MICHEL SITTOWI SOTSIAALSED SIDEMED TALLINNAS
SOCIAL TIES OF MICHEL SITTOW IN TALLINN

Summary/Abstract: Studies on Michel Sittow (ca 1469–1525), a painter who was born and died in Tallinn (Reval), have predominantly focussed on his artistic activity. This article, however, will take a different, a socio-historical and biographical approach, and survey Michel’s social ties in his home town. The article concentrates on various individuals and institutions that influenced Sittow’s private and public life: his parents and relations; marriage and his wife’s family; customers, that is, people and organisations that commissioned art from him (art is understood here in a very broad sense); and finally, his career in St. Canute’s guild of the artisans. It is evident that the social network of Sittow was not limited to the aforementioned people, but due to the limited scope of the article, a selection had to be made among his relatives and certain omissions were inevitable (e.g. his neighbours, activity as a witness or a guardian, and the long-lasting court case between him and his stepfather). The analysis of social ties of Sittow enables us to ascertain who belonged to the closest circle of the painter, what kind of tasks he fulfilled in public life, and to what extent his private life and professional career can be considered typical or atypical of an artisan in late medieval Tallinn. From a wider perspective, this kind of survey broadens our knowledge of the social and cultural history of Tallinn in the last quarter of the 15th and the first quarter of the 16th century. The first section of the article focusses on Michel’s parents, in particular his father, the painter and woodcarver Clawes van der Sittow, who appeared in the written sources of Tallinn from 1454 to his death in 1482. Although he was designated in the sources as Clawes meler (painter), he was actually competent in several fields: he carved and gilded wooden figures and pieces of church furniture (e.g. a ‘sacrament house’), decorated banners, painted and repaired glass windows, and so on. In St. Canute’s guild, he fulfilled various tasks: that of a steward (1457), the warden of the guildhall (1474–76), and an assessor (1479–82). Michel’s mother Margareta, daughter of a peasant and retail trader Olef Molner (also known as Olef Andersson) from Raasepori in Finland, was Clawes’s second wife. They had three sons: Michel, Clawes, and Jasper. Michel’s aunts and uncles also lived in Tallinn: his father’s brother Segemund, his mother’s brother Olef Molner Jr., and mother’s sister Barbara, wife of the blacksmith Clawes van dem Berge. As an adult, Michel was in close contact with his aunt Barbara and her three children: Aplonia (married to goldsmith Hinrick Schrame and merchant Cort Vincke), Elske (married to blacksmith Dirick Deters or Deteleff), and Jacob van dem Berge, who became a priest in Tartu. The second section surveys Michel’s wife Dorothea, daughter of the merchant Hans Allunse and the noblewoman Alheid Virkes. Michel and Dorothea married in 1518, after Michel’s final return to Tallinn. There was a considerable age difference between them: Michel being nearly 50, his spouse no more than 22. The marriage possibly meant a certain rise in status for Michel. He and Dorothea had a son, who was last mentioned in the sources in 1536. Michel’s father-in-law Hans Allunse probably originated from Lübeck. He is first recorded in the Tallinn sources in 1476. His exact time of death is unknown. In March 1518, three guardians were appointed to Dorothea and her brother Jurgen; they were Jurgen and Diderick Virkes, relatives (brothers?) of their mother, and Gerdt Moer. Thus, it is likely that Hans died before his daughter’s betrothal. An important role in Dorothea’s and Michel’s life was also played by Dorothea’s eldest half-brother, Hieronimus Allunse, who had studied at the universities of Cologne and Rostock, entered the Great Guild of Tallinn in 1526, and at the latest in 1532 became the town scribe of Tartu. Dorothea was widowed in late December 1525. She got married four more times, so having altogether five husbands. The other four were merchants, that is, from her own social rank. The third section reviews people and institutions that employed Sittow. His circle of customers was rather wide, including the town council, two parish churches (St. Nicholas and St. Olaf), the Great Guild of the merchants, the St. Canute’s guild, and the goldsmith’s guild (amt) of Tartu. It can be assumed that the latter commission was mediated by his cousin Jacob van dem Berge. Michel was also requested to make statues for the altar of St. Peter’s Church of Siuntio, situated on the south