[The Artist and his Death. Wills by European Artists from the Late Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century]

CLICK HERE FOR ITALIAN VERSION

Der Kunstler und sein Tod. Testamente europäischer Künstler vom Spätmittelalter bis zum 20. Jahrhundert
[The Artist and his Death. Wills by European Artists from the Late Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century]

Edited by Nicole Hegener and Kerstin Schwedes
Würzburg, Königshausen and Neumann, 2012, 425 pages.

Review by Francesco Mazzaferro

Fig. 1) The front cover of the book

The will as a source for the history of art

"In the face of death, did the artist perhaps have a different perception of himself than any 'common' mortal? Were there aspects that characterized the testament of an artist beyond the typical aspects of his era? In what way did artists try to preserve and pass on the work of a lifetime? Did they try to create testamentary ties, especially with their home towns and the neighbourhoods where they have worked, i.e. through donations of their work and collections hereof? How did the wills of artists reflect their relationships with clients and patrons?" [1] These are some of the questions that led to organize an international conference on the subject, held between 9 and 11 November 2007 at the Swabia Academy in the German town of Irsee. The conference proceedings were published five years later, with twelve reports devoted to individual artists or groups of them, and an interesting opening essay by Ms Nicole Hegener, professor of art history at the Humboldt University in Berlin, and Thomas Popper, professor of history of art and design at the University of applied sciences in Zwickau. The proceedings were published by Professor Hegener herself and Ms Kerstin Schwedes, scholar of German language and European history in Braunschweig.

The introduction by Hegener and Popper immediately places the issue in the context of art history sources, as the title explains: "With the death on board. Wills as sources of art history and sociology". The study of wills on the part of art historians, although uncommon, is not an oddity. Wills allow to fully understand family and personal situations of the artists; they provide detailed lists of works of art that they have collected during their lifetime, and help reconstructing situations of the biography and features of the character. It is indeed possible, at least in some cases, to understand which strategies the artists followed to create myths destined to last in time. The tradition of studying the artists’ wills opened in the German world with the posthumous publication of Gustav Ludwig’s studies about the testaments of some of Venice's minor artists in 1911 [2], and continued decades later, with the study of the testament of Liberale da Verona in 1971, edited by Hans-Joachim Eberhardt [3]. In the American world, one should report the studies on the testaments of sculptors, edited by Irving Lavin in 1977 [4]. In 1996, it was the turn of the will and good inventory of the Roman painter Carlo Maratta [5].

  

Fig. 2) Hans Holbein, The Dance of Death, The Doctor, 1524-1525

But it was in this century that studies of this kind spread. The unpublished testament of Tiepolo was made known by Christel Thiem in 2005 [6], while that of Leon Battista Alberti was subject to transcription and study by Enzo Bentivoglio in the same year [7]. Ms Hegener studied the testament of Baccio Bandinelli (1493-1560) at a conference in 2006 [8], publishing a monograph on him, and in particular on his self-representation strategies [9]. About Bandinelli, his rivalry of a lifetime with Cellini took the form of a specific provision in the will of the latter: Cellini had ordered that the statue 'Christ on the Cross' - of which he had produced a wax model – would be completed after his death (which he now felt to be approaching) by a great sculptor and would be used for his grave, with the proviso that the task should not be accomplished either by Bandinelli nor any of his disciples [10]. In 2011, it followed the first comment of Lorenzo Lotto’s testament by Agata Brusegan [11], already published by Bartolomeo Cecchetti in 1887 [12], but never studied since then.

Fig.3) Benvenuto Cellini, Christ on the Cross, 1556-1562

  

The 2007 conference in Irsee analysed the wills by Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538), Giulio Clovio (1498-1578), Joachim von Sandrart (1606-1688), BartolomeoCavaceppi (1716-1799), Antonio Canova (1757-1822), Sophie Fremiet (1797-1867), François Rude (1784-1855), Karl von Pidoll (1847-1901), Max Klinger (1857-1920), Georg Kolbe (1877-1947) and Georg Wrba (1872-1939). Also included were two articles in Italian on some minor artists of the Renaissance in Southern Italy: Cicco Don Pietro da Sulmona (without indication of the birth year-dead in 1435) [13] and Giovanni Todeschino (without indication of the birth year-dead in 1504) [14].

Also in 2007 were studied the last wills of Jacopo Tintoretto, Peter Paul Rubens and Francesco Borromini (the latter dictated during the agony, after he wounded himself to death for suicidal purpose). They were indeed discussed at the Irsee conference, but unfortunately not included in the conference proceedings. Borromini set forth that he would be buried in the tomb of his master Carlo Maderno, and that his successor, i.e. Bernardo Borromini, would marry a nephew of Maderno himself and become an architect (Bernardo however did not show enough talent to work as an architect). A separate publication by Thomas Weigel was announced on the will of Tintoretto, with a comparative analysis with respect to the usual recommendations provided in the Venetian wills of the time.

