Woman's Art Inc.
Susanna Maria von Sandrart: Women Artists in 17th-Century Nürnberg
Author(s): Sabina Leßmann
Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 1993), pp. 10-14
Published by: Woman's Art Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358424
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SUSA
MARI
SAND
Women A
17th-Centur
By Sabina I
Therefore/ expecting that others
would consider me immodest and
conceited so that they would jeer at me/ I contradict those with
utmost insistence/ with the intention of learning further from
those/who have more practice/ Ifeel a great desire.1
Rosina Fiirst here expresses pride on the one hand and
modesty and submission on the other. Such circumlocutions
were common in women's publications. Be they artists,
scientists, or writers, women whose work left the private
sphere walked a tightrope: confidence and capability had to be
balanced against modesty and moderation. Why did so many
women describe their work so similarly in relation to their
household skills and to God? And why did they feel the need
to justify their artistic occupations as an alternative to
"dangerous" and "reproachable" idleness? Through such
rhetoric these women seemed bent on confirming the
sinfulness of such an occupation that would lead them to
become artists first and women second.
In the preface to the third edition, Fiirst wrote:
As I always refused unpleasant idleness/ which is the root of all
evil/ whereas I always felt the aspiration and longing to learn
and know all that is fitting for an honorable woman/ so that my
dear parents allowed me/ to satisfy my desire to comprehend art
and science: Thus I made the one and the other piece-in
addition to the work that had to be done-as befitting for my
honor and status-that was my greatest pleasure.2
With this preface Fiirst acknowledges her interest in art and
science. Even though female authors tried to represent their
occupations as secondary and virtuous, their seriousness of
purpose is often subtly revealed. In contrast, their male
colleagues had no need to hide their ambition or commitment;
on the contrary, they could be proud of these qualities.
Women's peculiar position led them to schizophrenic
arguments that had to be settled repeatedly.
Among Fiirst's contemporaries were many female writers,
translators, publishers, artists, illustrators, collectors,
embroiderers, copper-etchers, and cameo, gem, and jewel
cutters. Most worked in the home, where, during the 17th
century, there was little division between living and working
areas, although this was beginning to change. In Niirnberg,
which was a "Freie Reichsstadt"
"~N 'T N A ~ with no craft guilds to limit
L^ 1 L ry participation in professional
activities, women were able to
work in a number of enterprises.
V~ O ~N~ \/Women's participation in each
family differed, but they were
paid for their work.
Fiirst's text shows, however,
L R A T 1 |that this professionalism was
being called into question as
newer, stricter norms led her
and the other women to selfLrtists
in contradiction and conflict.
These were not women of the
y Nuirnberg upper classes who, as dilettante
could easily resolve any conflict
by representing their occupa~LeRB~mann
tions as pleasurable, nonremun
erative pastimes. Most 17thcentury
women art workers, for
reasons both practical and
financial, were vital to their family workshops. All interest
and talented family members were put to work. An exc
tionally large number of women were employed in vario
supporting roles in the many successful publishing house
the Niirnberg region. By the end of the century, the situat
was beginning to change as the rigid convention of the fem
as housewife and mother took hold.3 The split found in wom
artists of Rosina Helena Fiirst's generation was informed
this changing context. Women were torn between se
confidence and self-justification. The woman artist or artisa
as an integral part of the family workshop, which for so lo
had been the "norm," was gradually becoming the exception
The contrast in education and working conditions between
men and women in 17th-century Niimberg can be elucida
by examining the career of reproduction illustrator Susa
Maria von Sandrart (1658-1716). Born in Niirnberg, she w
the third of nine children of Jacob and Regina Christina (bo
Eimmart) von Sandrart. Jacob von Sandrart, a copper-etcher
graphic-art dealer, and bookseller, moved from Regensburg
Niirnberg in 1656 for the better economic conditions th
The Sandrart name soon became important in the city's arti
circles, especially after 1612, when Joachim von Sandr
(Jacob's uncle) and his wife, Esther Barbara (bo
Bloemmaert), a Niimberg native, moved to the city. Joac
was a respected painter and copper-etcher and later beca
famous as the author of the two-volume Teutsche Academie d
Edlen Bau-Bild- und Mahlerey-Kiinste (German Academy
the Architectural, Sculptural, and Pictorial Arts).
