The Schwarzwald (or von Schwarzwald) family was a wealthy, patrician, merchant family living in the Hanseatic city of Danzig from the 15th to the 18th century. The family, which had its origins in the Black Forest in south-west Germany, can be traced back to Georg von Schwarzwald, who settled in Danzig in the early 1400s.
Margarethe (b. 1490), in 1516, daughter of Bernd von Reesen (d. 1506) and Brigitte Proite (d. 1506), sister of Bernhard von Reesen, by whom he had eight children, including:[1][4][5]
Heinrich II von Schwarzwald (8 July 1517−1561), merchant, juror; married, in 1540, Brigitte Köseler (1522−1586) by whom he had six children, including:
Catharina von Schwarzwald (1542–1599) married 1. Mathias Zimmermann (d. 1556); 2. Michael Kerl (1542–1586) by whom she had a son, Ernest Kerl and 3. Bartel Schachmann (1559–1614), Mayor of Danzig.[6]
Berend von Schwarzwald (21 September 1519–1548) died unmarried, buried in St. Mary's church in Danzig.[9]
Margarethe von Schwarzwald, married, by 1549, Roger Watson, merchant of London, brother of William Watson (d. 1559), cloth-merchant of London and from 1538, Henry VIII's agent in Danzig.[1][10][11][12]
Heinrich IV Schwarzwald (1619–1672), great-grandson of Heinrich II Schwarzwald (1517−1561), was a merchant and collector of books, coins and art.[14] He studied law at the University of Groningen in 1640; juror, 1650, letter of nobility, 1658.[1]
On 11 September 1650 he married Konstancja Cölmer (1626–1657) by whom he had two children:[1]
Konstancja Schwarzwald (3 January 1652 – 2 February 1684)
Heinrich Schwarzwald, born 10 December 1655 and died soon after his baptism.
In his home at Langgasse (35 Długa Street), he built a library with over three thousand volumes of manuscripts, incunabula and prints, including numerous Polish books. In 1669, he bequeathed the library to the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Danzig.[14]
He died 24 June 1672 and was buried in St. Mary's church, Danzig.[1]
A portrait of Heinrich IV, Heinrich Schwarzwald, 1669, after Andreas Stech is in the collection of the PAS Gdańsk Library.[15] The portrait of Heinrich Schwarzwald IV (1619–1672) was incorporated into the PAS Gdańsk Library's collection in 1832.[16] Heinrich Schwarzwald IV was the founder of the book collection for the Petrischule in Gdańsk.[16] Both the book collection and the portrait were donated to the school at St. Peter and Paul Church after the death of Heinrich Schwarzwald IV's nephew, Heinrich Schwarzwald V, in 1708.[17]
Portrait of Heinrich Schwarzwaldt (1642-1705), 1682, by Andreas Stech (National Museum, Gdańsk)
In 1913 Georg Habich discovered a portrait miniature of an unidentified young man by Hans Holbein the Younger in the Danzig Stadtmuseum (now the National Museum, Gdańsk).[8] The miniature was first recorded in the museum's collection in 1902.[7] There was a tradition in Danzig that the subject was a member of the old, prosperous, Schwarzwald family.[19] In 1708, after the male line of the Schwarzwald family had died out, the portrait, together with a library and a coin collection, was part of a legacy left to the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Danzig.[19] The inscription — ANNO ETATIS // SVÆ 24 1543 — indicates that the sitter was twenty-four in 1543 and consequently born circa 1519.[23] The sitter has hooded eyes and a turned up nose; his clothing is English, with a pointed tasselled collar as seen in English portraits of the period, for example, Portrait of a man, probably Sir George Carew (c.1540). The portrait was looted from the Danzig Stadtmuseum by the German occupation forces in 1943, then claimed by the Soviet Union's Red Army as spoils of war in 1945.[20][24] The portrait, now at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, is one of a number of works of art subject to restitution requests by the Polish government.[20][21][22]
Hans Secker claimed that by tradition the sitter was known as Johann von Schwarzwald, the eldest son of Hans I (Johann) von Schwarzwald by his second wife, Margarethe Cölmer, but Heinrich's older half-brother, who was born in 1513, is around six years older than the subject of the painting.[3] Heinrich's younger brother, Berend, who reached the age of 24 only on 21 September in 1543, shortly before Holbein's death and during an outbreak of plague, is unlikely to be the sitter.[27][28][29] In 1543 there was a "great death" in London, which lasted so far into the winter that the Michaelmas law term had to be kept at St. Albans. Another civic chronicle adds that there had been a great death in the summer before; and from an ordinance of the Privy Council it appears that the plague was in London as early as 21 May 1543.[30] Hans Holbein died between 7 October, when he made his will at his home in Aldgate, and 29 November 1543, when John of Antwerp carried out the artist's last wishes.[31]
