertner,” inRudolf II, Prague and the World, Papers from the Internaitonal Conference Prague, 2-4 September 1997, ed. Lubomír Konečný et. al., Prague, 1998, pp. 95-8. From the 1960’s Werner Schade has also collected information on Gertner and his works, and communicated some of his findings privately. For other contributions to Gertner see, e.g., Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann,Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire 1540-1680, A Selection from North American Collections, Princeton, 1982, pp. 72f; Christian von Heusinger, Zeichnungen der Wolfenbütteler Hofmaler am Anfang der 17. Jahrhunderts, Braunschweig, ex. cat., 1989. Some of the works mentioned in the sources cited here have been published in subsequent articles and catalogues; this note is not meant to be complete. 3. Jürgen Zimmer, “Christoph Gertner, Hofmaler in Wolfenbüttel. Eine neu entdeckte Danaë und ein vorläufiges Werkverzeichnis,” Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte, 23, 1984, pp. 117-138. 4. See the entries and discussion in the essays in Hofkunst der Spätrenaissance. Braunschweig-Wolfbenbüttel. Braunschwig-Wolfenbüttel und das kaiserliche Prag um 1600, Braunschweig, 1998. See for further contributions to Gertner, e.g. Heinrich Geissler, “Rudolfinische Filiationen in der Zeichnkunst um 1600,” in Prag um 1600. Beiträge zur Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudolfs II.,“ Freren, 1988, pp. 73- 4, fig. 10; (Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann) “Christoph Gertner,The Adoration of the Shepherds,” in Master Paintings, ed. David Garstang, London-New York, 1998, no. 7, n.p., for which see also Hana Seifertová, Malby na kameni/Paintings on Stone, Prague, 2007, p. 141, and fig. 78, p. 140. Most interesting is perhaps a painting of theJudgment of Paris, formerly with Jack Kilgore, New York, and now in the Museum in Luxemburg. This painting, which depicts a subject also known from drawings by Gertner (e.g. a sheet signed and dated 1609 in Wolfenbüttel, Courtauld Institute Galleries, Inv. No. 4164; see Zeichnung in Deutschland 2, no. N 1, p. 119) is a portrait historié, in which two of the figures, Duke Friedrich Ulrich and Duchess Anna Sophie of Brandenburg, are identifiable. The Duke is identifiable through his portraits by Gertner, for example one in miniature (for a good color illustration seeHofkunst , nr. 15, ill. p. 58). A possible date of execution is c. 1615, which would fit the iconography of the painting, since Friedrich Ulrich and Anna Sophie were married in 1614, the year after Friedrich Ulrich had succeeded his father as duke. 5. In Zimmer, Heintz Zeichnungen, p. 309, no. E 42, fig. 197. 6. See the citation in Lietzmann, Heinrich Julius, p. 110,n. 168. 7. This information is taken from Zimmer, “Gertner,” and the summary, with further references, in Geissler,Zeichnung in Deuschland, op.cit. 8. They are indicated as having been taken from the “großen saal” after their acquisition by Daniel de BrierßSee Heinrich Zimmermann, Das Inventar der Prager Schatrz- und Kunstkammer von 6. Dezember 1621, nach Akten des K. und K. Reichsfinanzarchivs in Wien,” Jaahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 25, 1905, pt. 2 p. li, no. 19422: 49. Liegende Venus, Christoff Görtner. 90 (taler). 50. Judicium Paris, Christoff Görtner. 90 (taler) 9. For details of the biography of Heinrich Julius see Lietzmann, op.cit. 10. Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Inv. C 2294; pen and ink and wash, 280x 201 mm. 11. Rudolf Arthur Peltzer, Der Hofmaler Hans von Aachen, seine Schule und seine Zeit, Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 30, 1911-1912, pp. 139, 170; Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann,The School of Prague. Painting at the Court of Rudolf II, Chicago and London, 1988, cat. no. 1.71, ill. 12. Joachim Jacoby, Hans von Aachen 1552-1615, Munich and Berlin, 200, p. 87 13. See Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland, cat. N 1. 14. See Jochen Luckhardt, “Kunst im Dienste des Reiches: Herzog Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig-Lübeburg und Prag,” in Rudolf II, Prague and the World, pp. 81-8, p. 83 for the suggestion that the duke brought a version of Von Aachen’s Three Graces home in

Tel: +5411 4816 2787 / 5411 4816 2790 – [email protected] 13 1604 and further the entry by Jocken Luckhardt Hofkunst der Spätrenaissance., p. 117, cat. no. 44; see further Luckhardt, “Kunst am Wolfenbütteler Hof um 1600,” in Hofkunst, pp. 20-30. 15. Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden C 1963-1969, pen and dark brown ink, brush and grey brown wash, over metalpoint and graphite, 469 x 288 mm. 16. For these prints see most fully Joachim Jacoby, the New Hollstein German Engravins, etchings and Woodcuts 1400-1700. Hans von Aachen, Rotterdam, 1996, pp.63-7, no. 18-19. Jacoby has however revised his opinion about the relation of the first of these compositions to a famous altarpiece painted by Von Aachen for the church of Il Gesù in in Hans von Aachen (1552-1615). Court Artist in Europe, ed. Thomas Fusenig in collaboration with Alice Taatgen and Heinrich Becker, Aachen, Berlin, and Munich, 2010, p. 129, cat. no. 18. 17. The features mentioned here are for example comparable to those found Gertner’s drawing of Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena, monogrammed and dated 1615, in the École des Beaux Arts, Paris: see Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland, pp. 119-20, cat. no. N 2, ill. p. 119. 18. See the discussion by Kaufmann, op. cit. (n. 4) and Seifertová op. cit. (n. 4). 19. As remarked by Seifertová loc. cit. 20. For this practice see Hans von Aachen, p. 200, cat. no. 67, ill. p. 201. 21. Two drawings, which together constitute a model corresponding in its dimensions to the related paintings and most probably used by Heintz for his versions of the Fall of Phaeton (Kaufmann, School of Prague, cat. no. 7.10 and 7.11, pp. 186-187), have in recent years been acquired by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., inventory numbers 1997.103.1 and 2006.100.1. A drawing of Nymphs and Satyrs acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.174, seems in comparison to be a copy. 22. See most recently the discussion of these paintings in Hans von Aachen, p. 202, cat. no. 68 (entry by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann). 23. Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, no. C1963-1968, pen and brown ink, brush in grey wash, over metal point, 272 x 175 mm. 24. Jacoby, New Hollstein, p. 61, no. 16, ill. p. 62. 25. See Hans-Martin Kaulbach with contributions by Guido Messling and texts by Heinrich Geissler, Deutsche Zeichnungen vom Mittelalter bis zum Barock, Ostfildern, 2007. 26. Modal variation is considered along with other aspects of function, genre, technique, style, and attribution in Von Aachen’s drawings in Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, “ The Drawings,”in Hans von Aachen, pp. 33-41. 27. See Zimmer, “Gertner,” especially p.126. 28. See ibid., p. 133, N 21, possibly N 22. 29. See Hans von Aachen, p. 202, no. 68. 30. For these artists see Zimmer, “Gertner, pp. 122, 128 n. 26-30” Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland, pp. 118-119, and cat. N 5- N8, N 13, pp. 122-125, 129; Von Heusinger, Zeichnungen der Wolfenbüteler Hofmaler; and in general Hofkunst der Spätrenaissance.

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