Melchior Lorck
Encyclopedia
Melchior Lorck (1526/27after 1583 in Copenhagen
) was a renaissance
painter
, draughtsman
, and printmaker
of Danish-German origin. He produced the most thorough visual record of the life and customs of Turkey
in the 16th century, to this day a unique source. He was also the first Danish artist of whom a substantial biography is reconstructable and a substantial body of artworks is attributable.
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in the duchy of Schleswig
in present-day Germany
. The first document relating to him is the receipt of a royal Danish 4 year travel stipend from the Danish king, Christian III
, signed on March 22, 1549 in Flensburg. His earliest engraving
s stem from the years before the travel stipend, starting with rather unsecure copies after Heinrich Aldegrever
, but soon developing a fine control of the burin as in the staunchly anti-papal The Pope as a Wild Man i Hell from 1545 and the Portrait of Martin Luther from 1548. With the royal travel stipend Lorck went to southern Germany, settling in Nuremberg
around 1550, where he paid tribute to that city's preeminent artist of the previous generation, Albrecht Dürer
in a portrait print building on Hans Schwarz' portrait medal of the artist.
After a visit in Rome
in 1551 and what seems to have been a short period of employment at the residence of count palatine
Otto Henry in Neuburg an der Donau
he worked for the circle of the prominent Fugger
family in Augsburg
, thereby drawing nearer to the imperial Habsburg
family.
(from 1556 Holy Roman Emperor
) sent to the so-called Sublime Porte, the court of Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent
in Constantinople
(Istanbul
). The aim of the embassy was to negotiate a settlement over Hungary
over which both parties claimed supremacy. After the Ottomans had defeated the Hungarian army in the Battle of Mohács
in 1526, where King Louis II of Hungary died, the so-called Little War in Hungary
, part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, had been raging, with the Ottomans holding the upper hand most of the time.
The embassy, which finally led to a cease-fire in 1562, was led by Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq
, is renowned for record of it found in the 'Turkish Letters' by Busbecq, published in 1581–1588 in Antwerp. Of the three and a half years that Lorck spent in the Turkish capital, approximately one and a half were spent with the rest of the entourage in confinement at the caravanserai
where the Germans had been installed.
In 1555 at the caravanserai, the Elci Hani, Lorck produced engraved portraits of Busbecq and his co-envoys, Ferenc Zay and Antun Vrančić (Antonius Verantius), a few drawings of animals and a view over the rooftops of the city from one of the top windows of the lodging. In the periods of greater freedom however, he drew ancient and modern monuments of the city as well as the customs and dresses of the various peoples gathered from all parts of the Ottoman Empire
. At the end of his sojourn, he must have been spending extensive time with the Turkish military, as he was later able to portray a large number of different ranks and nationalities in the Ottoman army.
, where he stayed until 1566. His drawings of antique monuments of Constantinople
and surroundings date from these years. The Arcadius Column, the pedestal of Theodosius the Great's obelisk on the hippodrome
and the pedestal of Constantine's Column both represent monuments that are lost today. The monumental Prospect of Constantinople, seen from across the Golden Horn
at Galata
/ Pera
was also made at this time. This drawing, 1145 centimeters long and 45 centimeters high, drawn on twenty-one sheets, executed in brown and black ink with some watercolor, teeming with detail, is considered to be one of the hallmarks of early topographic drawing. It also contains the earliest self-portrait of the artist. See the Constantinople Prospect.
While in Vienna, Melchior Lorck was contacted both by the brother of the late king Christian III
, duke Hans the Elder of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev
who demanded his service. Lorck responded willingly, but was eager to excuse himself for being too busy. While finally answering the duke in January 1563, he also sent King Frederik II a letter, containing a lengthy description of his career up to the date. In 1562 Melchior Lorck had produced the large engraved bust portraits of Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent
and the Persian envoy in Constantinople
, Ismaïl, which he added to his letters. In the letters, Melchior Lorck asked for funding, which effected a gracious royal gift of 200 Danish rigsdaler
, to be handed over to him via his brother, Andreas Lorck, who had himself recently stepped into the king's service in Copenhagen
.
Soon after he had written to both lords in January 1563, new assignments kept him busy however, and he remained in Vienna for another five years. In 1562, the son of Ferdinand I
, Maximilian
, had been elected King of the Romans
(i.e. emperor-to-be) in Frankfurt am Main, and had since been travelling down the Danube
to receive the homage of the cities, with a final stop in Vienna
, which prepared itself for a grandiose entry to receive him in March 1563. Melchior Lorck was put in charge of the setting, which meant redressing of both the city itself, with triumphal arches, wine wells and tree-lined streets and of the inhabitants, dressed i Habsburg
colours, varying from rank to rank and occupation to occupation.
