MERIAN, Matthäus the Elder

Matthäus Merian the Elder, Swiss engraver and draftsman, one of the most important copperplate engravers and publishers of the 17th century. He first learned the glass painting craft, but soon turned to etching. It has been proved that he was Dietmar Meyer's apprentice in Zurich from 1610, but in 1611 he was already working for the Duke of Lotharingia. From 1612 to 1615 Merian was working for the French court before he returned to Basel. After trips to Swabia, Augsburg and maybe Nuremberg, Merian began to work for Jan Theodor de Bry's (died 1623) publishing company in Oppenheim, and later became his son-in-law. Together with de Bry, Merian subsequently worked in Heidelberg for 2 years, before he returned to Basel with his family in 1620.

After moving to Frankfurt in 1624 Merian mainly worked in the publishing business and focused his etching on cover illustrations for the books he published, several fliers and paintings for the Habsburg royal family. He produced, with help from assistants, numerous engravings of battles and hunts, and topographic prints of European towns. Merian became famous for the cityscapes he produced for Martin Zeiler's 'Topographia Germaniae' from 1640, which have a high documentary value. For the first 12 volumes he produced 1012 copperplate engravings based on his own and other drafts. His illustrations for 'Theatrum Europaeum' (5 volumes with 545 copperplate engravings) are also very famous. After his death, both works were carried on by his sons Matthäus the Younger and Kaspar (1627-86). In his second marriage he also fathered the famous plant and insect painter Maria Sibylla Merian.

Matthäus Merian the Younger, the son of Matthäus the Elder was a Swiss portraitGLOSSARYThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). and historical painter, pupil of van Dyck, worked throughout Europe. He is best represented by MartyrdomGLOSSARYthe sufferings, torture and death inflicted on a person on account of his faith or convictions. of St Lawrence (cathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed., Bamberg) and a portrait of his sister, the artist Maria Sibylla Merian (Basel).