New Additions August 2011

Bernard Vogel (engraver) - Johannes Kupezki (artist)

1714

CHRISTOPHORUS WEIGEL CHALCOGRAPHUS CELEBERRIMU[S] NORI[M]BERGAE Natus Anno MDCLIIII.

34 x 49.5 cms. Uncoloured mezzotint portrait. Margins closely trimmed to within 2-3mm of engraved surface all round. A very dark and crisp impression. Overall a very fine example.

A rare and exceptionally striking large-scale mezzotint portrait of the Nuremberg artist, engraver, publisher and map maker, Christoph Weigel the Elder, [1654-1725] produced by his friend and colleague, the Augsburg engraver Bernard Vogel [1683-1737], after a painting by Hungarian artist, Johannes Kupezki [1667-1740] .The portrait is wonderfully designed and constructed. A central oval frame encloses the half-figure of Weigel, with encircling Latin inscription around its rim. The sitter appears resplendent in beautifully detailed flowing robes, white cravat and impressively fulsome wig. The immediate surroundings of the portrait are equally wonderfully rendered. To the right, a gnarled and ancient oak tree from whose branches a cascade of oak leaves fall across the fringes of the portrait . In the lower  right, a thistle flourishes by the banks of an ancient lake, out of whose still waters protrudes  the impressive remains of a long-ruined classical monument : a section of carved stone lintel or archetrave, on which can be seen a vignette of ancient figures. In the left background further classical masonry remains can be discerned against the backdrop of an ancient stone wall. 

Christoph Weigel the Elder [1654-1725] was a German goldsmith, engraver, printer and mapmaker. He was initially apprenticed as an engraver in the publishing center of Augsburg, after which he held various positions in Vienna and Frankfurt. In 1698, he became a citizen of the city of Nuremberg and established his own publishing firm there. Weigel is known to have worked closely with the most prominent of the Nuremberg map publishers, Johann Baptist Homann [1663-1724] as well as with his brother, Johann Christoph Weigel [1654 - 1726] and the German academic, Johann David Koehler [1684-1755], the latter in the publication of a number of School atlases.His cartographic output included the Atlas Scholasticus [1712], Bequemer Schul und Reisen Atlas (in association with Koehler) [1724], and the Orbis Antiquus 1724.

Following Weigel's death in 1725, control of the firm passed to his widow, who published many of her late husband's maps and atlases posthumously. The widow Weigel eventually ceded control of the firm to her son, Johann Christoph Weigel the Younger [d.1746], who later went into partnership with Adam Gottlieb Schneider, forming the firm of Schneider-Weigel. which continued as Nuremberg publishers until the early 19th century.