In 1564, on February 22, the emperor confirmed the alleged noble status of both Melchior Lorck and his three brothers, Caspar, Balthasar, and Andreas, citing in the elevation document Melchior's Turkish sojourn as the main argument for the elevation. Around the same time, Lorck was employed as Hartschier
(from Italian: arciere), an honorary position with an annual salary in the horse guard of the emperor that he would keep until 1579.
In 1566, he followed the emperor in a campaign in Hungary
that would eventually see the death of Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent
during the Battle of Szigetvár
.
In December that year the emperor, Maximilian
, wrote a rather unusual letter to his “cousin” (i.e. cousin in office), King Frederik II
, asking him to receive Melchior Lorck well, as Lorck was to go to Denmark to collect the inheritance after his eldest brother, Caspar, who had been killed in the Northern Seven Years' War
between Denmark and Sweden. The letter also demanded the king to let him return to the emperors service, thus foreboding any claim that the king would have on Lorck.
As Melchior travelled north, however, he appears only to have come as far as Flensburg
, before making his way south again.
, and seems to remain there at least until 1572, when he draws up his last will and testament in that city. Initially, Lorck was employed as cartographer, mapping the lower streams of the river Elbe
, from Geesthacht
to the sea, in order to support Hamburg's legal claims to the stable rights in a dispute with its neighbor Brunswick-Lüneburg
. The magnificent map resulting from this commission is still in the possession of the State Archives of Hamburg today, where it remains one of the most precious holdings.
Another important commission for the city was the rebuilding of the city gate Schartor (demolished), which was begun in 1568 and finished in 1570.
While in Hamburg, Lorck published the turcophobic pamphlet Ein Liedt vom Türcken und Anti-Christ (A Song on the Turk and Antichrist), quite different in tone from his later, more neutrally descriptive renderings of the Turks.
In Lorck's testament, one of the only glimpses of a family life shines through as he leaves everything to a certain widow, Anna Schrivers, whom he describes as his betrothed bride. She is never heard of again.
Last Lorck was heard of in Hamburg was after his sojourn in Antwerp when in 1574 he finally received his salary and reimbursement for the Schartor and where in 1575 he was called to witness at the Reichskammergericht
in a case about the proper belonging of the area east of Hamburg called Vierlande and drew a map to document his statement.
, and befriended the publisher and engraver Philip Galle, who dedicated Hans Vredeman de Vries
’s book about wells and fountains to him. And he worked for the printing press of Christophe Plantin
(woodblocks after his design are still found in the Plantin-Moretus Museum
in Antwerp).
Laudatory remarks in the Civitates orbis terrarum of Georg Braun
and Frans Hogenberg as well as the portrait of the antiquarian Hubert Goltzius
, brother of Hendrik Goltzius
, point to the network he was able to establish during his stay in the city. The turbulence of the Dutch Revolt
made him leave the city in the summer of 1574, as his letter to Ortelius from October implies.
Antwerp was the most promising of Lorck's stations in life, as he was here in one of the most important humanist centres of Europe, due to the prolific publishing houses, with Plantin's as the most important. A bronze medal to his honour was struck there by Etienne de Hollande (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum
in Vienna). And he published his only more substantial book, the Soldan Soleyman Tvrckhischen Khaysers, vnd auch Furst Ismaelis auß Persien, Whare vnd eigendtliche contrafectung vnd bildtnuß (i.e. The True and Real Counterfeits and Pictures of the Turkish Emperor Sultan Süleyman and
Prince Ismail from Persia), on April 1574. The book, the only known copy of which perished in the firestorm
s in Hamburg in June 1943, caused by the allied forces' Operation Gomorrha, contained two bust portraits and two full length portraits of Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent
and of the Persian envoy to the High Porte, Ismaïl, still known today, as well as accompanying poems by Conrad Leicht and Paulus Melissus
. A lengthy announcement (quoted in Hans Harbeck's dissertation from 1911) of a book to come that would describe the entirety of Turkish society seemingly presaged the publication of the work underway of the so-called "Turkish Publication" (Wolgerissene und geschnittene Figuren...).
