Die Anbetung der Könige (Scheibenriss)

This sheet is the core work of a group of seven by

Dirck Vellert (1480/85–1547) illustrating the life

of the Virgin. Not only does it offer a date—seen

below the monogram on a slab at lower right—but

it also corresponds to an existing glass design

(fig. 1), offering insights into the production of early

sixteenth-century glass painting.1

For today’s viewer, it is hard to imagine that the

present drawing was used as a model: who would

venture to translate this intricate network of lines

into another medium? However, as Konowitz states

in several publications, glass painters in Vellert’s

studio were allowed to interpret and amend

what the master indicated.2 The minor but many

alterations between design and execution have

already been demonstrated in detail.3 In general,

the glass painter favored texture over minutiae. He

gave structural value to those few sections that were

left empty in the drawing by adding fur trimming

and brocade patterning. He also modernized some

fashion motifs, such as the armored thigh plates

of the Magus to the left, which were changed into

soft leather boots with modish slits. Translating the

drawing into a glass roundel also involved reducing

some attendant figures, such as angels and animals.

Neither the dog at front left nor the bird on the

thatched roof made it into the roundel, nor did the

angel above the rounded arch. The other figure,

adjacent to the roof beams (fig. 2), was transformed

into a plantain—a meaningful change, however, as

its medicinal application (the staunching of blood)

alludes to salvation.4 One only wonders whether

the glass painter missed part of the message, as the

omitted figure with risen arms, naked torso, and a

tail is reminiscent of Satan falling from heaven, a

reference to Christ’s ultimate victory over the Devil.

By smoothing out the foreground and omitting the

broken columns and entrance to a cellar (left), the

glassmaker missed another theme: the Old Law,

represented by ruins, fulfilled and replaced by the

New Testament. Moreover, with its broken vault, the

grated cellar foreshadows the prisoners set free as

part of Christ’s mission.

In this drawing, architecture not only offers such

footnotes, but also plays a major role in staging

the narrative. As has been observed by various

scholars,5 Vellert largely followed Albrecht Dürer’s

(1471–1528) Life of the Virgin woodcuts in his series

on the same subject.6 Dürer’s Adoration of the Magi

(fig. 4) also features a thatched shed, a tower, and

an arch. Vellert changed the arrangement to fit the

roundel and gave more prominence to the figures in

their now highly flamboyant, Mannerist costumes.

And, though reducing its relative size, he extended

the architecture from mere stage props to that of a

city, with representative buildings on the left and

burgers’ dwellings in the distance, including the

“mandatory” stepped gable. Merging the familiar

with the fantastic, such cityscapes linked the viewer’s

reality with the exotic world of biblical sites,7

even more so if we consider that these roundels

were often intended for domestic spaces.

 

1. Aside from a few workshop copies and two original stainedglass

roundels, five further drawn designs by the artist are

presently known. These include: Presentation in the Temple,

1532, pen and ink, brush and wash, on paper, 27.2 cm (diam.),

British Museum, London, 1923,0417.4; The Return of the Holy

Family from Egypt, 1523, pen and brown ink, brush and gray

wash, over chalk, on paper, 28.4 cm (diam.), British Museum,

London, 1923,0417.3; Presentation in the Temple, 1525–44, pen and

brown ink, brown wash, white heightening, over black chalk, on

green-gray prepared paper, 23.8 cm (diam.), British Museum,

London, 1952,0121.85; Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1520s–30s,

pen and ink, brush and wash, on paper, 21.6 cm (diam.), Klassik

Stiftung Weimar, Graphische Sammlung, Weimar, KK 4595;

and, Birth of the Virgin, c. 1520s–30s, pen and ink, brush and

wash, on paper, 22.1 cm (diam.), Klassik Stiftung Weimar,

Graphische Sammlung, Weimar, KK 4596.

2. See, for instance, Konowitz 1997, 58.

3. Konowitz in Husband 1995.

4. Konowitz in Husband 1995, 151.

5. Held 1931, 91–92; Konowitz in Husband 1995, 150.

6. The two artists met during Dürer’s stay in the Netherlands in

1520–21 (Konowitz 1990/91, 152n18), making it highly likely that

Vellert was able to see the series around that time.

7. Romanesque arches and citadels may even hint at the

heavenly Jerusalem; for such associations, see De Rock 2019,

67–68, 74–83.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 31

Angeregt von Albrecht Dürer, den er persönlich kannte, entwarf Vellert 1532 einen Zyklus von Kabinettscheiben mit Darstellungen aus dem Marienleben. Aus dieser Folge ist nur das Wiener Blatt datiert. Neben einigen Werkstattkopien und immerhin zwei zugehörigen Glasscheiben sind derzeit fünf weitere Entwurfszeichnungen bekannt (London, The British Museum, Inv. 1923,0417.3, 1923,0417.4, und 1952,0121.85; Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Graphische Sammlung, Inv. KK 4595, KK 4596).

Seine Entwürfe geben wertvolle Einblicke in die Arbeitsweise des Meisters: Für die Wiener Zeichnung übernahm Vellert aus Dürers Holzschnitt mit der Anbetung der Könige (Bartsch 87) die architektonische Rahmung mit Rundbogen, Turm und Strohdach. Maria und das Kind wurden gespiegelt, etwas größer proportioniert und in das Zentrum gerückt. Die Komposition folgt den dekorativen Gesetzen der Glasmalerei, ist in ihrer überbordenden Ornamentik, den gekünstelten Gesten und tänzerischen Posen vor allem aber ein Musterbild des Antwerpener Manierismus. Vellerts Gespür für das Dekorative kennen wir schon aus den Entwurfszeichnungen von 1523 (Inv. 7801, Inv. 7804). Hier jedoch hat das Prinzip der Kleinteiligkeit sogar den Zeichenstil erfasst. Die Konturen sind teils tupfend, teils vibrierend bewegt auf das Blatt gesetzt, und selbst die Fläche wird jetzt nicht mehr breit mit dem Pinsel laviert, sondern durch parallel angeordnete Schraffurlinien abschattiert.

Dieser Horror Vacui wird auf der gemalten Glasscheibe wieder etwas zurückgenommen (Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Inv. Kg 31:33). Dort fehlen einzelne Details wie Engel, Hund und Vogel, und der bärtige König trägt modernes Schuhwerk anstelle der überreich dekorierten Beinschienen »all’antica«. Auch einige der von Vellert mit dunklerer Tusche nachgetragenen Ergänzungen wie die mächtige Gliederkette des Mohrenkönigs fehlen auf der gemalten Fassung. Wir können davon ausgehen, dass es eine weitere Vorzeichnung gegeben haben muss, die dem Glasmaler als direkte Vorlage diente und die noch enger mit der Kabinettscheibe korrespondierte als das Wiener Blatt.

Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens, Rembrandt. Meisterwerke der Albertina, hg. von K. A. Schröder und C. Metzger, Albertina, Wien, Ostfildern 2013, Abb. 26, S. 58.