Between sacred and profane

Trying to categorize the provisions in wills (not only by artists, but also by writers and other personalities of the German Renaissance culture), the Hungarian Germanist Imre Kurdi distinguished between different aspects: the sacred-religious ones (the provisions on funeral), the aesthetic ones (the monumental provisions on the grave), those political and institutional (the possible creation of foundations and other provisions related to the disposition of goods) and of course the financial ones (the distribution of goods, including of art collections). If the sacral aspects still dominated the wills in the late Middle Ages, the secularization of society led to the gradual prevalence of the other three aspects [15]. And yet, still in full Renaissance, the testament of Altdortfer (1480-1538), analysed by Benno Jakobus Walde [16], was totally focused on his profession of faith and, thanks to the analysis of the statements on the power of God, let us discover that the painter must have adopted the reformed faith. This was also confirmed by the choice of the church, in which he wanted to be buried next to his wife. When you consider that the painter had produced a series of works of Marian devotion even in 1520, his conversion must have occurred in the last fifteen years of life. These were years in which he did not paint almost anything more; the fact that in his will he referred - among his possessions - to nineteen beds suggests that he might have taken the hotelier activities. He also owned quite a number of weapons (35), books (19) and an organ.

Fig, 4) Albrecht Altdorfer, Nativity of the Virgin, 1520

As an example of testamentary dispositions documenting art collections of the time, the last wishes of Carlo Maratta contained the inventory of his art collection, with hundreds of items: included here were paintings and drawings by Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto, Correggio, Carracci, and Poussin. Even richer was the inventory of his wife Francesca Gommi, with 230 paintings, 36 drawings, 4 sculptures and 1300 graphic works [17].

Fig. 5) The grave of Carlo Maratta in Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome

With the exception of Leon Battista Alberti’s Testament (1404-1472), which was illuminated (and contained no description of his assets, as they were fully assigned to the son Bernard as universal heir) none of the other wills was adorned or had specific aesthetic features [18]. The answer to one of the initial questions is therefore that the wills are history of art sources, but not art objects; thereby, they did not differentiate the artists from any other social groups. Was rather different, to the contrary, the way in which often writers organised their last will, composing texts with great care, with expressions in line with their literary production and not making use of notarial expressions and other standard formulas.

Fig. 6) Giulio Clovio, Triumph of Death, from the Farnese Book of Hours, 1546

Giulio Clovio’s devises, studied by Nicole Hegener [19], testify to the great success he enjoyed while living at Palazzo Farnese, as miniature painter and design student of Giulio Romano. In addition to the will (which was prepared by the eighty-year old artist seven days before his death, in his flat at the Palazzo Farnese, and was published in 1882) we got three inventories (entirely reproduced in the original Italian text). The goods were distributed to churches and monastic orders (Clovio was himself a monk). Among the drawings, those by Michelangelo and Raphael were left to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, while those by Cambiaso and Parmigianino went to his disciple Claudio Massarolo da Caravaggio, who also received all work tools. All other goods were destined to his family in Dalmatia. In addition to the drawings, the inventories also document paintings by Titian, Raphael, Correggio and Brueghel, which were all assigned to Cardinal Farnese. Clearly, his intent was to transfer the collection to the patron, in order to prevent the dispersal of the assets.

Fig. 7) The grave of Albrech Dürer at the cemetery of St. John in Nuremberg, in a 2004 photo

Esther Meier [20] explains that Joachim von Sandrart (1606-1688), the painter and the author of the German Academy, assigned his property to his wife and his nephew well in advance (three years before his death), specifying that the provision in favour of his nephew would be valid only on condition that the latter would confirm his religious affiliation to Calvinism (another clear sign, in addition to Altdorfer’s will, that religious conversions were frequent in those years and much feared by families). A singular provision on Dürer’s grave was included in the will of Sandrart. Due to lack of heirs, the tomb where Dürer was buried since 1528 had been used by the town dministration since 1652 to house the remains of other people and was therefore destined to decay: Sandrart bought and restored it. The only way to achieve that result, in a situation of scarcity of space, was to exchange the lot of Dürer’s tomb with that of Sandrart’s family: Sandrart, therefore, when drawing up his will, stipulated that his heirs would acquire a new family tomb for himself and his wife. Sandrart also transferred to the municipality of Nuremberg two paintings he owned: one was a portrait of the king (and future Emperor) Ferdinand IV, for the collection of portraits of political authorities, which also included portraits by Dürer. The second painting was the Education of Jupiter, for the municipal gallery.

