Adam Dircksz

Last updated • 5 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Portable altar (WB.232), dated 1511. 25.1 cm x 14 cm (9.9 in x 5.5 in). British Museum, London Boxwood altarpiece, 1511.jpg
Portable altar (WB.232) , dated 1511. 25.1 cm × 14 cm (9.9 in × 5.5 in). British Museum, London

Adam Dircksz (active 1500–1530) [1] is the name ascribed by some art historians to a highly influential Dutch sculptor whose workshop is often attributed with the creation of around 60 [1] of the c. 150 extant Gothic boxwood miniature micro-carvings. Other historians prefer to attribute various unrelated artists who are given individual or grouped notnames. It may be that the master was the innovator in this style of sculpture, and that similar works were directly inspired. According to the British Museum, Dircksz may have served "elite patrons in the circle of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, with a strong link to Delft." [1]

Contents

Almost nothing is known about his life, except from some dates and signatures left on carvings, which indicate only that he was associated with the art works, the real life person may have been a woodcutter, sculptor, medallist, or a patron. [1] Dircksz is thought to have been active between 1500 and 1530, and responsible for some sixty of the surviving examples. [1] He may have led a workshop in the southern Netherlands, [2] given that Flemish inscriptions appear on some of the carvings. [3] Alternatively, it was located more northerly, possibly in the north of Brabant or at Delft in Holland. [4] In any case, apart from Henry VIII and Catherine, all of the original owners come from the Netherlands. [5]

Attribution

The more complex boxwood miniatures may have taken decades of work to complete, over a period equivalent to the entire career of a medieval master carver. [6] Thus, production must have been organised between workshops of specialised artisans, [7] and because the works are so intricate, only a small number of workshops were likely involved in their production. [8] That a majority of the miniatures share technical, stylistic and thematic similarities, they are often considered as a near homogeneous group. This view was first noted by the art historian Jaap Leeuwenberg, [9] who cited such stylistic traits as broad and densely populated animated scenes, which are often placed, in the words of the art historian William Wixom, on "steeply angled ground planes of tiled floors". [3]

Other shared features include spatial devices, figures in contemporary dress, and draperies arranged in angular folds. On this basis Leeuwenberg attributed a large number of the objects to Dircksz, around 35–40, although that estimate has been revised down in more recent years. [3]

Because of shared characteristics, including common use of horror vacui, approaches and use of depth, [10] as well as similar hinges and methods of construction, [11] the art historian Jaap Leeuwenberg suggests that production of a number of the miniatures was overseen by a single master named Adam Dircksz. [12] [13] Dircksz was first identified through a signature on a prayer nut now in the Statens Museum Copenhagen, reading "Adam Theodrici me fecit" (Adam Dircksz has made me). [14]

The Latin name "Adam Theodrici" may be translated into English as "Adam of Theodoric", but art historians usually use the Dutch version of his name, Adam Dircksz. [9] [15] Although it was rare in the 16th century for artists to sign a work, when done, it usually took the "me fecit" (made me) form, in effect of making the object speak. [16]

Style

Regardless of the number of works that Dircksz or his workshop can be attributed with, art historians often debate what the artistic and technical precedents for the miniatures might be. Dutch art historian Frits Scholten observes how, to a large extent, it seems "as if this exquisite sculpture was born ex nihilo around 1500", but points out that "giant strides are rarely made in art history", pointing to affinities with silversmith's art, especially the miniature architectural elements often found in ecclesiastical silver and ornaments. [17]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Adam Dircksz (Biographical details)". British Museum. Retrieved 18 November 2018
  2. Shaw, Tamsin. "The Universe in a Nutshell". The New York Review of Books , 12 May 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2018
  3. 1 2 3 Wixom (1983), p. 43
  4. Scholten (2011), p. 342
  5. Marks (1977), p. 141
  6. Ellis; Suda (2016), p. 28
  7. Ellis; Suda (2016), p. 73
  8. Anderson (2012), p. 112
  9. 1 2 Scholten (2011), p. 339
  10. Scholten (2017), p. 27
  11. Suda, Alexandra; Ellis, Liza. "Investigating Miniature Boxwood Carving at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto". CODART eZine, Spring 2003. Retrieved 18 November 2018
  12. Van Os; Filedt Kok (2000), pp. 107–08
  13. Marks (1977), p. 142
  14. Scholten (2017), pp. 24–36
  15. "Prayer Bead with the Crucifixion and Jesus Carrying the Cross". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 8 October 2018
  16. Scholten (2017), p. 32
  17. Scholten (2017), p. 31
  18. 17.190.474 on MET website
  19. "Triptych, Adam Dircksz (workshop of), c. 1500 - c. 1530". Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 25 October 2019

