Johann Willenberger

Jan Willenberg (23 June 1571 – 3 October 1613) was a late-renaissance author of woodcuts, prints and drawings active in Moravia and Bohemia. He is best known for his book illustrations and vedute of several cities in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia and Austria. Willenberg is one of a few known printmakers of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, whose name and work are known.

Life Jan Willenberg (also known as Johann or Joannes Willengerger or Villenperger) was born in 1571 in Silesian Trzebnica to German speaking gardener Thomas Willenberg (?–1584). He soon moved with his family to Moravian Přerov. After 1582 he was in training in the print-shop of Friedrich Milichthaler in Olomouc and probably also in Nuremberg from where he returned after 1585. In 1595–1600, he worked for the print-shop of Premonstratensian Louka Monastery. Jan was married and had a daughter Ludmila. His health was subdued by excessive alcohol consumption, to which he confesses in his diary note from 1611. Willenberger's diary was a unique source of information about the artist's life and several historians researched it since the early 20th century, but the diary got lost after the death of his last possessor Florian Zapletal in 1969, and most likely subsequently destroyed with other archival papers from his inheritance.

Confession Willenberg's confession was the subject of discussion. He came from a catholic family,

Artwork Willenberg most likely created already in 1590's several unsigned vedute and portraits in Milichthaler's print-shop for Zrcadlo slavného Margkrabství moravského (Olomouc 1593) by Bartosz Paprocki. Willenberg personally visited depicted cities like Brno or Olomouc and made sketches for woodcuts.

During his employment in Louka monastery at least six publications contained his woodcut illustrations with monogram signature JW. Willenberg made a woodcuts of investiture of Saint Norbert, abbot's coat of arms and Saint Wenceslaus with small veduta of Louka church in Agendarium sive Ordo rituum et ceremoniarum ... cand. Praemonst. Ord. (Louka 1595) by Sebastian II. von Baden, woodcut of soldier in front of Wien in Geistliche Kriegszrüstung wider den gemeinen blutdurstigen Tyrannen … den Türken (Louka 1595) also by Sebastian II. von Baden, monastic scenes, cycle of saints and several motives from New Testament in Breviarium juxta ritum candidisimi Ordinis praemonstratensis (Louka 1597), moravian coat of arms in Artikule sněmovní (Louka 1600), religious pictures in Postill … uber die sontäglichen Euangelia durch das gantze Jahr (Louka 1603 and 1605) by Georg Scherer and illustrations in Praemonstratensis ordinis nonnullorum patrum vitae (Louka 1608) by Sigismundus Kohel. Willenberger most likely portraited himself as xylographer in vignette of Schrerer's Postill. Willenberg travelled from Louka to Wien and as far as Zvolen and Banská Bystrica which he also sketched. An extensive series of 47 illustrations by Willenberg were published in travelbook Putování aneb Cesta z Království českého do města Benátek, odtud po moři do Země svaté, Země judské a dále do Egypta a velikého města Kairu (Prague 1608) by Kryštof Harant, including depictions of contemporary foreign costumes, architecture, fauna, flora and also map of Mediterranean sea and views of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Cairo or mount Sinai could be attributed to him. Woodcuts were made probably after Harant's own sketches, even though there is no proof, this is likely because the ability to draw was part of the education of a nobleman. The copper engraving was relatively expensive and did not spread until the beginning of the 17th century. The quality of Willenberger's work is very variable, which makes it difficult to attribute him woodcuts without a signature. Willenberg's arrival in Prague did not have a major impact on the quality of his vedute and works from Louka can be marked as the top in quality. His depiction of frequently idealised Jerusalem is much more accurate than the older depictions, but his inspiration can be found, for example, in the veduta of Jerusalem by Christian van Adrichem from 1584. The same situation as with figures is apparent in the case of animals like dolphin which were unknown to Willenberg, so he followed the sketches. These animals, therefore, look like beasts or monsters. Some illustrations of animals in Harant's book were copied from a book by Conrad Gessner. From Willenberg's preserved sketches of cities, later transferred to woodcuts in Diadochos (1602), it's apparent that he simplified the views and made them more associative than documentary.

Literature