The Names of Artists: Artist’s Signatures in Europe, from the Middle Ages to the 18th Century

Albrecht Dürer, The Madonna with the Siskin (detail: cartellino) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Christoph Schmidt

Facsimile of the cartellino in the painting: Albrecht Dürer, The Madonna with the Siskin © Königliche Museen zu Berlin, Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Gemälde, Berlin 1883

Albrecht Dürer, The Madonna with the Siskin (detail, radiographic image) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Christoph Schmidt

Microscopic image of the letter D in the monogram of Albrecht Dürer, The Madonna with the Siskin © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Ute Stehr

The Names of Artists: Artist’s Signatures in Europe, from the Middle Ages to the 18th Century

A Research Project at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie and Bode-Museum

This research project sought to carry out an interdisciplinary and comparative investigation of artists’ signatures. The works chosen for study included artefacts from Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie and the Bode-Museum. Additionally, the research group looked at selected works from the Kunstgewerbemuseum, the Kupferstichkabinett and the Münzkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

This selection of works provided a representative cross-section of artistic production in Europe between the 9th and the 18th century. The signatures investigated were subjected to detailed technical, formal, and philological analyses. The goal was to gain a greater understanding of the meaning of the signature and the status and self-conception of artists across various epochs and cultural regions. Initial findings will be discussed in a broadly framed context at an international symposium and in book publications.

Publications

Karin Gludovatz, Alessandro de la Latta (ed.): “Signaturen: Auktoriale Präsenz zwischen Schrift und Bild. 1400 – 1700”, Berlin/Boston 2023.
“The Names of Artists: The Corso”, L.I.S.A. Wissenschaftsportal der Gerda Henkel Stiftung, episodes 1–6.

Objectives and outcomes: Investigating the signatures on works from the Gemäldegalerie and the Mode-Museum; international conference and academic publications
Project overseen by: Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Lead researcher: Dr Alessandro della Latta
Project team: Dr Ute Stehr (paintings convservator, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), Candida Dreier (research assistant for six months)
Project duration: 2015 to 2018

Further Links

Flyer on the conference “The Names of the Artist: Authorial Presence between Text and Image”, 26–27 January 2017, Kulturforum der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, organised by the Gemäldegalerie, the Freie Universität Berlin (Department of History and Cultural Studies) and the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence (PDF, 512 KB)