Like other home production units of the period, the wom
in the Sandrart family workshop were engaged where th
were needed.4 The production and sale of graphic a
required a variety of skills: screen making, etching, pa
cutting, printing, and drying; and these Susanna Maria bega
learning at an early age. It seems that an important criterion
the family workshop was the order or arrangement of sibling
In the von Sandrart household, three of the nine childre
worked as artists: oldest son, Johann Jacob, the third old
child, Susanna Maria, and the seventh child and second s
Joachim, born ten years after Susanna Maria. (Because of th
big age difference, Joachim was no competition for his olde
sister.) In families where girls were numerous or among
0
In the preface to her first
book of embroidery patterns,
published in Niirnberg
in 1666 by her father, Paul
Fiirst, Rosina Helena Fiirst
(1650-1710) wrote:
Though/ respective this little
book, it is/ as You well know/ not
really new/ nor was it begun by
myself; but because my dear
father, some time ago had it in his
publishing house and wished to
enlarge the edition and republish
it/ and because it gave me pleasure
to insert my trifling works
that I made and collected within
my modesty and pleasure...so
that I could not refuse my dear
father this dutiful obedience.
?r??
r
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first born, they were more likely to
receive training for art careers.
Susanna Maria von Sandrart
produced several hundred drawings
and prints, most of which have been
preserved in books as illustrations or as
single prints or series. The numerous
editions of these books account for the
rather good condition of the prints.
Her Folioband, a folio volume
containing most of her drawings and
prints, which she bound herself, is
preserved at the Germanisches
Nationalmuseum in Niirnberg. In a
handwritten preface she explained:
Myself Susanna Maria, daughter of the
deceased Jacob von Sandrart, though
taught by my now deceased motherfrom
an early age to do domestic and other
work, had an inclination also to draw,
making in idle times the drawings
presented in this book, begun also by
my own impulse to etch in copper.
When my late father saw that I held a
natural inclination for this occupation,
he encouraged me and gave me copper
to train, at least those copper works that
he could use for his art trade. This
work was interrupted when I was
married in 1683 to my first husband
Johan Paul Auer. After his early death,
when I had been married only four
years and ten weeks, I had the
advantage that I could support my
father's and brother's work so I could
earn my living and was not a burden to
anyone. All the copper etchings in this
book were made by myself, most of them
while I was a widow. In 1695 I was
married for a second time-because of
divine guidance and my parents'
advice-to the widower Wolfgang
Moritz Endter; I had to stop my
occupation then because of the extensive
housework. Nearly all I produced I
collected in this book to see what I did
in my youth and especially in my seven
years of widowhood. This book I gave
my dearest husband Wolfgang Moritz
Endterfor my kind memory wishing him
benevolence for body and soul.5
As indicated, Susanna Maria von
Sandrart's father recognized and
supported her interest and skill.
Several conditions, it seems, were
necessary for a girl to develop the
ambition needed to pursue independent
work. Susanna Maria speaks of her
"inclination to draw" and "my own
impulse to etch in copper." In fact,
many of the drawings in the Folioband
.. . . . . . :..................... ... .....
Fig. 1. Susanna Maria von Su..dtr1l, Allegories,
black ink on paper, in Folioband, p. 24.
After Francesco Villaonena La ponmpo funerale
(1591).
.. . , " ..:
^ -I . . t ,
Fig. 2. Susanna Maria von SanrJrarl, Colosseum
at Rome, black ink on paper, in Folioband, p. 85.
After an unknown etching.
are her copies of dr
father or granduncle
of work to study is of obvious
importance to a budding artist.
Another important influence w
the artist's immediate circle, and
several females in the Sandrart family
were busy professional artists.
Antoinette von Sandrart, the sister of
Jacob, was a copper-etcher. Esther
Barbara Bloemmaert, the wife of Uncle
Joachim, cut jewels and cameos and
collected art and curiosities. Maria von
Brecht, the wife and then widow of
Johann Jacob, taught embroidery and
drawing. A cousin, Maria Clara
Eimmart, received an extensive
education from her father in drawing,
painting, languages, mathematics, and
astronomy. So during her formative
years Susanna Maria was surrounded
by many women accomplished in the
arts. Nevertheless, the basis of
Susanna Maria's work was the
reproductive graphics done to me
demands of the family busine
fact, the distribution of the diffe
tasks may account for her man
sketches, which, perhaps, serve
models for reproductive work don
another family member. Such
be the case with the drawing in F
1, after a copper etching by Fran
Villamena, first published in 1591
drawing is not an exact copy, a
used broad brushstrokes rather than
the fine lines of the etching technique.