Fig. 8) Joachim von Sandrart, The Education of Jupiter, 1671-1679

  

Complex personal stories

Johannes Myssok [21] studied the wills of Canova, in a political phase characterized by continuous political turmoil. During the last twenty years of his life the artist put in writing his will on five occasions, which are documented today (and the scholar believes that there may have been at least another even earlier testament): in 1802, 1805, 1809, 1815, and most recently in 1822, the date of his death. All five wills are entirely published by Myssok, in the Italian original [22]. In 1802, Canova wrote his will before going to Paris at the request of Napoleon; in 1805, did it before reaching Vienna to finalize the tomb of Maria Christina of Austria; in 1809, on the occasion of an illness; in 1815, before going back to Paris, this time for the restitution of art works that Napoleon had seized and transferred to France. The last oral will was dictated in front of three witnesses, a few hours only before his death.

Fig. 9) Antonio Canova, Funerary monument to Maria Christina of Austria, 1805

The sequencing of wills reveals his attachment to the family of origin (Canova never married), including his cousin (first appointed principal heir in 1805, but later ruled out from every asset in 1809) and his half-brother Giovanni Battista Sartori, who assisted him as secretary since 1801. He called him "my dear brother". He turned to be the real winner at the end of the tourbillon of Canova’s testamentary wills, receiving from time to time an increasingly large part of the estate. Instead, the loser was certainly Antonio d'Este, the sculptor and assistant of the Possagno-born artist. He was responsible for the selection of marble and in charge of administration of Canova's workshops in which the activity took place when the sculptor was not in Rome. In 1802, all plaster casts and some originals were assigned to him; in 1805, he obtained half of the casts, half of the tools and half of the marble blocks; in 1809, the provisions of four years before were complemented by a sum of money and three workshops; he also became the will executor, along with the brother Giovanni Battista; in 1815 the whole was confirmed. Instead, in the oral testament of 1822 we completely lose track of him, while Giovanni Battista became the sole heir. Myssok also noted that other close associates of Canova (like Melchior Missirini and Giannantonio Selva) were never mentioned by the artist in any of the five versions of the wills.

A recurring theme of wills was the desire to be reminded by providing a number of specific provisions. For example, Canova required that the cousin and all beneficiary relatives would take over his last name; that in Possagno - his birthplace - a study be created to preserve his models; that a school for artists be created in his name; that Possagno’s church would be restored in order to preserve his memory, and finally that the Tempio Canoviano be created, to be his burial and memorial dedicated to him. At his death, the temple was not yet completed. Cicognara collected funds from all over Europe for a monument at the Frari Church, and there were transferred the remains of the sculptor in 1830. 

Fig. 10) Antonio Canova and Giovanni Zardo, Tempio Canoviano (1819-1830)

Myssok concludes his essay explaining that the decision by Giovan Battista Sartori to suspend the activities of the workshops in 1829 and to transfer all casts to the Gipsoteca in Possagno (built between 1832 and 1836) was certainly a step in the institutionalization of the sculptor's memory but not the execution of one of his testamentary dispositions.

Fig. 11) The Gipsoteca in Possagno

The institutionalization of memory through the creation of a museum was also the final outcome of Max Klinger’s testamentary story, albeit through very complicated vicissitudes. All this was studied by Thomas Popper [23].

Klinger had been liaised for many years to Elsa Asenjeff, the female writer and activist of the movement for women's rights, as well as his muse and model; from Elsa, the artist had a daughter. In 1910 he made acquaintance with the sisters Gertrude and Ella Bock, much younger than him. They served as his models, but he probably had sex stories with both of them. He left his first companion, and bound himself to Gertrud in 1913, whom he married in 1919, when he was already seriously sick. He cancelled the first will and left everything to Gertrud, with the exception of a modest bequest to his daughter, who would grow in Paris amongst many serious health problems. Gertrud and Ella implemented his desire to create a house-museum in his Naumburg villa, while his relatives unsuccessfully attempted a long lawsuit against the provisions of the deceased.

Fig. 12) Max Klinger, The Statue The athlete, as grave of the artist, 1920

NOTES

[1] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin - Der Künstler und sein Tod: Testamente europäischer vom Künstler Spätmittelalter bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, Schwabenakademie Irsee, Wurzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, 2012. Quote on page 7.

[2] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, ... (quoted), p. 34. The studies concerned the wills of Martino Taiamonte Lapicida, Bartolomeo Bellano, Simone Bianco, Antonio Abondio and Giuseppe Campagna. They are part of Archivalische Beiträge zur Geschichte der venezianischen Kunst, a collection of archival documents on the history of Venetian art, which is co-authored by Wilhelm von Bode, Georg Gronau, and the Baron Detlev von Hadeln. It was published by Cassirer in Berlin in 1911. Archivalische Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kunst aus dem venezianischen Nachlass Gustav Ludwigs. Edited by Wilhelm von Bode; Georg Gronau; Detlev Hadeln, Detlef Freiherr von Hadeln. (Series Italienische Forschungen, Volume 4, edited by Kunsthistorischen Institut in Florenz), Berlin, Cassirer, 1911.

