GRAFICKÉ DÍLO JANA WILLENBERGERA A KNIŽNÍ TISKY PŘELOMU 16. A 17. STOLETÍ (MEZI REALITOU, IMAGINACÍ A KONCEPTUALITOU)
JOHN WILLENBERGER’S GRAPHICS AND PRINTED BOOKS AT THE TURN OF THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES: AMONG REALITY, IMAGINATION AND CONCEPTUALITY

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with special character of graphics made by John Willenberger (1571–1613), an important graphic artist of Mannerism active in Bohemia and Moravia. He was specialized in production of vistas and another decorations for different printed books, esp. historical and genealogical. Such pieces were always regarded as true depiction of historical reality and special circumstances of creating the vistas that were pointed out by e.g. E. H. Gombrich (Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation) were neglected. According to his ideas we can notice in Willenberger’s works more or less significant departure from topographical accuracy. It might be cause of different reasons. We can observe special unconscious or artistic reasons but the intentional and ideological ones as well. A lot of Willenberger’s graphics were used in the context of Catholic polemic against non-Catholics in books that openly propagated Catholic confession. Willenberger’s decoration of the books conformed to their ideological content and moreover he emphasized it. Also his seemingly neutral topographical views on Czech and Moravian towns (vistas) were accompanied with sophisticated ideological (Catholic) meaning that corresponded with purposes of authors or commissioners of the books. Such an iconological findings do not represent the most important result of the study. It attempts to point out the essential issue concerning the role of relation between artist and commissioner and their role in the process of constitution a work of art. The most substantial problem is to identify the inventor of the programme of the graphic decoration. Who was responsible for the concept – a graphic, a writer or a patron? Was the decoration of the printed books result of a dialog among them? Unfortunately, it is not easy to give answer, however it could give us necessary information about many similar “hidden” works of art that seem to be “without meaning”. The article tried to provide example that even seemingly neutral graphic decoration of a book could have intricate meaning and that the study of vistas should accentuate also less visible “iconological” aspects of such works of art, even if it is difficult or maybe sometimes impossible.

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