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cloisters</span> Museum in New York City

The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. Its buildings are centered around four cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont and Trie—that were acquired by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard in France before 1913, and moved to New York. Barnard's collection was bought for the museum by financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. Other major sources of objects were the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adriaen Isenbrandt</span> Early Netherlandish painter (c. 1485–1551)

Adriaen Isenbrandt or Adriaen Ysenbrandt was a painter in Bruges, in the final years of Early Netherlandish painting, and the first of the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting of the Northern Renaissance. Documentary evidence suggests he was a significant and successful artist of his period, even though no specific works by his hand are clearly documented. Art historians have conjectured that he operated a large workshop specializing in religious subjects and devotional paintings, which were executed in a conservative style in the tradition of the Early Netherlandish painting of the previous century. By his time, the new booming economy of Antwerp had made this the centre of painting in the Low Countries, but the previous centre of Bruges retained considerable prestige.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabella of Bourbon</span> French noblewoman

Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of Charolais was the second wife of Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais and future Duke of Burgundy. She was a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, and the mother of Mary of Burgundy, heiress of Burgundy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Mostaert</span> Dutch Renaissance painter (c. 1475-1552/53)

Jan Mostaert was a Dutch Renaissance painter who is known mainly for his religious subjects and portraits. One of his most famous creations was the Landscape with an Episode from the Conquest of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Master of the Housebook</span> German painter and engraver (c. 1450–1500)

Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet are two names used for an engraver and painter working in South Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century. He is apparently the first artist to use drypoint, a form of engraving, for all of his prints. The first name derives from his book of drawings with watercolour, called the Medieval Housebook, which belonged to the German noble family of Waldburg-Wolfegg from the 17th century until 2008, when they were reported to have sold it for €20 million to a Swiss buyer; however, the legality of its sale for export has been challenged and, for the moment, it remains with the family. In 1999, the book was lent to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., for an exhibition. The majority of his surviving prints are in the print room at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, hence his second name. Most, but not all, art historians still agree that the Housebook and the prints are by the same artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willem Danielsz van Tetrode</span> Dutch sculptor

Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode, known in Italy as Guglielmo Fiammingo, was a sixteenth-century sculptor of Dutch origin who served as a pupil of Benvenuto Cellini in Florence. On his return to Delft in the Netherlands in 1567–68, it has been suggested that he may have trained the young Adriaen de Vries and encouraged him to go to Florence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Master of the Lille Adoration</span> Early Netherlandish painter

The Master of the Lille Adoration, was an Early Netherlandish painter active in Antwerp, as one of the Antwerp Mannerists. He was first suggested as a distinct but unknown figure in 1995 in an article by Ellen Konowitz, a proposal which has been widely accepted. In 2014, Christie's gave his dates as "active Antwerp by c. 1523/35".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Master of Delft</span> Dutch painter

The Master of Delft was a Dutch painter of the final period of Early Netherlandish painting, whose name is unknown. He may have been born around 1470. The notname was first used in 1913 by Max Jakob Friedländer, in describing the wings of a Triptych with the Virgin and Child with St Anne with the central panel by the Master of Frankfurt, which is now in Aachen. This has donor portraits of an identifiable family from Delft, that of the Burgomaster of Delft, Dirck Dircksz van Beest Heemskerck (1463–1545), with his wife and children.

<i>Prayer Bead with the Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion</i> Small south Netherlandish prayer nut

Prayer Bead with the Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion is a small south Netherlandish prayer nut, carved in fine-grained boxwood, dated c 1500–10. It is now in the collection of The Cloisters, New York. Originally the bead would have been part of a complete rosary set, and its size suggests its use as an Ave bead, where the supplicant would recite the "Hail Mary". Objects of this type were in great demand in the early sixteenth century. Apart from use in private veneration, they could be worn as necklaces or hung from belts as fashionable accessories. The exceptional craftsmanship of this example indicates that it was intended for a member of the high nobility. J. P. Morgan donated the bead to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1917.

<i>Adoration of the Magi</i> (Mostaert) Painting by Jan Mostaert

Adoration of the Magi is an oil on panel painting from the early 1520s by the Dutch Renaissance artist Jan Mostaert in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, where in 2020 it was on display in room 0.1. The panel measures 51 cm × 36.5 cm, and the painted surface a little less at 48.5 cm × 34 cm. It is often called the Mostaert Amsterdam Adoration in art history, to distinguish it from the multitude of other paintings of the Adoration of the Magi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gothic boxwood miniature</span> Early 16th-century wood carving of the Low Countries

Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small Christian-themed wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Low Countries, at the end of the Gothic period and during the emerging Northern Renaissance. They consist of highly intricate layers of reliefs, often rendered to nearly microscopic level, and are made from boxwood, which has a fine grain and high density suitable for detailed micro-carving. There are around 150 surviving examples; most are spherical rosary beads, statuettes, skulls, or coffins; some 20 are in the form of polyptychs, including triptych and diptych altarpieces, tabernacles and monstrances. The polyptychs are typically 10–13 cm in height. Most of the beads are 10–15 cm in diameter and designed so they could be held in the palm of a hand, hung from necklaces or belts, or worn as fashionable accessories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prayer nut</span> 16th-century rosary bead, generally made of carved boxwood, sometimes enclosed in metal casing

Prayer nuts or Prayer beads are very small 16th century small Gothic boxwood miniature sculptures, mostly originating from the north of today's Holland. They are typically detachable and open into halves of highly detailed and intricate Christian religious scenes. Their size varies between the size of a walnut and a golf ball. They are mostly the same shape, decorated with carved openwork Gothic tracery and flower heads. Most are 2–5 cm in diameter and designed so they could be held in the palm of a hand during personal devotion or hung from necklaces or belts as fashionable accessories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miniature Altarpiece with the Crucifixion</span>

Miniature Altarpiece with the Crucifixion is a very small and complex early 16th century Netherlandish microcarved miniature sculpture in boxwood, now in The Cloisters, New York. The central carvings of the upper triptych show the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, each outer wing contains two scenes from the biblical Old Testament. The complex base contains a round carving which opens like a boxwood prayer nut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frits Scholten</span> Dutch art historian

Frits Scholten is a Dutch art historian specialising in art of the Netherlands from the late Middle Ages until 1800, and sculpture from the 15th to 19th centuries. Currently he is Head of Department of Sculpture and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Previously he was senior curator of sculpture at the Rijksmuseum from 1993, prior to which he worked at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Scholten has published extensively on applied arts and European sculpture. He is editor of the Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek and the Wallraf-Richartz Museum Jahrbuch.

<i>Half of a Prayer Bead with the Lamentation</i>

Half of a Prayer Bead with the Lamentation refers to a pair of Gothic boxwood miniature medallions originating from Flanders around the early 16th century, probably between 1490-1530. Made from boxwood and silver, they were originally the interiors of a prayer nut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Suda</span> Canadian art historian and curator

Alexandra Suda is a Canadian art historian who was formerly the director of the National Gallery of Canada. In June 2022, she was appointed to be the director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is among the largest art museums in the United States.

<i>Miniature altarpiece</i> (WB.232) 1511 Gothic boxwood miniature sculpture

The miniature altarpiece in the British Museum, London, is a very small portable Gothic boxwood miniature sculpture completed in 1511 by the Northern Netherlands master sometimes identified as Adam Dircksz, and members of his workshop. At 25.1 cm (9.9 in) high, it is built from a series of architectural layers or registers, which culminate at an upper triptych, whose centre panel contains a minutely detailed and intricate Crucifixion scene filled with multitudes of figures in relief. Its outer wings show Christ Carrying the Cross on the left, and the Resurrection on the right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adoration of the Magi (Gothic boxwood altarpiece)</span> Miniature attributed to Adam Dirckszs workshop

The Adoration of the Magi altarpiece is a small Gothic boxwood miniature, made in the Netherlands c. 1500–1530, attributed to the workshop of Adam Dircksz. Such rarefied and highly ornate objects were intended for private devotion, and took, by modern art historian estimates, decades to complete, periods equivalent to the entire career of a medieval master carver. Just around 150 of these sculptures from the late 15th and early 16th centuries remain today, and the elite echelons of collectors in the 19th century placed a high value on them despite the fact that it is unknown how many of them were manufactured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miniature altarpiece (V&A 225-1866)</span> Gothic boxwood miniature

The Miniature Altarpiece in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is a small, 9.3 cm high, Gothic boxwood miniature triptych completed in the Netherlands c. 1500-1520. The central carving is made from boxwood and shows a relief of the Virgin and Child attended by two saints, thought to be Anne, who is shown with wings and holding a large crucifix, and James the Great who wears a hat and holds a staff. The outer semi-circular wings and shell are lined with silver and decorated with foliate designs. It stands on a silver plinth with pierced quatrefoils, and topped by a cherub's head and a statuette of God the Father. It is thought the silver-work was added between 1550-1570.

The Miniature Altarpiece is a Gothic boxwood miniature in the form of a small altarpiece, made in the Netherlands c.1520-1530, probably by the workshop of Adam Dircksz, about whom almost nothing is known. It has been held by the Louvre since 1901, but is not on public display. It was displayed with other boxwood miniatures in 2016–17 in an exhibition that visited the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rijksmuseum.