The sitter has hooded eyes and his hair is close cropped as seen in Portrait of a man, probably Sir George Carew (c. 1540), Portrait of an Unknown Man, possibly identifiable as Thomas Seymour (c. 1535–1540) and Portrait of William Parr, Marquess of Northampton (c. 1538–1542). The sitter's clothing is distinctly English and George Williamson noted that "as it finds its place in a collection which includes many miniatures by English masters, such as Cooper, Oliver, and Hoskins, it may be thought possible that the picture was painted in England, and represents perhaps some young Englishman of notable position".[35] In 1913 Arthur Chamberlain observed that his features "appear more English than German, and that it most probably represents the son of some personage about Henry's court."[36]
In 2003 Quentin Buvelot, curator of the Mauritshuis, noted that "On the basis of the similarity of facial features and in particular the characteristic angle of the cropped hair, it could even be conjectured that the two portraits depict the same person."[37] In the same year the sitter was identified as Hans II Schwarzwaldt (1513–1575), the son of merchant Hans I Schwarzwald (1468–1521), based on a very strong resemblance to the subject of the other portrait miniature painted by Holbein in 1543 and since only he was at that time in the Steelyard in London.[38] Hans II (Johann), however, was 30 years of age in 1543, not 24.
Coat of Arms of Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell
According to Roy Strong the existence of a second miniature indicates a sitter of exceptional importance: royal personages and near-relations.[39][40] In 2016 Teri Fitzgerald and Diarmaid MacCulloch suggested that the sitter might be Henry VIII's brother-in-law, Gregory Cromwell (c.1520–1551), son of the king's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell.[41] Gregory Cromwell married, in 1537, Elizabeth Seymour, the widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred (d. 1534) and a younger sister of Queen Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife.[42] The subsequent birth of a prince also meant he was an uncle to the future Edward VI.[42] Gregory, who was born in or before 1520, was the right age and of suitable status to be the subject of the portraits.[23][43][44] There is every likelihood that a miniature of Thomas's son Gregory would have been painted around the time of his marriage, "when both father and son had so much to celebrate."[45] It is of interest to note that, in Cromwell's accounts for 1538, there is a payment on 4 January to "Hanns the painter, 40s."[46]
The year 1543 is significant for two reasons: Henry VIII married his sixth wife, Catherine Parr and the "King's painter", Hans Holbein died.[50] The portrait miniature of the 24-year-old man has a special significance in that it may have been the artist's last work.[51]
Notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Schwartzwald". Genealogische Tafeln zu Familien aus Danzig sowie aus Westpreußen und Hinterpommern. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. 2020.(in German)
↑ Weichbrodt 1986, p.459: "soll als jg. kfm. i. stahlh. i. london v. Hans Holbein d. Jg. gemalt worden sein, seinem letzt (said to have been painted as a young merchant in the Steelyard in London by Hans Holbein the Younger, his last)."
↑ "Rhesen". Genealogische Tafeln zu Familien aus Danzig sowie aus Westpreußen und Hinterpommern. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. 2020.(in German)
1 2 "Watson". Genealogische Tafeln zu Familien aus Danzig sowie aus Westpreußen und Hinterpommern. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. 2020.(in German)
↑ Jackowska 2016, p.80: "For a long period of time the uncle’s merits were attributed to the nephew due to the same names. In 1860 Gotthilf Löschin identified the real founder of the above mentioned library."
↑ Moyle 2021, p.536: "But just three days after the king's sixth marriage a panicked court issued a proclamation forbidding Londoners from 'entering the gates of any house wherein the King or Queen lie, and forbidding servants of the Court to go to London and return again'. The same declaration was 'Forbidding (considering the peril of infection) persons who inhabit London and its suburbs not being King's household servants or necessary for provision of his household, from resorting to Court'."
↑ Williamson 1904, pp.10–11: "as it finds its place in a collection which includes many miniatures by English masters, such as Cooper, Oliver, and Hoskins, it may be thought possible that the picture was painted in England, and represents perhaps some young Englishman of notable position, or a member of the family of a merchant of the Steelyard".