While still employed as Hartschier Lorck procededed with the idea of publishing a book on Turkey, as he promised in the Soldan Soleyman.... In a letter to the Danish king, Frederik II
, of May 19, 1575, he indicated that he had problems financing his publication and asked for economic support to this end. In the years from 1570 to this date, Lorck had managed to get a number of blocks for woodcuts cut after his drawings from Turkey (most likely in Antwerp). 12 woodcuts with motifs with architectural monuments are dated 1570, while 5 woodcuts with members of the Turkish army and its entourage are dated 1575. In the years to come this core would grow into a total of the 128 woodcuts that make up the Turkish Publication as we know it today.
Only a few preparatory drawings have come down to us, at least one suggesting that the entire range of planned motifs was somewhat larger than what we know of (i.e. the drawing with The Shooing of Oxen in the Hermitage Museum
, St. Petersburg (inv. no. 38 225)).
The leading Lorck-scholar, Dr. Erik Fischer, the former keeper of the Copenhagen Printroom, suggests that the Turkish Publication came out only as a torso of what it was intended to be. In the re-publication of the woodcuts from 1646, a register of the motifs was attached, however it does not fit the prints and it points to an "original" where more can be learned. It is Dr. Fischer's thesis that that "original" was a written manuscript that would supplement the woodcuts and thus fulfil the promise given in the 1574 Soldan Soleyman... of a thorough description of Turkish society, life and customs. This idea is corroborated by the context in which the woodcuts are reused in another Hamburg-based publisher, Eberhard Werner Happel s bulletins on the Turkish wars of the 1680s and descriptions of Turkish society. Here, bits of descriptions turn up that, according to Dr. Fischer's thesis, could have been taken from a text very closely connected to the woodcuts and based on personal experience with the Turks, i.e. a text by Lorck himself.
in 1549, he promised to go away for four years only to return and step into the service of the king or his successor. He had not exactly kept that promise, always interrupted by more interesting prospects or more or less ill fortune. However, in 1578 he applied to the imperial court for a small fiefdom in Silesia, Guppern (unidentified). When the application was dismissed by the emperor, now Rudolph II, he instead applied in 1579 for a pension and relief from duty as ‘’Hartschier’’, both granted graciously.
On February 19, 1583 he turns up in the state account books of Denmark with the note “His Royal Majesty has, on February 19, 1580, employed Melcher Lorichs as a painter and counterfeiter”.
His works for the king have been lost, if any substantial body of works was ever produced, which is doubtful. An engraved portrait of the king, a unique woodcut that seems to have meant as frontispiece to the rules for the Order of the Elephant
, and a painted full length portrait of king Frederik II
, the first of its kind in Danish art, is all that survives today.
Apart from this, it appears Lorck spent most of his energy in having produced what amount to the bulk of the woodcuts for the ‘’Turkish Publication’’.
, even if he did not get a chapter of his own. And he continued to be mentioned in accounts of Flensburg
as the city's famous son.
After the publication of the Turkish Publication in 1626, he inspired a number of artists and his renderings of the Turks became one of the standard references for the Western European view of the Turks. Both Nicolas Poussin
and Stefano della Bella
used the book for inspiration, and Rembrandt owned a copy of it.
Lorck is not widely known today, but often referred to in studies of the relationship between Europe and the Ottoman Empire
in the 16th century and in oriental studies
.
Soldan Soleyman Tvrckhischen Khaysers, vnd auch Furst Ismaelis auß Persien, Whare vnd eigendtliche contrafectung vnd bildtnuß. Sampt anzeigung, vermeldung auffs khurzest, doch warhafftich vñ grundligisten bericht, welche Lande vnd Khunigreiche der Welt, der Turckh besitz vñ vnder ihm habe: wie viel Jarlichs intraden oder eynkhommendes, ihme, dem Turcken falle, von denselben: Sein vnd seins Reichs Embter vnd Glieder, wir vñ was die iedes besonder, auch mit selbst eigenem namen sein vñ heyssen: wie viel derselben, auch wie viel ein ides Ampt, vñ ein ider Turckhischer Herr, vom hochsten zum nidrigisten, Kriegsvolckh, Reutter vnnd knechte, oder Pferde vnnd fueßvolckh vnder ihm habe. Durch den Erbaren vnd Ehrnuesten Melichiorn Lorichs von Flensburg beschriben, Gecontrafect, in rechter Statur vnd Khleydung, der zeit zu Constantinopel dem Leben nach gemacht, Antwerpen 1574
Dess Weitberühmbten, Kunstreichen vnd Wolerfahrnen Herrn MELCHIOR Lorichs, Flensburgensis. Wolgerissene vnd Geschnittene Figuren, zu Ross vnd Fuss, sampt schönen Türckischen Gebäwden, vnd allerhand was in der Türckey zusehen. Alles nach dem Leben vnd der perspectivæ Jederman vor Augen gestellet. Jetzo aber zum Erstenmahl allen Kunstliebenden Malern, Formschneidern, Kupfferstechern, etc. Auch allen Kunstverständigen vnd derselben Liebhabern zu Ehren vnd gefallen an den Tag gegeben, Hamburg 1626
Dess Kunstreichen, Weitberühmbten vnd Wolerfahrnen Herrn, MELCHIORIS LORICHII Flensburgensis, Wolgerissene vnd geschnittene Figuren, zu Rossz vnd Fuss, sampt schönen Türckischen Gebäwen, vnd allerhand, was in der Türckey zusehen: Alles nach dem Leben vnd der Perspectiva jederman vor Augen gestellet, in Kupffer vnd Holtz. Jetzo zum drittenmahl, mit einem Register vber die Figuren, auss dem Original Manuscripto, allen Kunstliebenden, Malern, Formschneidern, Kupferstechern, auch allen Kunstverständigen vnd derselben Liebhabern, zu Ehren vnd Gefallen an den Tag gegeben, Hamburg 1646
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
) was a renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, draughtsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, and printmaker
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...
