DENZEL, Daniel.

by Daniel Denzel

£6,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

An intriguing and attractive collection of drawings, mostly copied from late C16th and early C17th German prints and artists books, but apparently containing original designs. The Denzels were town painters in Ulm, according to Othmar Metzger ( Die Ulmer Stadtmaler (1495-1631) in Ulm und Oberschwaben, 35 (1958), pp. 181-200). Painters in the Early Modern period were, like most craftsmen, required to join city guilds, which could lead to appointments as the official city painter (stadtmaler). The oath sworn by the Ulm city painter has survived, including prices for basic commissions. This did not always lead to preferential treatment: in Ulm the town painter would be overlooked for commissions if other artists were deemed to be more capable, while some were removed for presenting inflated invoices and other excessive charges (Danica Brenner, Süddeutsche stadtmaler im 16. und 17. jahrhundert in The Artist Between Court and City, 1300-1600 (Petersburg: 2017), pp. 202-206). . Daniel Denzel was the younger brother of Hans who died in 1625; after the dismissal of the town painter called Schaler around 1628, Daniel assumed the position until his death in 1631. Very few works by the Denzels are known and none have been attributed to Daniel, possibly because of his very brief tenure. In 1616 Denzel s brothers Johann and Melchior published a book advertising their invention of a new measuring instrument, the schr√§gmass, which was a kind of carpenter s square, and which may be the

• Binding: Hardcover

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