Sources The surviving documents relevant to Conrad von Soest are: • A, now rubbed, inscription of his name (and the date 1403) on the wooden frame of the Niederwilungen Altarpiece; • A hidden signature was discovered in the Dortmund altarpiece by Rolf Fritz in the 1950s • References to the family name in the Dortmund's Register of New Citizens: "
Wernerus pictor" who became a citizen in 1331, "
Wernerus pictor de Sosato", naturalised in 1348; furthermore, a "
hinricus de Sosato", profession
decaurator (
gilder), naturalised in 1306; • a marriage contract with Gertrude van Munster, dated 11.2.1394 (see below); • his name appears in membership lists of
Marienbruderschaften (Confraternities of St. Mary) in Dortmund: of St. Marien in 1396 as "
Conrad meler et uxor" ("Conrad painter and wife"), resident in the main street, the Osterhellweg, as well as of St. Nikolai in 1396 as "
Mester Conrad, meler"(master Conrad, painter). The last listing of his name in these membership lists appears in 1422. • a painter 'Gerhard von Soyst' (Soest), a very prosperous member of the Cologne painters' guild, is recorded in 1417 as liable to additional wealth tax. As the name is not common and the profession ran in families, it seems reasonable to surmise that Gerhard was Conrad's son. It is interesting in this respect to note that the so-called
Master of St. Veronica (Meister der hl. Veronika) was familiar with Conrad's workshop practices and patterns.
Citizen of Dortmund As the name 'Conrad von Soest' does not appear in the list of new citizens and as his marriage contract was written in the form reserved for Dortmund citizens, he was clearly born to a Dortmund family.
Marriage contract The marriage contract ("Morgensprache"), made before witnesses, between "Conrad von Soest" and "Gertrude, daughter of Lambertes van Munster", is dated February 11, 1349. The couple was able to dispose of a considerably sum each in this contract. Another unusual aspect of the contract is the number and quality of the witnesses: 6 members of the cosmopolitan, prosperous and well-educated patriciate of Dortmund, among them the second mayor of the current council, Herrmann Klepping, the tertiary council member, Detmar Klepping, and both mayors already elected for the following council year, Arnd Sudermann and Lambert Berswordt. The wealth of the groom and the eminent witnesses may well indicate that this was a second marriage. (A master had to marry before he could open his own workshop and it would then have taken a while to earn such wealth).
Painter of Dortmund According to the membership list of the
Confraternity of Mary of 1396, Conrad von Soest lived in the
Ostenhellweg, Dortmund's principal thoroughfare. The list also refers to two other painters resident in the Ostenhellweg, Lambert and Hermann. It is unclear whether they were his journeymen, living in his house, or masters presiding over their own workshops in the same street. Since 1954, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Landscape Society Westphalia-Lippe) has awarded the Konrad-von-Soest Prize for
Visual Arts, endowed with 12,800
euros. ==Sources and notes==