of Danish-German origin. He produced the most thorough visual record of the life and customs of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
in the 16th century, to this day a unique source. He was also the first Danish artist of whom a substantial biography is reconstructable and a substantial body of artworks is attributable.
Youth and early training
Melchior Lorck was born in either 1526 or 1527 as son of a city clerk, Thomas Lorck, in FlensburgFlensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
in the duchy of Schleswig
Schleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
in present-day Germany
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...
. The first document relating to him is the receipt of a royal Danish 4 year travel stipend from the Danish king, Christian III
Christian III of Denmark
Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
, signed on March 22, 1549 in Flensburg. His earliest 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...
s stem from the years before the travel stipend, starting with rather unsecure copies after Heinrich Aldegrever
Heinrich Aldegrever
Heinrich Aldegrever or Aldegraf was a German painter and engraver. He was one of the "Little Masters", the group of German artists making small old master prints in the generation after Dürer.-Biography:...
, but soon developing a fine control of the burin as in the staunchly anti-papal The Pope as a Wild Man i Hell from 1545 and the Portrait of Martin Luther from 1548. With the royal travel stipend Lorck went to southern Germany, settling in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
around 1550, where he paid tribute to that city's preeminent artist of the previous generation, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
in a portrait print building on Hans Schwarz' portrait medal of the artist.
After a visit in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1551 and what seems to have been a short period of employment at the residence of count palatine
Count palatine
Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...
Otto Henry in Neuburg an der Donau
Neuburg an der Donau
Neuburg an der Donau, literally Neuburg on the Danube River, is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany.-Divisions:The municipality has 16 divisions:-History:...
he worked for the circle of the prominent Fugger
Fugger
The Fugger family was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists like the Welser and the Höchstetter families. This banking family replaced the de'...
family in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, thereby drawing nearer to the imperial Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
family.
The years in Turkey
In 1555 Lorck was assigned to the embassy that the German king Ferdinand IFerdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
(from 1556 Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
) sent to the so-called Sublime Porte, the court of Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
). The aim of the embassy was to negotiate a settlement over Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
over which both parties claimed supremacy. After the Ottomans had defeated the Hungarian army in the Battle of Mohács
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent....
in 1526, where King Louis II of Hungary died, the so-called Little War in Hungary
Little War in Hungary
The Little War is a name given to a series of conflicts between the Habsburgs and their allies and the Ottoman Empire between 1529 and 1552...
, part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, had been raging, with the Ottomans holding the upper hand most of the time.
The embassy, which finally led to a cease-fire in 1562, was led by Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq was a 16th century Flemish writer, herbalist and diplomat in the employ of three generations of Austrian monarchs...
, is renowned for record of it found in the 'Turkish Letters' by Busbecq, published in 1581–1588 in Antwerp. Of the three and a half years that Lorck spent in the Turkish capital, approximately one and a half were spent with the rest of the entourage in confinement at the caravanserai
Caravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
where the Germans had been installed.
In 1555 at the caravanserai, the Elci Hani, Lorck produced engraved portraits of Busbecq and his co-envoys, Ferenc Zay and Antun Vrančić (Antonius Verantius), a few drawings of animals and a view over the rooftops of the city from one of the top windows of the lodging. In the periods of greater freedom however, he drew ancient and modern monuments of the city as well as the customs and dresses of the various peoples gathered from all parts of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. At the end of his sojourn, he must have been spending extensive time with the Turkish military, as he was later able to portray a large number of different ranks and nationalities in the Ottoman army.
