View of the Holy Land with prayer portraits of the Ketzel family

General information
Original location Nuremberg
Current location Lost (formerly in Powerscourt House, Ireland, which burned down in 1974)
Provenance Attested from the late seventeenth century until 1854 in the chapel of the house Zum goldenen Schild in Nuremberg, where it probably ended up in a series of inheritances after the male line of the Ketzel family died out in 1588. Between 1854 and 1903 it was bought by Frederick, the fourth Marquis of Londonderry, who gave it to the Viscounts Powerscourt. In the collection of Powerscourt House until its destruction in 1974.
Artist Anonymous
Date after 1503 (last mentioned year on the painting)
Material Panel
Dimensions Unknown
Visual elements
Short description View of the Holy Land, showing a landscape with in it on the viewer's left the city of Jerusalem, on the upper right Bethlehem and the river Jordan. In the foreground right a pilgrim's ship, left a battle (?), and religious scenes indicating the holy places in Palestine in between. In the foreground eight kneeling figures of the Ketzel family could be seen.
Number of pilgrims 8
Depicted pilgrims (order unknown)
Personal information
Name Heinrich Ketzel
Social status / profession Merchant (in the saffron trade), originally from Augsburg; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the order of the lily or flower pot, the order of Cyprus, and of St Catherine
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1389
Other pilgrimages Sinai, monastery of St Catherine
Death
Date of death 14 September 1438 (mentioned on grave)
Location of grave Nuremberg, St Sebald Church
Image of grave North side (outside) of the west choir of the St Sebald church
Personal information
Name Georg Ketzel
Social status / profession Merchant; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of Santiago de Compostela, of St Anthony of Henneberg, of the lily or flower pot of Aragon, of the Cypriotic sword
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1453
Other pilgrimages Santiago de Compostela
Death
Year of death 1488
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Georg was a grandson of Heinrich, Ulrich's brother, and Georg II and Wolf's father.
Georg Ketzel the Elder founded a chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in the hospital of the Holy Gost (Heilig-Geist-Spital). There still exists a stained-glass window carrying his and his wife's arms and order signs, together with a Jerusalem cross (GNM MM197).
Personal information
Name Ulrich Ketzel
Social status / profession Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the order of the Dragon, of the Cypriotic sword, of the lily or flower pot of Aragon, of St Anthony of Henneberg
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1462
Other pilgrimages Santiago de Compostela
Death
Year of death Before 1484
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Ulrich was a grandson of Heinrich and the brother of Georg the Elder.
There exists a stained-glass window with his arms and insigna (GNM MM199)
Personal information
Name Martin Ketzel
Social status / profession Merchant; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the Cypriotic sword, of the lily or flower pot of Aragon
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1468(?) and 1476
Travel report Martin Ketzel, Pilgerfahrt ins Heilige Land (MS Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Pal. Germ. 117) written in Augsburg, between 1476 and 1486. The manuscript was originally in the collection of Elector Palatine Ottheinrich, who made a pilgrimage himself as well.
Death
Year of death After 1507
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Around Martin developed the legend that he had founded the Nuremberg Stations of the Cross, executed by the sculptor Adam Kraft. According to the legend, Kraft used the measurements of the Via Dolorosa taken by Martin in the Holy Land. Upon returning to Germany, Martin lost his notes and had to go on pilgrimage a second time. The story cannot be proven by any factual evidence, however.
Martin Ketzel belonged to the Augsburg-based branch of the family.
Personal information
Name Wolf Ketzel
Social status / profession Merchant; Flag bearer of the city of Nuremberg; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the order of the lily or flower pot of Aragon, of the Cypriotic sword. Wolf fell out with the city after 1505 during a conflict with his family in law. He fled to Würzburg in 1515 and was removed from the Nuremberg city council in 1517.
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1493
Death
Year of death 1544
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Son of Georg the Elder, brother of Georg the Younger.
There exists a stained-glass window with his arms and insigna (GNM MM198).