Susanna Maria makes very clear in
her preface another, fundamental
gender restriction. Before even
discussing her artistic affairs, she writes
about her training in domestic matters.
Because of extensive household
responsibilities during her sec
marriage to Endter, a widower with
daughters aged ten to twenty, Susa
Maria had to give up her art wor
fact, she did not work during ei
marriage, and her career came to a
after her marriage to Endter, wh
she predeceased.
The fact that her first husband was
painter and her second a books
and publisher did little to advance
career. Only in youth and widowh
was Susanna Maria able to realize her
creativity; all of her drawings and
etchings that can be dated were
produced before or between her
marriages, a situation quite common
during this period. Her family connections
did, however, serve to record her
name and work for posterity. In his
WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL SPRING/SUMMER 1993
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Fig. 3. Susanna Maria von Sarond o., Male Nude,
pencil and white chalk, in Folioband, p. 83.
Probably after Joachim von ondka. 1.
Teutsche Academie, Joachim von Sandrart mentions his
grandniece Susanna Maria, who also was one of his pupils.6
Besides the theoretical writings about architecture, painting,
sculpture, and antique art, the author includes a prescription
for training young artists. Following the acceptable patterns
for the period, he described three stages: first, copying twodimensional
patterns, meaning drawings, etchings, or
paintings; second, copying three-dimensional objects, especially
antique sculpture; and third, drawing from nature, either
landscape or the human form.
In the "vitae" portion of the book, Joachim described both
his grandniece and grandnephew Johann. It is interesting to
compare the two texts. Of Susanna Maria, he wrote:
Susanna von Sandrart, a 20-year-old virgin, Jacob von
Sandrart's daughter, born in Niirnberg as in the art lover's
home, besides being well-experienced in domestic affairs, has a
great understanding of drawing and then of her own accord
started to realize her ambition to etch in copper, so that after
only a few years she has become capable and perfect that shewithout
neglecting domestic affairs-knows how to create
buildings, landscapes, and other pretty things, nice historical
themes too, making them all in a quick and good manner. I
hesitate to tell more about her because of our relationship and I
let her works speak further about her character, her figures
from the old and the new testament, the fountains and other
works exhibited in this "Academie." The art expert may judge
of the fruit after a few years that is to be expected where youth
shows us those blossoms.
Of his grandnephew, Joachim von Sandrart wrote:
Johann Jacob von Sandrart, born at Regensburg, is educated
with diligence to his studies, especially to painting and drawing
at the academy, also to perspective, architecture, geometry, and
other subjects necessary to complete his accomplishments. He
is well experienced and now eager to learn more in the subject
of painting so that, with regard to his youth and because of a
proper continuation, there will be much to expect.8
Both texts describe serious young artists. The description of
Susanna Maria, which is more detailed, was inserted only in
the second edition of Teutsche Academie, published in 1679,
four years after the consideration of Johann Jacob. However,
there is a marked difference between the two passages: with
Susanna Maria, Joachim prefaces her art training with her
training in domestic affairs; with Johann Jacob, he cites his
training at the academy. Too, whereas Susanna Maria
remained within the family and the family business, for her
brothers this area played a role only at the beginning of their
studies. As expected, brother Johann Jacob was also trained
outside the family and journeyed out of the country. He
visited Italy and younger brother Joachim lived several years in
London. It is not known whether Susanna Maria ever set foot
outside the Nimrnberg area.
Women were not allowed to take part in the academy
meetings, which Joachim mentions in his text about Johann
Jacob. The Niirnberg Malerakademie, which was founded by,
among others, Susanna Maria's father and granduncle, was a
meeting place for artists, both professional and amateur. Men
could theorize and draw from the nude there. What is most
ironic, between about 1662, when the meetings began, and
1672, they took place at Jacob von Sandrart's home-where he
and his family (including Susanna Maria) lived and worked.
Since the meetings were considered "public" events, women,
of course, were not invited. Thus, while her brother was
offered the stimulation necessary for a developing young artist,
Susanna Maria was required to remain behind closed doors,
even in her own home.