Imperial employment
Lorck returned to Western Europe in the autumn of 1559. In 1560 he is documented in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where he stayed until 1566. His drawings of antique monuments of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and surroundings date from these years. The Arcadius Column, the pedestal of Theodosius the Great's obelisk on the hippodrome
Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving...
and the pedestal of Constantine's Column both represent monuments that are lost today. The monumental Prospect of Constantinople, seen from across the Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
at Galata
Galata
Galata or Galatae is a neighbourhood in the Beyoğlu district on the European side of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Galata is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the historic peninsula of old Constantinople. The Golden Horn is crossed by...
/ Pera
Beyoglu
Beyoğlu is a district located on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn...
was also made at this time. This drawing, 1145 centimeters long and 45 centimeters high, drawn on twenty-one sheets, executed in brown and black ink with some watercolor, teeming with detail, is considered to be one of the hallmarks of early topographic drawing. It also contains the earliest self-portrait of the artist. See the Constantinople Prospect.
While in Vienna, Melchior Lorck was contacted both by the brother of the late king Christian III
Christian III of Denmark
Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
, duke Hans the Elder of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev
John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev
John the Elder was the only Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev. The predicate the Elder is sometimes used to distinguish him from his nephew John the Younger, who held Sønderborg from 1564 as a partitioned-off duke...
who demanded his service. Lorck responded willingly, but was eager to excuse himself for being too busy. While finally answering the duke in January 1563, he also sent King Frederik II a letter, containing a lengthy description of his career up to the date. In 1562 Melchior Lorck had produced the large engraved bust portraits of Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
and the Persian envoy in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Ismaïl, which he added to his letters. In the letters, Melchior Lorck asked for funding, which effected a gracious royal gift of 200 Danish rigsdaler
Danish rigsdaler
The rigsdaler was the name of several currencies used in Denmark until 1873. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively....
, to be handed over to him via his brother, Andreas Lorck, who had himself recently stepped into the king's service in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
.
Soon after he had written to both lords in January 1563, new assignments kept him busy however, and he remained in Vienna for another five years. In 1562, the son of Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
, Maximilian
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian II was king of Bohemia and king of the Romans from 1562, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1564 until his death...
, had been elected King of the Romans
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...
(i.e. emperor-to-be) in Frankfurt am Main, and had since been travelling down the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
to receive the homage of the cities, with a final stop in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, which prepared itself for a grandiose entry to receive him in March 1563. Melchior Lorck was put in charge of the setting, which meant redressing of both the city itself, with triumphal arches, wine wells and tree-lined streets and of the inhabitants, dressed i Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
colours, varying from rank to rank and occupation to occupation.
In 1564, on February 22, the emperor confirmed the alleged noble status of both Melchior Lorck and his three brothers, Caspar, Balthasar, and Andreas, citing in the elevation document Melchior's Turkish sojourn as the main argument for the elevation. Around the same time, Lorck was employed as Hartschier
Hartschier
Hartschiere were predominantly members of the Bavarian residence guards before 1918, a historic military branch of the formerDuchy and the later Electorate and at last Kingdom of Bavaria.- History :...
(from Italian: arciere), an honorary position with an annual salary in the horse guard of the emperor that he would keep until 1579.
In 1566, he followed the emperor in a campaign in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
that would eventually see the death of Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
during the Battle of Szigetvár
Battle of Szigetvár
The Siege of Szigetvár or Battle of Szigeth was a siege of the Szigeth Fortress in Baranya which blocked Suleiman's line of advance towards Vienna in 1566 AD...
.
In December that year the emperor, Maximilian
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian II was king of Bohemia and king of the Romans from 1562, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1564 until his death...
, wrote a rather unusual letter to his “cousin” (i.e. cousin in office), King Frederik II
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.-King of Denmark:Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father, he...
, asking him to receive Melchior Lorck well, as Lorck was to go to Denmark to collect the inheritance after his eldest brother, Caspar, who had been killed in the Northern Seven Years' War
Northern Seven Years' War
The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...
between Denmark and Sweden. The letter also demanded the king to let him return to the emperors service, thus foreboding any claim that the king would have on Lorck.
As Melchior travelled north, however, he appears only to have come as far as Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
, before making his way south again.
