- Georg Giese
Georg Giese ("Gisze" according to the title of the Holbein painting) (
2 April 1497 inDanzig (Gdańsk) inPoland -3 February 1562 inDanzig ) was amerchant .The member of the
Hanseatic League also worked inLondon where he was portrayed byHans Holbein the Younger in 1532. After Giese returned to Danzig in 1535, he married Christine Krüger, daughter of a prestigous Danzig citizen.His Danzig-based
Patrician family, which includedAlbrecht Giese , bishopTiedemann Giese etc., had come originally fromCologne .Portrait
When Georg was stationed in the 1530s at the
London branch of the Hanse, theSteelyard ("Stalhof"), the members of the Steelyard sat for a famous series of portraits byHans Holbein the Younger .The Holbein portrait commissioned by Giese, titled "Der Kaufmann Georg Gisze", identifies him by his clothing and instruments as a merchant. The painting also depicts him with carnations, at that time symbolizing his engagement. Also, a plaque depicted over his head identifies him, and states that it shows him in his 34th year, in 1532. He is holding a letter he received from his brother, written in
Middle Saxon (“Middle Low German ”): "“Dem Erszamen/Jorgen gisze to lunden/in engelant mynem/broder to handen”" (“To be handed to my brother, the honourable Jorgen gisze at London in England”).A misaligned set of scales and the placing of a vase of flowers too close to the edge of the table is suggestive of the instability the world and our place within it.
Bibliography
* T. Andratschke: "Deme Ersamen syriacuß Kallen te Lunde up Staelueff sy desse breff", in: Praxis Geschichte 1/2001
* Hermann Freytag: "Das Bildnis eines Danzigers, von Hans Holbein gemalt", in: Zeitschrift des Westpreussischen Geschichtsvereins 40/1899, Seite 107-115
* Gemäldegalerie Berlin / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz: 200 Meisterwerke. Berlin 1998, S. 108-111.
* Kurt Löcher: "Der Londoner Stahlhof und Hans Holbein", in: Cord Meckseper (Hg.), Stadt im Wandel. Kunst und Kultur des Bürgertums in Norddeutschland 1150-1650, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1985, Band 3, Seite 667f.External links
* [http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/d/feature/ggnb/werke1.html „Werke der Sammlung SMPK“: Hans Holbein d. J. (1497-1543) Der Kaufmann Georg Gisze, 1532]
* [http://www.bildung-lsa.de/db_data/1106/bildbeschr.pdf „Medienpaket: Auf den Spuren von Renaissance und Barock (pdf)]
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