Bronzen doopvonten in Noord-Duitsland. Uitersten in vontvormgeving

Abstract

Several churches in the north of Germany have bronze fonts of a type that is only rarely met with elsewhere in Germany. In the north ore from the mines in the Harz Mountains could be used, whereas elsewhere stone, which was cheaper, was preferred. This is why we mainly find large Romanesque bronze works of art in the north, such as the doors and the column of the cathedral in Hildesheim. The best pieces in European baptismal font art are the bronze fonts in a number of Northern German urban parish churches. They include the fonts in the cathedral in Hildesheim from c. 1225, in St Mary’s church in Rostock from 1290, the St Nicholas church in Wismar from c. 1335, the St Mary’s church in Lübeck from 1337, and the St Nicholas church in Kiel from 1344. Specially the font in Rostock is impressive by the tall cover. The bowl is carried by kneeling personifications with the names of the four elements. The bowl and the cover are divided into two registers with New Testaments events with a special accent on Christ’s Baptism. With regard to fonts in parish churches, it should be pointed out that a number of fonts from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are very simple in form. This is an indication that the same casters made bells, cooking pots and fonts. At the beginning of the development is a type of font that can be characterised as a large cooking pot on three legs ending in animal claws. However, most fifteenth century fonts have a different shape. The bowl has a row of representations filling the entire surface between the bands of inscription at the top and the bottom. The representations are under arches with finials and are separated by small abutments. They are series of Apostles and saints interspersed with familiar iconographic themes, usually the Baptism in the Jordan, the Crucifixion, the Last Judgement and the Virgin and Child.