Ludwig von Siegen
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
soldier and amateur engraver, who invented the printmaking
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
technique of mezzotint
Mezzotint
Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...
, a variant of engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
. He was a well-educated aristocrat, and a Lieutenant-Colonel who commanded the personal guard of William VI, Landgrave
Landgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
of Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel), and acted as a personal aide to the ruler, with the title kammerjunker or Chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
.
Early life
Siegen came from an aristocratic family, and may have been born in the family castle at Sechten near CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, not in Utrecht, as traditionally believed, as he was baptised in Cologne on May 2, 1609. His father was then living in Holland however, apparently because of his Calvinist beliefs. Sechten was in Hesse-Kassel, and his father Johann became an advisor to the Landgrave
Landgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
Maurice, who in 1620 appointed him chancellor of the Collegium Mauritaneum, a school for young aristocrats which Siegen attended from 1621 to 1626. Then he studied law at the Hohe Schule in Herborn
Herborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
. His father moved to Holland to again in 1627, when the new Landgrave William V dissolved the Collegium Mauritaneum.
Little is known about Siegen's life between 1629 and 1639, when he asked William V's widow, now Regent for her son William VI, for a position. He may have seen active military service in these missing years in the middle of the Thirty Years War. He was appointed kammerjunker, which as the Landgrave was a minor, may have been effectively a tutorial position, as well as head of the personal guard of the ruler.
By 1641 he had decided to convert to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, which in the atmosphere of the Thirty Years War would not have been compatible with his position in the strictly Calvinistic court of Hesse-Kassel. After some friction at court, he therefore repeated his father's move to Holland, although for the opposite reason. He moved to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in 1641 and announced his conversion there, remaining in contact with his former employers and sending them works of art he produced, sometimes commissioned by them.
Invention of mezzotint
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was an Italian Baroque artist, painter, printmaker and draftsman, of the Genoese school. He is best known now for his elaborate engravings, and as the inventor of the printmaking technique of monotyping. He was known as Il Grechetto in Italy and in France as Le...
was also exploring the possibilities of tonality in printmaking
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, leading him to invent monotyping
Monotyping
Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The image is then transferred onto a sheet of paper by...
at almost the same moment as Siegen invented mezzotint. Mezzotint
Mezzotint
Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...
achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth.
In a letter of March 6, 1641 to the Landgravine, Siegen announced that he had begun a portrait of her, and hinted that he would appreciate some money. News of his conversion had just reached the court, and the response seems to have been restrained. In August 1642, he finally finished the first known mezzotint engraving, a portrait of the Landgravine Amalia Elisabeth, Regent of Hesse-Kassel, the widow of his former employer. He sent this to her son, Landgrave
Landgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
William VI with a letter explaining that he had invented the process:
".... I could not pass up dedicating such a rare and previously unseen work of art in humble honour before anyone else to your highness who is an extraordinary connoisseur of art. The way this work is made, no engraver or artist could explain or guess.".
The portrait is rather stiff, but the full range of tones from the very light ones on the layered lace collars to the solid black of the left background make it a very effective showpiece for the potential of mezzotint.
He worked from "light to dark", only roughening the plate where he wanted to produce tones, using "roulettes" or wheels with sharp teeth. This is unlike most later mezzotinters, who first roughened the whole plate, then scraped or burnished the roughness away where they wanted lighter tones, so working from "dark to light".
In 1643–44, he produced portraits of Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
, (the "Winter Queen", daughter of James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
), William II of Orange and his wife, Mary
Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his queen, Henrietta Maria of France...
, all after paintings by Gerard van Honthorst
Gerard van Honthorst
Gerard van Honthorst , also known as Gerrit van Honthorst and in Italy as Gherardo delle Notti for his nighttime candlelit subjects, was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Utrecht.-Biography:...
. All were perhaps potential employers.
In 1654 he did a large portrait of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.-Life:...
from memory, having seen him at the Diet in Regensburg. He distributed copies to the various princes gathered there, without attracting further commissions.
Apart from portraits he did a St Bruno and in 1657 copied a Holy Family with St John the Baptist by Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...
. His total mezzotint production was these seven plates, although he also produced paintings and medals.
Siegen's later career
After he left Amsterdam in 1644, Siegen first entered the armies of the Catholic Bishop of Hildesheim, and then those of the Archbishop of Cologne. In 1654, he went into the service of the Archbishop-ElectorArchbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
of Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
as a Colonel retired from active service and then to the Protestant Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg , called the Younger, was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In the estate division of the House of Welf of 1635, he received the Principality of Wolfenbüttel....
at Wolfenbüttel, where he remained after retirement. Most documents after this relate to lawsuits over estates and inheritances, the last mention being in 1676.
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the RhinePrince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
(ie of the Palatinate), a famous Royalist commander in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, was the cousin of William VI of Hesse-Kassel, and the son of Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
. Prince Rupert was also an amateur artist, and in about 1654 learned of the process, either from his cousin, or possibly from Siegen himself - whether they ever met is a point of scholarly controversy. A number of letters between Rupert and William referring to the technique survive from the period following 1654.
Rupert produced some stylish mezzotints himself, and through him, after his return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with the English Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
in 1660, the invention became known there, which was to be the main home of the technique. Rupert described it to John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, who published it (in very enigmatic terms) for the first time in 1662, crediting Rupert with the invention:
" Of the new way of Engraving, or Mezzo Tinto, Invented, and communicated by his Highnesse Prince RUPERT, Count Palatine of Rhyne, &c."
However Rupert probably did invent the "rocker", a wide curved tool with teeth, used to roughen a whole plate, which was an essential tool in the developed technique. Rupert's artistic assistant or tutor Wallerant Vaillant
Wallerant Vaillant
Wallerant Vaillant, , was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the first artists to use the mezzotint technique, which he probably helped to develop.- Biography :...
(1623-77) was the first to adopt the process commercially, in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in the 1660s.
External links
- account of the early history of mezzotint, National Portrait Gallery, London