Portrait Engravings
Leipzig University Library manages around 15,000 portraits in its collections. The foundation of the collection consists of around 11,000 portraits of nobles, clergy, scholars, and artists, mostly from the German-speaking area. The temporal focus is on the 17th and 18th centuries. This collection is based on the Pinakothek of the nobleman Thomas von Fritsch on Schloss Seerhausen, which was acquired together with his extensive library in 1836.
The collection has a clear regional focus. In addition to portraits of Saxon rulers and state officials, there are also images of Leipzig citizens and merchants.
Some of Leipzig’s copperplate engravers and etchers also gained recognition outside of Leipzig and Saxony. Notable are the artist families Bernigeroth and Roßmässler, from which several well-known copperplate engravers emerged, Johann Georg Mentzel, Johann Friedrich Bause, and his daughter Juliane Wilhelmine, as well as Johann Christoph Sysang and his daughter Johanna Dorothea. The works of these artists are strongly represented in the collection.
A large number of portraits are located within the Kestner autograph collection, which was acquired by the University Library in the late 19th century through a testamentary deposition by Georg Kestner, a descendant of Goethe’s friend Charlotte Buff.
Although the majority of the portraits depict individuals from the German-speaking area as well, there are also a significant number of portraits of individuals from France, England, the Netherlands, Eastern Europe, and countries outside of Europe.
The portrait engravings are being digitized and cataloged in a large project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), led by Foto Marburg. The Digital Portrait Index of printed images of the early modern period (DPI) is now running and will be further expanded with existing and new partners.