A remarkable and unique German micrographic portrait of King Frederic II of Prussia (Frederic the Great), by Ihno Rêershemius, Norden, dated 1770
An elaborate and decorative half-length portrait of the King, with cartouche below containing a title in larger script (“FRIDERICH, der Preussen Held [etc].”), the whole surrounded by a border, the composition entirely formed from entwining lines of script in a precise, attractive and minuscule calligraphic hand, composed of prayers and other spiritual texts, in gold ink, on vellum, signed (lower right) geschrieben von Ihno Rêershemius Leutscher (?) Cantor zur Norden in Ostfriesland im Jahre Christi Anno 1770 n.f.iv.,45 x 31,5 cm, framed and glazed
AN EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLE OF A “CALLIGRAMME” OR MICROGRAPHIC PORTRAIT. It is an image delineated by words, a silhouette arising from the text, a curious and paradoxical form in which text becomes a message void of meaning, yet filled with expression and articulation.
The artist, Ihno Reershemius, was born into one of the oldest and most respected clerical families of East Frisia. He was probably the son of Peter Friedrich Reershemius (1728-1805), a respected protestant scholar and minister, and Rosina Margaretha Holzapfel from Bangstede, a pastor’s daughter from the village nearby. The couple wed in 1752 and had four daughters and two sons — so the artist may well have been in his late teens in 1770.
Reershemius will have been educated in strict protestant orthodox traditions, one of which was its consistent hostility to religious images (whilst the texts that make up this portrait are religious, the image itself is secular) and he was undoubtedly introduced to calligraphy at a very early age. Calligraphy was considered as much a quasi-meditative activity as a skill, its role being to distract the attentive scholar from cacophony of everyday life by leading him into the calm of contemplative spirituality.
Germany in the eighteenth century had an exceptional and distinctive tradition of calligraphic portraiture that was established by Johann Michael Püchler (1679-1709), who had been well-known for his micrographic portraits, or calligrammes, of dynastic rulers and historic figures such as Martin Luther. This tradition was taken up by Matthias Buchinger (1674-1740). Born without hands or legs, Buchinger combined his skills of a calligrapher with that of the musician, marksman and magician, became a famous figure throughout Europe, and produced a number of micrographic portraits to display his extraordinary skills.
The present portrait of Friedrich the Great, executed after an original by Antoine Pesne whilst elaborate and detailed, is purely composed of text and avoids the traditional calligraphic repertoire of non-textual swirls and embellishments. It was not the commercial production of a professional entertainer; the artist almost certainly produced it as a private intellectual and spiritual endeavour. Taking as its subject Frederick the Great, the quintessential Enlightenment Despot, the portrait is taking part in one of the most intricate pursuits of the “Age of Enlightenment” — that of finding a harmonious equilibrium between order and chaos, perfection and aberration, norm and its deliberate, meticulous violation.
A remarkable and unique German micrographic portrait of King Frederic II of Prussia (Frederic the Great), by Ihno Rêershemius, Norden, dated 1770
An elaborate and decorative half-length portrait of the King, with cartouche below containing a title in larger script (“FRIDERICH, der Preussen Held [etc].”), the whole surrounded by a border, the composition entirely formed from entwining lines of script in a precise, attractive and minuscule calligraphic hand, composed of prayers and other spiritual texts, in gold ink, on vellum, signed (lower right) geschrieben von Ihno Rêershemius Leutscher (?) Cantor zur Norden in Ostfriesland im Jahre Christi Anno 1770 n.f.iv.,45 x 31,5 cm, framed and glazed
AN EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLE OF A “CALLIGRAMME” OR MICROGRAPHIC PORTRAIT. It is an image delineated by words, a silhouette arising from the text, a curious and paradoxical form in which text becomes a message void of meaning, yet filled with expression and articulation.
The artist, Ihno Reershemius, was born into one of the oldest and most respected clerical families of East Frisia. He was probably the son of Peter Friedrich Reershemius (1728-1805), a respected protestant scholar and minister, and Rosina Margaretha Holzapfel from Bangstede, a pastor’s daughter from the village nearby. The couple wed in 1752 and had four daughters and two sons — so the artist may well have been in his late teens in 1770.
Reershemius will have been educated in strict protestant orthodox traditions, one of which was its consistent hostility to religious images (whilst the texts that make up this portrait are religious, the image itself is secular) and he was undoubtedly introduced to calligraphy at a very early age. Calligraphy was considered as much a quasi-meditative activity as a skill, its role being to distract the attentive scholar from cacophony of everyday life by leading him into the calm of contemplative spirituality.
Germany in the eighteenth century had an exceptional and distinctive tradition of calligraphic portraiture that was established by Johann Michael Püchler (1679-1709), who had been well-known for his micrographic portraits, or calligrammes, of dynastic rulers and historic figures such as Martin Luther. This tradition was taken up by Matthias Buchinger (1674-1740). Born without hands or legs, Buchinger combined his skills of a calligrapher with that of the musician, marksman and magician, became a famous figure throughout Europe, and produced a number of micrographic portraits to display his extraordinary skills.
The present portrait of Friedrich the Great, executed after an original by Antoine Pesne whilst elaborate and detailed, is purely composed of text and avoids the traditional calligraphic repertoire of non-textual swirls and embellishments. It was not the commercial production of a professional entertainer; the artist almost certainly produced it as a private intellectual and spiritual endeavour. Taking as its subject Frederick the Great, the quintessential Enlightenment Despot, the portrait is taking part in one of the most intricate pursuits of the “Age of Enlightenment” — that of finding a harmonious equilibrium between order and chaos, perfection and aberration, norm and its deliberate, meticulous violation.
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