{"id":9893,"date":"2023-01-07T22:57:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T22:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.struvefamily.org\/?page_id=9893"},"modified":"2023-01-07T23:10:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T23:10:52","slug":"the-alnpeck-durer-connection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.struvefamily.org\/?page_id=9893","title":{"rendered":"The Alnpeck – Durer Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Durer \u2013 Alnpeck<\/a> Connection<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the great German artist Albrecht D\u00fcrer died in 1528, he was one of the one hundred wealthiest men of Nuremberg and his valuable workshop and stock of prints, woodblocks, and plates became the property of his wife, Agnes. However, she was forced by law to sell the workshop and remaining stock to D\u00fcrer\u2019s brother, Endres, in order to settle the estate. Agnes died in 1539.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endres D\u00fcrer was the son of the goldsmith Albrecht D\u00fcrer the Elder. \u00c4. and his wife Barbara and the brother of the painter Albrecht D\u00fcrer d. J. <\/a>and Hans D\u00fcrer. In 1497 he began an apprenticeship as a goldsmith. Although not proven, it is likely that he was trained by his father. Around 1502, he took over the workshop from his father, who had died shortly before. In 1514 he received his master’s degree and was listed for the first time as a silver-worker in the city’s goldsmith register.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endres married a woman named Ursula whose maiden name is not known. Some claim that she was the widow<\/em> of N. N. Hirnkoffen. Ursula had a sister whose name is also not known. Ursula\u2019s sister married Sebald von Hirnkoffen \/ Hirnkofen \/ Hirnhofer \/ Hirnkouen. If Ursula was a window she may have married a brother of Sebald\u2019s. Two sisters marrying two brothers is not unknown. If she were not<\/em> a widow when she married Endres and<\/em> her maiden name was Hirnkoffen<\/em> then she may have been a sister of Sebald\u2019s. We just don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebald (and possibly Ursula) was a child of Wilhelm von Hirnkoffen. His other children included: Theobald, Christoph, Hanns, Wilhelm, and Sigmund. We also know that Sebald and his NN wife had two daughters: Constantina and Regina. These relationships are shown on the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 27th<\/sup>, 1514, Endres D\u00fcrer had to provide a guarantee of 6 guilders for a \u201cDoctor Rennwart\u201d, possibly Wilhelm von Hirnkoffen, to redeem a horse. This Wilhelm von Hirnkoffen was possibly Ursula\u2019s father; if so Endres was helping out his father in law. If not, then he was helping his wife\u2019s sister\u2019s father in law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endres continued printing D\u00fcrer\u2019s works until his death on 21st<\/sup> April 1555. At that point, the workshop materials became the property of his widow, Ursula, who also continued to print D\u00fcrer\u2019s woodcut images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 14th<\/sup> , 1531, Urusla\u2019s niece Constantia von Hirnkoffen married the goldsmith and coin etcher Gilg Kilian Pr\u00e4ger from Dresden. He was not a man of means and upon his domiciling at Nuremburg the city council reduced the admission fee for citizenship by half, to two guilders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constantina\u2019s sister Regina married Hieronymus Alnpeck<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A speculative chart of where Hieronymus Alnpeck fits into the Alnpeck family <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At this time (around 1531), Constantina and Regina\u2019s father Sebald von Hirnkoffen and his father Wilhelm, must already have died, because the dowry for Constantia\u2019s marriage to Gilg Kilian Prager was paid out on May 14th<\/sup> and on August 17th<\/sup>, 1531, by Endres D\u00fcrer and his wife Ursula, Constantina\u2019s aunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 24th<\/sup>, 1533 Endres D\u00fcrer took over the guardianship of his niece Constantina, for whom he also acted as a guarantor on. [But, if she was married 1531 why would she still be under her Uncle\u2019s guardianship in 1533?]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilg Kilian Prager was living with his \u2018uncle in law\u2019, Endres, when in 1532 a dispute broke out between them in which Endres tried to force Prager to leave his household by May 1st<\/sup>. On March 20th<\/sup>, 1532, a court decided that Prager did not have to undertake to move out of the Durer household by the date set by Endres. How\/ why the dispute started and how it was resolved we do not know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted above, Endres D\u00fcrer died in 1555, and his widow Ursula survived him by nine years. After which she still managed to retain the stock of prints, woodblocks, and plates that her husband had inherited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ursula died in 1564, the D\u00fcrer workshop and its contents were either passed on by inheritance were or sold to Hieronymus Alnpeck and his wife Regina, Ursula\u2019s niece. Although Ursula had left a will, the original no longer exists and instead only a short summary of it was made in later times. From this we know that Constantina and Regina were daughters of her N. N. sister and her husband Sebald von Hirnkoffen and that both were beneficiaries. At the time that Ursula wrote her will Regina (Hirnkoffen) and Hieronymus Alnpeck were living in Prague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, no genealogical databases indicate the marriage between Hieronymus Alnpeck and Regina von Hirnkoffen. These genealogical databases do show one or two persons named Hieronymus Alnpeck alive during this period. One of these was the son of George and Anna (Mannewitz) Alnpeck. However, his dates vary from one database to another. The