In Hamburg
In 1567 Melchior Lorck turns up in documents from the council of the city of HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, and seems to remain there at least until 1572, when he draws up his last will and testament in that city. Initially, Lorck was employed as cartographer, mapping the lower streams of the river Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
, from Geesthacht
Geesthacht
Geesthacht is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of Hamburg on the right bank of the river Elbe.-History:*Around 800: A church is documented....
to the sea, in order to support Hamburg's legal claims to the stable rights in a dispute with its neighbor Brunswick-Lüneburg
Brunswick-Lüneburg
The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , or more properly Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg, was an historical ducal state from the late Middle Ages until the late Early Modern era within the North-Western domains of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, in what is now northern Germany...
. The magnificent map resulting from this commission is still in the possession of the State Archives of Hamburg today, where it remains one of the most precious holdings.
Another important commission for the city was the rebuilding of the city gate Schartor (demolished), which was begun in 1568 and finished in 1570.
While in Hamburg, Lorck published the turcophobic pamphlet Ein Liedt vom Türcken und Anti-Christ (A Song on the Turk and Antichrist), quite different in tone from his later, more neutrally descriptive renderings of the Turks.
In Lorck's testament, one of the only glimpses of a family life shines through as he leaves everything to a certain widow, Anna Schrivers, whom he describes as his betrothed bride. She is never heard of again.
Last Lorck was heard of in Hamburg was after his sojourn in Antwerp when in 1574 he finally received his salary and reimbursement for the Schartor and where in 1575 he was called to witness at the Reichskammergericht
Reichskammergericht
The Reichskammergericht or Imperial Chamber Court was one of two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms...
in a case about the proper belonging of the area east of Hamburg called Vierlande and drew a map to document his statement.
In Antwerp
In 1574 Lorck was found in Antwerp, where he seems to have been since 1573. He was one of the first to write an entry into the album amicorum of Abraham OrteliusAbraham Ortelius
thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) (April 14, 1527 – June 28,exile in England to take...
, and befriended the publisher and engraver Philip Galle, who dedicated Hans Vredeman de Vries
Hans Vredeman de Vries
Hans Vredeman de Vries was a Dutch Renaissance architect, painter, and engineer. Vredeman de Vries is known for his publication in 1583 on garden design and his books with many examples on ornaments and perspective ....
’s book about wells and fountains to him. And he worked for the printing press of Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin
Christophe Plantin was an influential Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher.-Life:...
(woodblocks after his design are still found in the Plantin-Moretus Museum
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The Plantin-Moretus Museum is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium honouring the famous printers Christoffel Plantijn and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, Plantin Press, at the Friday Market.- History :...
in Antwerp).
Laudatory remarks in the Civitates orbis terrarum of Georg Braun
Georg Braun
Georg Braun was a topo-geographer. From 1572 to 1617 he edited the Civitates orbis terrarum, which contains 546 prospects, bird's-eye views, and maps of cities from all around the world....
and Frans Hogenberg as well as the portrait of the antiquarian Hubert Goltzius
Hubert Goltzius
Hubert Goltz or Goltzius , was a Renaissance painter, engraver, and printer from the Southern Netherlands.-Biography:...
, brother of Hendrik Goltzius
Hendrik Goltzius
Hendrik Goltzius , was a Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, noted for his sophisticated technique and the "exuberance" of his compositions. According to A...
, point to the network he was able to establish during his stay in the city. The turbulence of the Dutch Revolt
Dutch Revolt
The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
made him leave the city in the summer of 1574, as his letter to Ortelius from October implies.
Antwerp was the most promising of Lorck's stations in life, as he was here in one of the most important humanist centres of Europe, due to the prolific publishing houses, with Plantin's as the most important. A bronze medal to his honour was struck there by Etienne de Hollande (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
in Vienna). And he published his only more substantial book, the Soldan Soleyman Tvrckhischen Khaysers, vnd auch Furst Ismaelis auß Persien, Whare vnd eigendtliche contrafectung vnd bildtnuß (i.e. The True and Real Counterfeits and Pictures of the Turkish Emperor Sultan Süleyman and
Prince Ismail from Persia), on April 1574. The book, the only known copy of which perished in the firestorm
Firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires...
s in Hamburg in June 1943, caused by the allied forces' Operation Gomorrha, contained two bust portraits and two full length portraits of Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
and of the Persian envoy to the High Porte, Ismaïl, still known today, as well as accompanying poems by Conrad Leicht and Paulus Melissus
Paulus Melissus
Paulus Melissus was a humanist Neo-Latin writer, translator and composer.-Life:...