coast of Finland. Since Michel’s maternal grandfather originated from that area, it is likely that family relations played a role in this commission. Among the most influential people who ordered paintings or carvings from Michel were town councillors Hans Rotgers (warden of St. Nicholas’ Church), Johan Selhorst (warden of St. Olaf’s Church and alderman of the Great Guild), and Hinrick Stumme (altar warden in St. Catherine’s Church of the Dominicans). The most expensive commissions were polychrome figures (bilde) and altarpieces (tafel). It is not known if Sittow, who at courts of Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark was above all prized as a skilled portraitist, ever painted portraits of prominent citizens of Tallinn or other local dignitaries, such as Wolter von Plettenberg, Master of the Teutonic Order in Livonia, whom Sittow met in March 1525 (and possibly in September 1513). As a master painter, Sittow also had apprentices in Tallinn. Only one of them is known by name – painter Borchart, who left Michel’s workshop and entered the service of the Saare-Lääne Bishop Johannes IV Kievel (reigned 1515–1527). The last section examines Michel’s career in St. Canute’s guild, which he entered at Christmas 1506. He acted as a steward at the Christmas drinking feast in 1510, an assessor from 1520 to 1521, and the alderman from 1523 to 1525. The office of the guild alderman was the highest social position possible for an artisan in medieval Tallinn. As the alderman, he had to participate in the politics of the town and closely cooperate with the aldermen of two other guilds – the Great Guild and St. Olaf’s guild. The three aldermen represented the urban community and their consent was essential to the town council concerning several important issues. Sittow led the guild in turbulent times, when the Reformation reached Tallinn and when the iconoclastic attacks took place in September 1524. Sittow, together with other guild leaders, had to make some difficult decisions after the town government and the guilds decided to support the Evangelical faith: to re-organize the guild’s religious life, to cancel the payments to the guild altars, the masses in honour of St. Knud (Canute), and the requiems for the souls of the deceased. It could not have been easy for Sittow, who was already comparatively old, in his fifties, who had been raised as a Catholic, served at the courts of several Catholic rulers, and produced religious paintings and sculptures in his entire life. Michel died in late December 1525. His last will, if it ever existed, has not been preserved. He was most likely buried in St. Nicholas’ church or churchyard, where his parents and grandfather rested. Michel’s career at European courts can undoubtedly be viewed as something extraordinary. However, in Tallinn his career as an artist and a citizen originating from the middle class, can be considered typical of a comparatively well-off craftsman. Due to the limited ‘art market’, he had to accept all kinds of commissions, not just specialize in panel painting as he had done in Spain and the Low Countries. In Tallinn, he acted as a painter and woodcarver, and accepted, if necessary, tasks of quite simple nature. In this sense, his professional career was similar to that of his father Clawes. The same can be said about his duties in St. Canute’s guild. However, the fact that he was elected guild alderman suggests that he was considered a capable and trustworthy leader by his fellow guildsmen. A marriage between an artisan and a merchant’s daughter was less typical of the time. Michel’s wife had a higher social rank than he, which most likely added social prestige to the artist. Unfortunately, the nature of the sources does not allow us to ascertain if, thanks to his marriage, Michel earned commissions for artworks from merchants of Tallinn or perhaps even from the Harju-Viru nobility, that is, from the social circle of Michel’s mother-in-law. This is generally the case with the study of Michel’s social ties: it is possible to find out who his relatives, colleagues, and clients were, but we know little of the nature of these relations –were they amicable or not, and what they might have brought along in a longer perspective. One thing is beyond doubt: in the eyes of his contemporaries, Michel Sittow had several other roles than simply being an excellent painter: he was also a son, brother, husband, father, son-in-law, citizen, guild brother, colleague, teacher (master), neighbour, member of the parish, citizen, and, last but not least, alderman who led the guild in turbulent years of the early Reformation.

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