majority tells us that he was born around 1492 and that he died on June 24th<\/sup> 1563. Another set of databases has this Hieronymus as being born around 1500 and dying in 1576. If the year of death for Hieronymus was 1563 then he could not have enjoyed any legacy from Ursula as she died in 1564. If Hieronymus died in 1576 then he would have had almost twelve years in which to enjoy his D\u00fcrer legacy. Even so, most databases indicate that this Hieronymus married NN Hau\u00dfmann (1516 \u2013 1576) the daughter of the Freiberg Mint Master Hans Haussman and that they had several children: i) Wolf Alnpeck; ii) Georg Alnpeck; iii) Hans Alnpeck (1532 \u2013 1601); and iv) Katharina Alnpeck. If the wife of Hieronymus Alnpeck died in 1576 then Hieronymus could not have married Regina von Hirnkoffen. Hieronymus and N.N. Hau\u00dfmann appear to have remained married up until their deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about this as a theory? Hieronymus Alnpeck was born between 1492 and 1500. He married NN Hau\u00dfmann around 1533 when she would have been 17. Let us say she<\/em> died on June 24 1563 and he<\/em> died in 1576. In other words, we swap the death dates for the wife for the husband\u2019s. If Hau\u00dfmann died in 1563, this would have given Hieronymus enough time for him to marry Regina and<\/em> to have inherited from Ursula in 1564.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hieronymus Alnpeck, who by his own admission had been a servant of Czech Johann Christoph Popel von Lobkowitz (1549 \u2013 1609), valued his wife’s inheritance to a maximum of 800 fl. for tax purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also applied by letter to the Nuremberg City Council to waive any additional tax. Based on this letter,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archduke Ferdinand, then also governor of Bohemia, agreed that the council could reduce the usual inheritance tax, which amounted to 10% of the estate value, from 80 to 20 guilders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during this time that the Archduke was beginning to build up his own art collection. Perhaps he agreed with Alnpeck to reduce the inheritance tax because he himself was interested in the artistic legacy of Albrecht D\u00fcrer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This idea is supported by the fact that Ferdinand later acquired most of the hand drawings and engravings by D\u00fcrer from the estate of Hieronymus and Regina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is known that sales of drawings from D\u00fcrer\u2019s studio in Nuremberg were made at various points by his heirs, Endres and Ursula D\u00fcrer, before the latter sold large portions of the estate to the merchant and collector, Willibald Imhoff in 1557. After Imhoff\u2019s death in 1580, his son Karl sold the bulk of the collection in 1588 to Rudolf II of Prague; and other D\u00fcrer material was disposed of by Ursula D\u00fcrer\u2019s niece, Regina (Hirnkoffen) Alnpeck in about 1580, some of which was acquired by Rudolf II\u2019s court artist, Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Freiberg mint was moved to Dresden in 1556, (Andres Alnpeck the mint master there having died in 1553), the new mint master was Hans Biener (B\u00fcner) from Joachimsthal. His name was first mentioned in 1553 as an assistant to mint master Andreas Alnpeck in Freiberg. At Dresden, Hans B\u00fcner was first appointed on October 3rd<\/sup>, 1556 as administrator of the mint, and he was re-appointed on July 9th<\/sup> , 1558. Later he held the title of Master of the Mint, and he worked as such until his death in 1604.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hans had the following as members of his staff at the Dresden Mint: Caspar Hase who was appointed Warden and Sworn Tester; Johann Ludewig Frank who was employed as a master coin smith; Gilg Kilian Prager <\/em>as an iron cutter (coin engraver); and Matthes Urban as a coin printer. There were two Pragers \u2013 father and son \u2013 who worked at the Dresden Mint: Kilian Prager der \u00c4ltere is noted working there in 1582 and Kilian Prager der J\u00fcngere in 1592.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that Prager worked for the Dresden mint that had moved there from Freiberg after Andres Alnpeck\u2019s death, would help support the idea that his brother in law Hieronymus Alnpeck was of the same family as Andres\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If so, then it is possible that this Hieronymus Alnpeck was a son of Georg and Anna (Mannewitz) Alnpeck’s and the brother of Magdalene Alnpeck who was the direct ancestor of the Three Loeck Sisters. Unfortunately, none of the genealogical databases available on the internet show a Hieronymus whose dates would fit with the Hieronymus who inherited the Durer workshop. However, I would submit that the Hieronymus Alnpeck who married NN Hau\u00dfmann and then Regina von Hirnkoffen was son of Georg and Anna (Mannewitz) Alnpeck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some drawings by Albrecht Durer from the collection of Regina and Hieronymus Alnpeck are now held at the British Museum, London. In total there are about 14 drawings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woman in Netherlands\u2019 head dress
inv 5218.45<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Portrait of Christian II of Denmark. Antwerp, July 1521. inv. 5218.48<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Portrait of a Young Man,
possibly Florent Nepotis. inv. 5218.54<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Head of a Woman, inv 5218.43<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
A Fireplace with a Table inv. 5218.133<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Head and Shoulders of a Young Child.
nv. 5218.40<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Portrait of a Man inv. 5218.52<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The British Library has the following from Hieronymus and Regina Alnpeck’s Durer collection:<\/p>\n\n\n\n