Benutzerspezifische Werkzeuge

The so-called "Basler Goldschmiederisse", a group of sixteenth-century pen and ink drawings that form part of the famous Amerbach Cabinet, owe their name to their connection with the workshop inventory of the Basel-based goldsmith family Schweiger. While commonly referred to as goldsmith’s drawings because of this provenance, the collection’s scope of subject matter is much larger. Described by Jacob Burckhardt as offering insight into “the laboratory of Gothic invention”, they form a systematic inventory of nearly all of the most prominent decorative elements in Late Gothic architecture. Their stylistic vocabulary betrays a connection to Southern Germany and is suggestive of older prototypes. This lecture takes the form of an art historical whodunit and explores several lines of investigation into the possible origins of the "Basler Goldschmiederisse". In the process, it highlights the cross-disciplinary character of the Gothic design practice, drawing connections between works on paper, goldsmith’s work, wood and stone carving, and projects for monumental architecture.   

Since 2011 Femke Speelberg, MPhil, is curator of historic ornament, design, and architecture in the department of drawings and prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In this capacity, she oversees all drawings, prints, and illustrated books pertaining to the history of design and architecture, dating from the Gothic period to the first half of the twentieth century. Her research is focused on the role of works on paper in processes of artistic ideation, creation, and exchange. As such, her exhibitions and publications are inherently interdisciplinary in scope and connect art objects with the worlds in which they were created and functioned.

[Caption: Attributed to Jörg Schweiger the Elder (German, ca. 1470/80–1533/34), after unidentified German artist (15th century), Schematic Representation of Tracery Elements and their Plans, from “Basler Goldschmiederisse”, ca. 1500–1510. Pen and brown ink on paper, 19.8 × 30.2 cm. Kupferstichkabinett, Kunstmuseum Basel, Amerbach-Kabinett 1662 (U.XI.11)]