. A lengthy announcement (quoted in Hans Harbeck's dissertation from 1911) of a book to come that would describe the entirety of Turkish society seemingly presaged the publication of the work underway of the so-called "Turkish Publication" (Wolgerissene und geschnittene Figuren...).
The Turkish Publication
While still employed as Hartschier Lorck procededed with the idea of publishing a book on Turkey, as he promised in the Soldan Soleyman.... In a letter to the Danish king, Frederik II
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.-King of Denmark:Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father, he...
, of May 19, 1575, he indicated that he had problems financing his publication and asked for economic support to this end. In the years from 1570 to this date, Lorck had managed to get a number of blocks for woodcuts cut after his drawings from Turkey (most likely in Antwerp). 12 woodcuts with motifs with architectural monuments are dated 1570, while 5 woodcuts with members of the Turkish army and its entourage are dated 1575. In the years to come this core would grow into a total of the 128 woodcuts that make up the Turkish Publication as we know it today.
Only a few preparatory drawings have come down to us, at least one suggesting that the entire range of planned motifs was somewhat larger than what we know of (i.e. the drawing with The Shooing of Oxen in the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
, St. Petersburg (inv. no. 38 225)).
The possible fate of the Turkish woodcuts
What happened to the artist as well as to the large stock of woodblocks for the publication by the time he disappears from the records in 1583, is not known. Two copies of a prototype title page for the publication exist, both initially from 1575, and each with an inserted title on top with the same text (Wolgerissene und geschnittene Figuren in Kupffer und Holz durch. Den Kunstreichen und weitberümten Melcher Lorch für die Mahler Bildthawer und Kunstliebenden. an tag gegeben) and the same date, but in different print type. Whereas this 1619-edition never to have come into fruition, 7 years later the woodcuts were published in Hamburg, with the same title. It is therefore possible that the blocks had been in Hamburg ever since Lorck's death.The leading Lorck-scholar, Dr. Erik Fischer, the former keeper of the Copenhagen Printroom, suggests that the Turkish Publication came out only as a torso of what it was intended to be. In the re-publication of the woodcuts from 1646, a register of the motifs was attached, however it does not fit the prints and it points to an "original" where more can be learned. It is Dr. Fischer's thesis that that "original" was a written manuscript that would supplement the woodcuts and thus fulfil the promise given in the 1574 Soldan Soleyman... of a thorough description of Turkish society, life and customs. This idea is corroborated by the context in which the woodcuts are reused in another Hamburg-based publisher, Eberhard Werner Happel s bulletins on the Turkish wars of the 1680s and descriptions of Turkish society. Here, bits of descriptions turn up that, according to Dr. Fischer's thesis, could have been taken from a text very closely connected to the woodcuts and based on personal experience with the Turks, i.e. a text by Lorck himself.
A ‘’Trachtenbuch’’ Project
A substantial number of drawings, the bulk of which was produced in the early 1570s, show individual figures and groups in their indigenous costumes. Lorck seems to have planned a book of costumes – a very popular genre in his day. The drawings, all inscribed with the region or city that they depict the costumes of, are all preparatory drawings for woodcuts, however, no such prints have come down to us, and the project remained unfinished.Appointed to the Danish king
When Lorck had received his travel stipend from King Christian IIIChristian III of Denmark
Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
in 1549, he promised to go away for four years only to return and step into the service of the king or his successor. He had not exactly kept that promise, always interrupted by more interesting prospects or more or less ill fortune. However, in 1578 he applied to the imperial court for a small fiefdom in Silesia, Guppern (unidentified). When the application was dismissed by the emperor, now Rudolph II, he instead applied in 1579 for a pension and relief from duty as ‘’Hartschier’’, both granted graciously.
On February 19, 1583 he turns up in the state account books of Denmark with the note “His Royal Majesty has, on February 19, 1580, employed Melcher Lorichs as a painter and counterfeiter”.
His works for the king have been lost, if any substantial body of works was ever produced, which is doubtful. An engraved portrait of the king, a unique woodcut that seems to have meant as frontispiece to the rules for the Order of the Elephant
Order of the Elephant
The Order of the Elephant is the highest order of Denmark. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in 1849, is now almost exclusively bestowed on royalty and heads of state.- History :A Danish religious...
, and a painted full length portrait of king Frederik II
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.-King of Denmark:Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father, he...
, the first of its kind in Danish art, is all that survives today.
Apart from this, it appears Lorck spent most of his energy in having produced what amount to the bulk of the woodcuts for the ‘’Turkish Publication’’.