[3] Eberhardt, Hans-Joachim – Das Testament des Liberale da Verona, in: Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 15 (1971), pages 219-225.

[4] Lavin, Irving – The Sculptors’s Last Will and Testament, in Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, No. 35 (1977-1978), pages 4-39.

[5] Bershad, David Leonard – The newly discovered testament and inventories of Carlo Maratti and his wife Francesca, in Antologia di belle arti, 1985, pages 65-84.

[6] Thiem, Christel – Neuentdeckte Kompositionsentwürfe von Giandomenico Tiepolo und sein unveröffentlichtes Testament von 1795 (New discovered composition drafts by Giandomenico Tiepolo and his unpublished 1795 will), in Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württemberg 42 (2005), pages 7-29.

[7] Bentivoglio, Enzo (edited by), Il testamento di Leon Battista Alberti: il manoscritto Statuti Mss. 87 della Biblioteca del Senato della Repubblica ‘Giovanni Spadolini’. I tempi, i luoghi, i protagonisti (The will of Leon Battista Alberti: the Statuti manuscript Mss. 87 of the 'Giovanni Spadolini' Library of the Senate. Times, places, and characters), Rome, 2005.

[8] Seelenheil und irdischer Besitz. Testament als wirtschafts-, rechts- und sozialhistorische Quellen für den Umgang mit den ‘letzten Dingen’ (Salvation and earthly possessions. (Testaments as sources for economic, legal and social history on the dealing with the 'last things'), in Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted) ... p. 7.

[9] Hegener, Nicole - Divi Iacobi Eques: Selbstdarstellung im Werk des Florentiner Bildhauers Baccio Bandinelli Gebundene Ausgabe (The Divine Cavalier James. Self-expression in the work of the Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli) ,München, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2008.

[10] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted) p. 25.

[11] Brusegan, Agata - Testamento olografo (con sigillo di ceralacca) (Holographic will with wax seal), in Omaggio a Lorenzo Lotto. I dipinti dell’Ermitage alle Gallerie dell’Accademia, edited by Roberta Battaglia - Matteo Ceriana, catalogue of the exhibition (Venezia, Gallerie dell’Accademia, November 24, 2011 – January 26, 2012), Venezia, Marsilio, 2011, pp. 160-164, n. 24.

[12] Cecchetti, Bartolommeo, Trascrizione del testamento di Lorenzo Lotto conservato in Archivio di Stato di Venezia (Transcript of the will of Lorenzo Lotto preserved in the State Archives of Venice), in: Archivio Veneto, 34 (1887), pages 351-357.

[13] Pasqualetti, Cristina – ‘Ad laborandum seu ad pigendum communiter’. Un testamento sulmonese del 1435 (‘To work or to paint together’. A 1435 will from the city of Sulmona), in Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), pp. 57-69.

[14] D’Urso, Teresa – Autoritratto di un artista del libro al tramonto della miniature. Il testamento di Giovanni Todeschino (1504) (Self-portrait of an artist of book in the twilight of illumination. The will of Giovanni Todeschino – 1504), in Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), pp. 71-84.

[15] Kurdi, Imre – Reden über den Tod hinaus. Untersuchungen zum ‘literarischen’ Testament (Talking beyond death. Studies on the 'literary' will), Frankfurt a.M. 2007, in: Budapester Studien zur Literaturwissenschaft, 10.

[16] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), p. 85.

[17] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), pp. 40-42.

[18] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), p. 39.

[19] Hegener, Nicole - ,Diligentia in minimis maxima’. Testament und Nachlass des ,kleinen Michelangelo‘ Don Giulio Clovio, (Maximum diligence in smallest details. The will and estate of the ‚little Michelangelo' Don Giulio Clovio) in: Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted). pp. 105-193.

[20] Meier, Esther – Joachim von Sandrarts Vermächtnisse (Joachim von Sandrart‘s legacies), in Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin … (quoted), pp. 197-212. 

[21] Myssok, Johannes – Canovas Testamente (Canova’s Wills)- in: Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), pp.231-275.

[22] Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted), pp. 256-275.

[23] Pöpper, Thomas, “Corriger la fortune” oder “laisser-faire”. Max Klinger, Georg Kolbe und Georg Wrba im Spiegel ihrer Nachlassregelungen, (“To correct fortune” or “laisser-faire”. Max Klinger, Georg Kolbe and Georg Wrba reflected in their devises on property), in: Hegener, Nicole and Schwedes, Kerstin, … (quoted). pp. 309-333.

https://letteraturaartistica.blogspot.com/2015/04/giambattista-tiepolo-ev.html