↑ "Portretminiatuur van Hans Schwarzwaldt". Koninklijke Verzamelingen. The Hague. Retrieved 24 May 2022. In het verleden dacht men ook aan de mogelijkheid dat de geportretteerde Heinrich Schwarzwald betrof maar in feite kan het alleen Hans Schwarzwald II zijn (zoon van koopman Hans Schwarzwald I uit Gdansk) zijn aangezien alleen hij zich op dat moment bevond in de Stahlhof in Londen. (In the past it was also thought that the portrayed was Heinrich Schwarzwald but in fact it can only be Hans Schwarzwald II (son of merchant Hans Schwarzwald I from Gdansk) as only he was at that time in the Stahlhof in London.)
↑ Fitzgerald & MacCulloch 2016, p.590: "Gregory was significantly younger than twelve in 1529, and the nature of his educational programme projects the date of his birth back to 1519 or 1520."
↑ Strong 1985, p.38: "Catherine Parr had a passion for miniatures which we find reflected in a letter dated 17 May 1547 from her husband-to-be, Thomas Seymour, Lord Seymour of Sudeley".
↑ Fitzgerald & MacCulloch 2016, pp.598, 601: "What more natural, then, that in 1543 Holbein should paint a portrait of this living symbol of England’s evangelical Reformation when undertaking his last round of English portraiture in the circle of Henry VIII’s last queen, herself a convert to the evangelical cause?"
Related Research Articles
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire, and Reformation propaganda, and he made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father Hans Holbein the Elder, an accomplished painter of the Late Gothic school.
Albrecht Giese was a councilman and diplomat of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk). He was a member of the Hanseatic League, and part of an important merchant family who had offices in London and Danzig.
Bernhard von Reesen (1491 – 1521) was a successful merchant born to a patrician family in the Hanseatic city of Danzig (Gdańsk). The Reesen name, with its prefix "von" (of), indicates that the family had its origins in the city of Rees.
Danzig law was the official set of records of the laws of city of Danzig (Gdańsk).
Elizabeth Seymour was a younger daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wulfhall, Wiltshire and Margery Wentworth. Elizabeth and her sister Jane served in the household of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. The Seymours rose to prominence after the king's attention turned to Jane. In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was accused of treason and adultery, and subsequently executed. On 30 May 1536, eleven days after Anne's execution, Henry VIII and Jane were married. Elizabeth was not included in her sister's household during her brief reign, although she would serve two of Henry VIII's later wives, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. Jane died 24 October 1537, twelve days after giving birth to a healthy son, Edward VI.
The Steelyard, from the Middle Low German Stâlhof, was the kontor of the Hanseatic League in London, and their main trading base in England, between the 13th and 16th centuries. The main goods that the League exported from London were wool and from the 14th century woollen cloths. An important import good was beeswax. The kontor tended to be dominated by Rhenish and Westphalian traders, especially from Cologne.
Levina Teerlinc was a Flemish Renaissance miniaturist who served as a painter to the English court of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. She was the most important miniaturist at the English court between Hans Holbein the Younger and Nicholas Hilliard. Her father, Simon Bening, was a renowned book illuminator and miniature painter of the Ghent-Bruges school and probably trained her as a manuscript painter. She may have worked in her father's workshop before her marriage.
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Catherine Howard was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn, and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a prominent politician at Henry's court. He secured her a place in the household of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, where Howard caught the King's interest. She married him on 28 July 1540 at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. He was 49, and it is widely accepted that she was about 17 at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII.
Portrait of Georg Giese is a 1532 portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It is one of a series of portraits of wealthy Hanseatic merchants made by Holbein in the 1530s. This series of portraits signals the increasing importance of the emerging merchant class, as they took their place on a world stage.
Hans of Antwerp was a goldsmith and merchant working in Tudor London. He supplied silver plate and jewels to the court of Henry VIII.
William Watson was an English merchant and shipowner living in London in the reign of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. He was the royal purchasing agent in the Baltic from 1538 to 1559, chiefly tasked with supplying the English fleet with masts, cordage and other naval stores.
Portrait of a Lady, probably a Member of the Cromwell Family is an oil on panel portrait completed in around 1535–1540 by Hans Holbein the Younger now at the Toledo Museum of Art. The painting shows an elegantly but demurely dressed young woman sitting against a blue-grey background. The subject of this portrait is thought to be a member of the Cromwell family, perhaps Thomas Cromwell's daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Seymour, sister to Jane, third consort of Henry VIII.