Wolf Ketzel traveled together with Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony.
Personal information
Name Georg Ketzel
Social status / profession Merchant; took part in the army of Nuremberg during the Landshut War of Succession (1504); City counselor (Sch&oum;ffe) for the farmer's court (1510); Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the order of the Cypriotic sword
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Medal of Georg Ketzel the Younger (Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, inv. no. Med270) also displays the signs of Jerusalem pilgrimage
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1498
Death
Year of death 1533
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Son of Georg the Elder, brother of Wolf. Georg went together with Sebald, his cousin, and duke Heinrich of Saxony.
There exists a stained-glass window with his arms and insigna (GNM MM200)
Personal information
Name Sebald Ketzel
Social status / profession Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the Cypriotic sword
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1498
Death
Year of death 1530
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Great-grandson of Heinrich, brother of Michael. He accompanied his cousin Georg the Younger and duke Heinrich of Saxony on the pilgrimage.
There exists a stained-glass window with his arms and insigna (GNM MM201)
Personal information
Name Michael Ketzel
Social status / profession Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, of the Cypriotic sword
Other known portraits View of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony (back)
Portrait series of the Ketzel family
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1503
Death
Year of death 1505
Personal remarks Great-grandson of Heinrich, brother of Sebald. Michael was, as far as we know, the last Ketzel to make the Jerusalem pilgrimage.
Additional information
General remarks The Ketzel family seems to have been extremely proud of their family tradition of Jerusalem pilgrimage and their relation to the German high nobility. Many objects attest of their pilgrimages, such as medals, grave slabs (see 1. Heinrich Ketzel), a two-wing painting with the family's genealogy, a portrait series of the Ketzel pilgrims, stained glass windows, and the back of the panel with a view on Jerusalem and prayer portrait of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony. It is probable that this high number of pilgrimage memorials was made to support the family's claims to enter the patriciate of Nuremberg, something that was refused to them for long.
The exact design of the painting is unclear. When Hoffmann published the photograph shown above in 1927, he chose to cut off the portraits of the Ketzels, which according to him were situated under the landscape. The original photograph is lost. However, as the panel shows many resemblance to the view of the Holy Land with prayer portrait of Frederick the Wise of Saxony and the two tapestries with a view of the Holy Land and Count Palatine Ottheinrich and his travel companions, we can suspect that the prayer portraits were placed in a similar way in the foreground of the landscape. Moreover, descriptions of the panel and the other pilgrimage memorials of the Ketzel family suggest that the eight Ketzels described above were depicted, in order of their year of pilgrimage. They would have been accompanied by a small text mentioning their year(s) of pilgrimage and the German princes whom they accompanied, a coat of arms and the signs of their acquired accolades, including those of the Holy Sepulchre.
As the exact design of the Ketzel figures is unknown, so is the execution of their respective coats of arms. The coat of arms of the Ketzel family, however, was: in blue on a gold three topped mountain a silver long-tailed monkey, holding in its right hand a gold roundle and around its body a golden girdle and ring; crest: the monkey on the mountain.(in blauw op een gouden drieberg een zilveren meerkat met een gouden bol in zijn rechterhand en een gouden gordel met ring om zijn middel; helmteken: de meerkat op de berg). There is no reason to assume that a different coat of arms was displayed.
Literature
  • Aign, Theodor, Die Ketzel. Ein Nürnberger Handelsherren- und Jerusalempilger-Geschlecht (Neustad an der Aisch 1961)
  • Hoffmann, Friedrich H., 'Wallfahrtsbilder vom heiligen Land', Der Kunstwanderer 9 (1927), pp. 137-139
  • Holterman, Bart, Pilgrimages in images: Early Sixteenth-century Views of the Holy Land with Pilgrims' Portraits as Part of the Commemoration of the Jerusalem Pilgrimage in Germany, unpublished master thesis (Utrecht 2013)
  • Viscount Powerscourt, K.P., P.C., A Description and History of Powerscourt (London 1903), pp. 62-63
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