Floor 4 room 4 / Zi-fec Documentation

Publication of research results

Zi-fec Documentation presents analysis of and comments on artwork by the artists of the Ziesenis family, particularly with respect to artwork that is just attributed to them.

Zi-fec Documentation further comprises some printed publications with respect to members of the artist family Ziesenis and their relatives.

Selected topics of the documentation

Portraits of August Gottlieb Spangenberg, brother of the Moravians at Herrnhut

From remaining letters it is known that in 1763 J. G. Ziesenis made portraits of several Moravian brethren at Herrnhut for himself, to feel close with those dear friends, including one of August Gottlieb Spangenberg.

In 1773, J. G. Ziesenis made a copy of the Spangenberg portrait, after his first painting from 1763 and from the memory of later encounters with Spangenberg, for the brother Quandt. This copy is identical in size and design with the original and differs only by older facial features of Spangenberg, which gets clear from the adjacent assembly.

There is much to suggest that the heavily damaged and cut-out painting, acquired a few years ago by a Celler antiquarian bookshop, is the first and original one from 1763 that formerly hung in J.G. Ziesenis’s home at Hanover, together with other brothers portraits.

Johann Georg Ziesenis: Portrait of August Gottlieb Spangenberg

Zi-fec Collection Dr. Zisenis

Assembly: August Gottlieb Spangenberg after portraits by J. G. Ziesenis

Zi-fec Documentation Dr. Zisenis

Portrait of a gentleman (probably self-portrait)

In 2005, the auction house Rieber at Stuttgart offered this painting attributed to J. G. Ziesenis, suggesting that it could be a self-portrait of the young artist. In fact, the slightly fixed-looking gaze might have belonged to a painter looking at his mirror-image. In addition, the features of the person portrayed are somewhat similar to those of J. G. Ziesenis on a 1769 self-portrait.

Coincidentally, a few years later, the adjacent Portrait of a young man by W.A. Key was discovered in the exhibition of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin (SMBPK), which might have been the model for the portrait of a gentleman. It is known that in 1756, during his time at the Palatine court, J. G. Ziesenis made copies of paintings by Dutch masters at the gallery of Düsseldorf for self-study. Possibly he found the painting by W.A. Key there and copied it as a self-portrait.

Johann Georg Ziesenis: Men's portrait

Auction house Rieber, Stuttgart (DE) 2005

Willem Adriaens Key (1515/16-1568): Portrait of a young man with black beret

SMBPK - Gemäldegalerie Berlin (DE)

Pastel portrait of Alette Sophie Wisseling

The object carries a label with the following terms on the back:

Alette Sophie Wisseling / Hannover 1807 / J. G. Ziesenis penx.

However, neither the name Alette Sophie Wisseling can be found in the Hanover civil status registers of the time, nor can J. G. Ziesenis and his daughter Elisabeth, both of whom also painted in pastel, have been the originators of this portrait around 1807, because the former died in 1776 and his daughter died in 1796. Of his other children, whom the painter put into the care of the Moravians, it is not known that one had learned the painting.

The person depicted may be Alette Sophie Wisselin(c)k, daughter of the Palatine court painter Anton Wisselin(c)k (1702-1771) and Maria Catharina Beckmann, who was born in Düsseldorf around 1738. At that time, Anton Wisselinck was also inspector of the then Düsseldorf gallery. He and his wife belonged to the Reformed Church and had 10 children. Alette Sophie married Eberhardt Nourney (1728-1784) from Moers (Rhineland) at Düsseldorf in 1760 and died at Moers in 1813.

During his time at the Palatine Court, J. G. Ziesenis may have made the acquaintance of Anton Wisselinck and his daughter Alette Sophie. As the creator of the portrait, he is still excluded.