Last traces
On November 10, 1582 the king dismissed Lorck from service, stating only that his dismissal would be honourable if he returned his letter of appointment. The last payment is recorded on March 4, 1583, which is also the last certain source that he was still alive.Posthumous reception
Melchior Lorck was well known at the end of the 16th century and mentioned by e.g. Karel van Mander in the Schilder-boeckSchilder-boeck
The Schilder-Boeck is a book by the art historian Karel van Mander written in 1604. It was actually compiled from three books in total; the first was a translation from Giorgio Vasari's list of artist biographies called the Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, the...
, even if he did not get a chapter of his own. And he continued to be mentioned in accounts of Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
as the city's famous son.
After the publication of the Turkish Publication in 1626, he inspired a number of artists and his renderings of the Turks became one of the standard references for the Western European view of the Turks. Both Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...
and Stefano della Bella
Stefano della Bella
Stefano della Bella was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes...
used the book for inspiration, and Rembrandt owned a copy of it.
Lorck is not widely known today, but often referred to in studies of the relationship between Europe and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in the 16th century and in oriental studies
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
.
Writings
Ein liedt vom Türcken vnd Antichrist, durch Melchior Lorichs zu Constantinopel gedicht, im Jar 1559. Itzt im 1568. Jar ausgangen. Mag gesungen werden in der Melodey, Erhör mein wordt mein red vornim, mein Köning Gott und Herre Oderim Thon Aus tieffer nodt schrey ich zu dir etc. Iten der Christlich Glaub zu singen im Thon O Mensch bewein die Sünde gros etc., [Hamburg?] 1568Soldan Soleyman Tvrckhischen Khaysers, vnd auch Furst Ismaelis auß Persien, Whare vnd eigendtliche contrafectung vnd bildtnuß. Sampt anzeigung, vermeldung auffs khurzest, doch warhafftich vñ grundligisten bericht, welche Lande vnd Khunigreiche der Welt, der Turckh besitz vñ vnder ihm habe: wie viel Jarlichs intraden oder eynkhommendes, ihme, dem Turcken falle, von denselben: Sein vnd seins Reichs Embter vnd Glieder, wir vñ was die iedes besonder, auch mit selbst eigenem namen sein vñ heyssen: wie viel derselben, auch wie viel ein ides Ampt, vñ ein ider Turckhischer Herr, vom hochsten zum nidrigisten, Kriegsvolckh, Reutter vnnd knechte, oder Pferde vnnd fueßvolckh vnder ihm habe. Durch den Erbaren vnd Ehrnuesten Melichiorn Lorichs von Flensburg beschriben, Gecontrafect, in rechter Statur vnd Khleydung, der zeit zu Constantinopel dem Leben nach gemacht, Antwerpen 1574
Dess Weitberühmbten, Kunstreichen vnd Wolerfahrnen Herrn MELCHIOR Lorichs, Flensburgensis. Wolgerissene vnd Geschnittene Figuren, zu Ross vnd Fuss, sampt schönen Türckischen Gebäwden, vnd allerhand was in der Türckey zusehen. Alles nach dem Leben vnd der perspectivæ Jederman vor Augen gestellet. Jetzo aber zum Erstenmahl allen Kunstliebenden Malern, Formschneidern, Kupfferstechern, etc. Auch allen Kunstverständigen vnd derselben Liebhabern zu Ehren vnd gefallen an den Tag gegeben, Hamburg 1626
Dess Kunstreichen, Weitberühmbten vnd Wolerfahrnen Herrn, MELCHIORIS LORICHII Flensburgensis, Wolgerissene vnd geschnittene Figuren, zu Rossz vnd Fuss, sampt schönen Türckischen Gebäwen, vnd allerhand, was in der Türckey zusehen: Alles nach dem Leben vnd der Perspectiva jederman vor Augen gestellet, in Kupffer vnd Holtz. Jetzo zum drittenmahl, mit einem Register vber die Figuren, auss dem Original Manuscripto, allen Kunstliebenden, Malern, Formschneidern, Kupferstechern, auch allen Kunstverständigen vnd derselben Liebhabern, zu Ehren vnd Gefallen an den Tag gegeben, Hamburg 1646
External links
- Homepage for Erik Fischer's monograph and catalogue raisonnée (2009-2010)
- Melchior Lorck's works in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
- Melchior Lorck's works in the British Museum, London (beware - some are copies or inspired works, not autograph)
- 1646-edition of the Wolgerissene und geschnittene Figuren...