Joachim von Sandrart's texts about his grandniece and
grandnephew both end with allusions to what can be expected
in their careers: "the fruit after a few years that is to be
expected where the youth shows us those blossoms" for
Susanna Maria, and "because of a proper continuation, there
will be much to expect," for Johann Jacob. Though both
descriptions seem hopeful, this is an illusion. For a female, a
"proper continuation" was not possible; by virtue of her
gender, her development was limited.9
Deceptively, a first look at Susanna Maria's oeuvre suggests
that she received "classic" art training, the kind described by
her granduncle. The work ranges from reproductions of
German, Italian, and French patterns to sketches of antique
busts, animals, and landscapes (including southern landscapes
m 4. ,,,., i C ^ ^^ t. .?^4.
Fig. 4. Susanna Maria von S..duo, I, Holy
black ink on paper, Graphic Collection,
After an etching by Sebastian Bourdo
0
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and ruins as seen in Figure 2), to drawings of human models.
The latter include portraits, complete figures, studies of hands
or backs, and even nudes-both male and female, like the
chalk drawing in Figure 3, probably after Joachim von
Sandrart. Upon closer examination, however, one discovers
-that most of her works were exact copies-even of the faultsof
works by other artists, especially her father and granduncle.
Of her six hundred documented works, in fact, only six are not
copies. It seems she never was permitted to pursue the three
stages of training promoted by her own family. She was never
taught perspective, composition, or how to draw from life.
What she learned was to copy the type of art training promoted
by her own family but closed to her as a woman. Not only was
Susanna Maria essentially walled in from all communication,
training, and stimulation, she also had to depend for her education
on works produced behind that wall. In what seems to
be a contradiction, she even learned in this way to draw the
male nude. This leads one to believe that the taboo against
women drawing the male body is not the nakedness itself but
rather the idea of women gazing at and drawing the subject in
the presence of men.10
From the beginning Susanna Maria von Sandrart's training
was limited to copying paintings and drawings, which, for all
practical purposes, led her to work exclusively as a reproductive
illustrator. This was not a typical female domain, as both
men and women worked in this area. But what becomes clear
in the case of Susanna Maria and her female contemporaries is
that few other channels were open to them. Even many of the
works found in the Folioband that seem to have been done for
personal reasons were copies, as is the pen-and-ink drawing of
the Holy Family after Sebastian Bourdon (Fig. 4). She wrote
on the drawing: "Dedicated to my aunt Esther Barbara von
Sandrart, I made this drawing at the age of 56 years, with (ill
and) nearly black eyes."
Among the few exceptions are two delicate pencil drawings
of her two sons who died in childhood. These intimate
sketches, one of which is Figure 5, are of a quality that makes
you wonder why Susanna Maria did not do more works of her
own invention. (On this drawing she wrote: "Johann Friedrich
Auer born 31st December 1684 died 20th June 1687.")
There were both benefits and limitations in Susanna Maria's
situation, of course. Had she not been born into an artistic
family, she probably would have received no training. In fact,
most women artists born before the 19th century had artist
fathers. One has to ask, however, whether she was aware of
the proscriptions on her life and work created by her gender.
Each woman artist had to find her own degree of free space,
mode of adaptation, and method of resistance.
Rosina Helena Fiirst wrote: "Thus I made one piece and
then another-in addition to the work that had to be done-as
befitting my honor and status. That was my greatest
pleasure."" Perhaps she found harmony between that which
she regarded as "fitting for my honor and status" and that
"which was my greatest pleasure."
In 1713, three years before her death, Susanna Maria von
Sandrart added at the bottom of a pen-and-ink drawing:
I, Susanna Maria Wolfgang Moritz Endter, have made this
drawing, which shows God, metamorphosed as three men,
appearing to Abraham, when I was 55 years old because in this
year I felt pleasure again to draw, which made my mind healthy
again after so much sorrow and fear, forgetting all these past
matters. 12
Fig. 5. Susanna Maria von Sandrart, The Dead Son Johann Fridrich
Auer, pencil on paper, in Fofic,,,J, p. 76.
That same year she wrote beneath another drawing:
I, Susanna Maria Wolfgang Moritz Endter, have drawn the last
period of Christ's suffering, namely the holy funeral, when I
was 55 years old, already losing weight now after I had not
drawn anything for my years, thinking that perhaps this may be
my last drawing, because I become older and lose my body's
force and my senses' vigor even because after passing those sad
years there is no hope anymore for a more fortunate time and
for something better than the quiet and calm grave, in which
God may lay me at this time.'3
The drawings, texts, and prayers written beneath some of
her graphic works during the last years of her life show a great
deal of sorrow and symbols of death. The reasons for her sadness
and affinity with death and the grave as a redemption are
not known. To suggest that these are linked to the situation of
the female artist might be stretching the point. But the fact
that Susanna Maria relates her sorrow and her hunger for
death to the drawing that gives her consolation demonstrates
the complex situation of women artists during this period. The
conflict between her ambitions on the one hand and
restrictions on and even the disruptions of her art product
on the other seems to have been accepted by Susanna M
von Sandrart, but with a distinct degree of sadness. Looking
her work, one would guess that it reflects the same training
working conditions as those of her brother. Only from
writings and those of her granduncle do we get a sense of t
vast differences between the sexes in education, mobil
feelings of self-worth, and hope for the future.
