The catalogue Renaissance in the North: Holbein, Burgkmair, and the Age of the Fuggers accompanies the exhibitions Holbein and the Renaissance in the North at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main from November 2, 2023 until February 18, 2024 and Holbein. Burgkmair. Dürer. Renaissance in the North at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna from March 19 until June 30, 2024.
The English exhibition catalogue edited by Guido Messling and Jochen Sander: Renaissance in the North: Holbein, Burgkmair, and the Age of the Fuggers. With contributions by W. Augustyn, B. Brinkmann, A. Kunz, G. Messling, J. Sander, F. Schütt, U. Söding, A. Tacke, M. Teget-Welz. Hirmer Publishers, 360 pages with 287 colour illustrations, 24 × 28 cm, hardcover ISBN: 978-3-7774-4203-7. Accept all cookies to go directly to the Amazon catalogue page (we earn a commission): Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de.
In the forword by the exhibition sponsor, Helmut Schleweis, German Savings Banks Association President, righly points out to the fact the Renaissance (‘rebirth’) was much more than just the rediscovery of the artistic forms and motifs of antiquity. It was also the expression of a new, humanistic understanding of life with a central focus on human beings and their individual development and fulfilment.
In the great trading centre of Augsburg, the Renaissance ideas ‘imported’ over the Alps from what is at present called Italy fell on fertile ground. In addition to Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, the Renascimento also inspired major Augsburg artists such as Hans Holbein the Elder (c.1464–1524) and Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531), all three considered the forerunners of the Renaissance in the North, with the latter two considered Augsburg’s most important painters of the Early Modern period, as mentioned in their common forword by Philipp Demandt, Director of the Frankfurt Städel museum, and Sabine Haag, Director General of Vienna’s KHM-Museumsverband. In addition, the underline that Augsburg was second only to Nuremberg amongst the artistic centres of 16th century southern Germany.
Helmut Schleweis writes that the imperial free city of Augsburg was an important hub of an international trading network in which one of the principal actors was the Augsburg merchant and banking family of the Fuggers, considered the world’s richest family in the 16th century, probably even in world history; it is difficult to compare historical periods.
The Fuggers were not only wealthy and influential but also important art patrons. Fun fact for the English speaking world, not mentioned in the catalogue: the name Fugger was originally written Fucker (a name derived from the German word for thresher).
Philipp Demandt and Sabine Haag underline that, thanks to its own Roman past and close trading links with northern Italy, Augsburg was influenced by the new currents in the art and humanist culture of Italy at an earlier stage and to a greater degree than any other city north of the Alps. Already during the 15th century, numerous Italian works had made their way into Augsburg collections assembled as a result of the growing interest in antiquity. At the same time, Augsburg artists increasingly travelled south to Italy. It is thought that one of them was Hans Burgkmair the Elder, whose works betray intense study of the Italian Renaissance in their ornamentation and coloration, in contrast to Hans Holbein the Elder (c.1464–1524), whose painting is more strongly indebted to local and Early Netherlandish models.
Philipp Demandt and Sabine Haag stress that the exhibition Renaissance in the North, which presents some 180 artworks from major museums and collections, centres on a selection of the most important panel paintings by Hans Holbein the Elder and Hans Burgkmair the Elder, supplemented by a wide range of their drawings and prints and by early works of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543), who received his early artistic training in his father’s workshop but was influenced by his study of the works of other Augsburg painters such as Hans Burgkmair the Elder. These masterpieces enter into a dialogue with works by Albrecht Dürer that were made for Augsburg patrons, and with selected works of other painters, sculptors and armourers from Augsburg and beyond from the time between 1480/90 and 1530/40. The exhibition documents the dramatic artistic transition in Augsburg from the Late Gothic style to the Renaissance and early modern times. Notable is the new need for the display of status and historical self-assurance.
After an essay by Wolfgang Augustyn regarding the importance of the city of Augsburg and one by Andreas Tacke about the city as an early modern artistic center follows an article by Guido Messling entitled Holbein and Burgkmair: A tale of two Augsburg artists. He notes that Burgkmair and Holbein were competitors in only two fields: religious panel painting and portraiture.
Guido Messling underlines that the clientele developed an ever greater interest in modern ornamentation in the Italian manner (‘welsch’), which Hans Burgkmair the Elder was the first Augsburg painter to master and make his own. At the same time, the older altarpiece forms proved capable of surviving, and Burgkmair collaborated with traditional wood-carving workshops. Altarpieces analyzed by Guido Messling show that Hans Holbein the Elder modelled his works on a Netherlandish prototype, whereas works by Hans Burgkmair the Elder show an orientation towards south German models.
An essay by Ulrich Söding focuses on Burgkmair and Italy, one by Friederike Schütt on Albrecht Dürer and Jakob Fugger and how they were providing impulses for art in Augsburg. Armin Kunz examines printmaking in Augsburg, and Jochen Sander writes about Hans Holbein the Younger and his formative experiences as an artist in Augsburg as well as his first decade in Basel.
These are just a few pieces of information about the exhibition and the catalogue. To some it up, one can use the term Zeitenwende, made famous by Chancellor Scholz, who has yet to live up to that statement whereas, in the 16th century, the arrival of the Renaissance in the North marked a true artistic revolution.
English exhibition catalogue edited by Guido Messling, Jochen Sander: Renaissance in the North: Holbein, Burgkmair, and the Age of the Fuggers. With contributions by W. Augustyn, B. Brinkmann, A. Kunz, G. Messling, J. Sander, F. Schütt, U. Söding, A. Tacke, M. Teget-Welz. Hirmer Publishers, 360 pages with 287 colour illustrations, 24 × 28 cm, hardcover ISBN: 978-3-7774-4203-7. Accept all cookies to go directly to the Amazon catalogue page (we earn a commission): Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de.
For a better reading, quotations and partial quotations in this exhibition and catalogue review have not been put between quotation marks.
Book review added on December 13, 2023 at 19:50 German time.