Portrait Miniature of Hans Schwarzwaldt is a watercolour on vellum portrait completed in around 1535–1540 by German artist and printmaker, Hans Holbein the Younger. The painting shows a young man against a clear blue background. Only the head and shoulders are shown, turned three-quarters to the viewer's right, the eyes cast down. The light brown hair is close cropped, and the sitter is wearing a brown doublet, trimmed with black, with a small, open falling collar with white strings attached. There is no inscription. The subject of this portrait was identified as a Danzig merchant, Hans Schwarzwaldt (1513-1575), based on a very strong resemblance to another portrait made by Holbein in 1543, but his age does not match the inscription. It has been suggested that the young man might be Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, the son of Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex.
Portrait of Johann von Schwarzwaldt is a tempera on parchment portrait completed in 1543 by German artist and printmaker, Hans Holbein the Younger. The painting shows a young man against a blue background, turned three-quarters to the viewer's right. The sitter is wearing a deep black velvet cap and a black silk gown, a shade lighter, with a finely embroidered white shirt showing at the neck and wrist. The eyes are lowered, half covered by the lids, the arms folded. He has two rings on his left hand and is holding leather gloves. There is a flanking inscription at head height —· ANNO · ETATIS // SVÆ · 24 · 1543· — indicating that he was born about 1519. The subject of this portrait was identified as a Danzig merchant, Hans (Johann) von Schwarzwald, but his age does not match the inscription. It has been suggested that the young man might be Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, the son of Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex.
Portrait of a Young Merchant is an oil on oak painting completed in 1541 by German painter, Hans Holbein the Younger, now in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. It depicts an unidentified young man against a blue-grey background.
Portrait of Hermann Hillebrandt de Wedigh is an oil and tempera on oak painting completed in 1533 by Hans Holbein the Younger, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It depicts a member of the Wedigh family of Cologne thought to be a merchant of the Steelyard in London.
References
Brand, Erna (1971). "Untersuchungen zu Albrecht Dürers 'Bildnis eines jungen Mannes'". Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Jahrbuch 1970/71. Dresden: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen: 59–83.(in German)
Buck, Stephanie; Sander, Jochen (2003). Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497/98-1543: Portraitist of the Renaissance. Catalogue for the exhibition, Hans Holbein 1497/98-1543, 16 August–16 November 2003. Essays, Stephanie Buck, Jochen Sander; catalogue, Ariane van Suchtelen, Quentin Buvelot, Peter van der Ploeg; with appendices by Bieke van der Mark and Epco Runia. The Hague: Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis. p.138 (cat. 35), ill., 1 pl. (col.). ISBN904008906X.
Jackowska, Krystyna (2016). "Bibliofil Heinrich Schwarzwald i jego Portret"[Bibliophile Heinrich Schwarzwald and his portrait](PDF). Libri Gedanenses: Yearbook of the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences. 33: 68–85.(in Polish)
Petter-Wahnschaffe, Katrin (2010). Hans Holbein und der Stalhof in London. München: Deutscher Kunstverlag. pp.113–116. ISBN9783422069527.(in German)
"Rhesen". Genealogische Tafeln zu Familien aus Danzig sowie aus Westpreußen und Hinterpommern. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. 2020.(in German)
Rowlands, John (1985). Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger (completeed.). Oxford: Phaidon. ISBN0714823589.
Schaffers-Bodenhausen, Karen; Tiethoff-Spliethoff, Marieke (1993). The Portrait Miniatures in the Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau. Zwolle: Wanders. p.373. ISBN9789066302624.
"Schwartzwald". Genealogische Tafeln zu Familien aus Danzig sowie aus Westpreußen und Hinterpommern. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. 2020.(in German)
Secker, Hans Friedrich (1913). Führer durch die Öffentlichen Kunstsammlungen in Danzig. Bd. 1: Die Städtische Gemäldegalerie im Franziskanerkloster. Danzig: [Stadtmuseum]. pp.26–27, 1 pl. OCLC899833120.(in German)
Strong, Roy (1983). Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered, 1520–1620. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Victoria & Albert Museum, 9 July–6 November 1983. London: Victoria & Albert Museum. ISBN0905209346.
"Watson". Genealogische Tafeln zu Familien aus Danzig sowie aus Westpreußen und Hinterpommern. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. 2020.(in German)
Weichbrodt, Dorothea (1986). Patrizier, Bürger, Einwohner Der Freien Und Hansestadt Danzig in Stamm- Und Namentafeln Vom 14.-18. Jahrhundert. Bd. 1. Klausdorf/Schwentine: Rosenberg. OCLC180573477.(in German)
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