Research on Susanna Maria von Sandrart was made poss
by access to the Folioband containing her complete grap
work, autobiographical texts, and manifestoes of her contem
poraries. But such research was not easy. During each of
several journeys to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Niimberg, where the Folioband is preserved, the same ob
cle arose: the folio could not be found. Although the book h
a reference number, it is not listed in the catalogu
Therefore, it was necessary to have seen the book and to kn
its reference number, St. N. 237, in order to request it.
experience at Niimberg demonstrates one of the difficulties
doing research on women artists. Although many destro
their records (or their families did posthumously) or, indee
WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL SPRING/SUMMER 1993
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never kept any, so convinced were they of their worthlessness,
even when records and documents do exist, they are often
hidden from art historians and other scholars. ?
NOTES
This essay is based on my Ph.D. thesis in art history for the University of
Bonn. It was published as Susanna Maria von Sandrart.
Arbeitsbedingungen einer Niirnberger Graphikerin im 17 Jahrhundert
(Susanna Maria von Sandrart. A woman artist's working conditions and
her graphic production in Niirnberg in the 17th century) (Hildesheim/
New York: Olms Verlag, 1991).
1. Rosina Helena Fiirst, DaB Neue Modelbuch (The New Model Book)
(Niimberg: Paul Fiirst Verlag, 1666). All translations are by the author.
2. Rosina Helena Fiirst, Model Buchs Driter Theil (The Model Book's
Third Volume) (Niirnberg; Paul Fiirst Verlag, 1676).
3. Although the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic CounterReformation
are partially responsible for this new ideal of womanhood, a
deteriorating economy was the primary reason women were forced to
retreat from the workplace.
4. See Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Der Lange Weg zur Miindigkeit.
Frauen und Literatur in Deutschland 1500 bis 1800 (The long way to
majority. Women and literature in Germany 1500 to 1800) (Miinchen:
Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und C.E. Post Verlag, 1989), 178.
5. Susanna Maria von Sandrart, preface to Folioband (Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, Niirnberg, n.d.).
Isabel Bishop
Kenneth Hayes Miller ?
Reginald Marsh * Raphael Soyer
Drawing on a range of visual and verbal representations,
Ellen Wiley Todd balances the historical context
surrounding these painters with nuanced analyses of
how each artist's image of womanhood contributed to
the continual redefining
of the "new woman's"
relationships to men,
family, work, feminism,
and sexuality.
THE "NEW
WOMAN9 ,
REVISED
Painting and
Gender Politics on
Fourteenth Street
By ELLEN WILEY TODD
$45.00 cloth,
color & b/w illustrations
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6. Joachim von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie der Edlen Bau- Bi
und Mahlerey-Kiinste (Niimberg, 1675, 1679).
7. Ibid. (1679), 82.
8. Ibid. (1675), 338.
9. This inequity in training and expectations did not lead to very muc
difference in results, however. Both Susanna and Johann Jacob produ
and sold large quantities of work. Each is praised in 17th-century lit
ture on the graphic arts, but always added to the critiques of Susann
work is praise for her womanly virtues. The only difference in th
oeuvres, in fact, was that his original works were created for a commerc
market; hers were for private contemplation.
10. Concerning the gender-specific valuation of gazing at the nak
body during the 17th century, see Thomas Kleinspehn, Derfliicht
Blick. Sehen und Identitdt in der Kultur der Neuzeit (The Fickle Vi
Seeing and Identity in 17th-century Culture) (Reinbek: Rowohlt Verl
1989), 109ff.
11. Fiirst, Model Book, third volume, 1676.
12. von Sandrart, Folioband, added sheet to p. 479.
13. Ibid., added sheet to page 480.
Sabina LeBmann is a curator in the contemporary art department
at the Kunstmuseum Bonn. She has also published artic
about 17th-century German women artists and about wom
photographers. In February 1993 she organized a conference
women, c.1700.
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