Riga Johann (I) Johann (I), also called Hans, died in 1610. He must have spent time, possibly as a
wandering journeyman, in Lübeck. This can be derived from a dispute he had with the guild in Lübeck, when he was already in Riga. The guild accused him of having poached assistants from his colleagues there. He seems to have been for some time in military service as in the abovementioned dispute his first wife was pejoratively referred to as a soldiers’ moll (öffentliche Haerhure). The high-tech knowledge and skill of cannon-casters was constantly needed in the army. After years of travel in military service Hans Meyer came to Riga, at the time a German-speaking town, to become assistant to the caster to the City Michel Baier. Before 1582 he took over Baier's workshop and was appointed his successor in 1585. Meyer was in permanent scuffle with the Riga guild and became a member only in 1594. The inscription on a bell he made for St. Peter's church in 1585 is a testimony of his difficult circumstances: "In Gottes Namen hat mich Hans Meyer gegossen, das hat manigen verdrose" (In the Name of God Hans Meyer cast me, which did annoy some people). Hans died in 1610. He left behind his second wife Catarina Bordinck and at least three underage children. Catarina continued to run the workshop until around 1612 when it was taken over by Medardus Gessus (Gesus, Gisus) from Constance whom she possibly married. Hans Meyer is said to have been the best caster ever active in Latvia. Some of his cannons (called “Buchse” in 16th century German) are still preserved.
Georg Georg, also called Jürgen or Gorgen, died in 1657. He was the son of Johann (I) and may have learned in 1610, still underaged, under his father's successor, the itinerant caster Medardus Gessus. Georg himself became caster to the City of Riga in 1627 after master Medardus, possibly his stepfather, had left Riga for Stockholm in 1623. Four years later, in 1631, he was awarded citizenship. He died before November 23, 1657, and left behind a wife Anna Bruens (died after 1663) and a son named Johann, whose profession is unknown.
Gerhardt (III) Gerhardt (III) lived from 1644 until 1701. As the son of Gerhardt (II) and Georg's nephew, he was born in Stockholm in 1644. Joining his father's and his uncle's business, he was active first in Tallinn and then in Riga where he was appointed caster to the City in 1671, a position that he held until his death. In 1677 he was awarded citizenship of Riga but remained a lifelong member of the Stockholm guild, which at times caused conflicts given his public position. Gerhardt (III) succeeded in casting bells and cannons. The number of 36 ordnances and 35 church bells preserved, testify his vast production. With his death in 1701 the activity of the Meyer family in Riga seems to have ended. Nothing is known about his son Gerhardt (V), born in 1682.
Helsingör - Copenhagen Johann (II) Johann (II) died in 1669. He was son of Johann (I)) and, like his siblings, underage in 1610, the year of his father's death. He must have received part of his formation like his brothers Georg and Gerhardt from Medardus Gessus. In 1637 he was appointed head of the Royal Danish foundry in Helsingör with the salary paid out of the Öresund toll. In 1640 he took over this foundry and became independent, losing the privilege of casting cannons which was restricted to foundries which were under direct control of the state. Over 20 church bells cast by him are known today. One of his bells, made for Kronborg Castle, was the biggest bell cast in Denmark until then. In 1655 he was appointed head of the Royal foundry in Copenhagen, with casting guns as his primarily occupation. At this time cannon production in three important places of the Baltic, Copenhagen, Riga and Stockholm, were in the hands of the three sons of Johann (I) Meyer. The difficult economic situation due to King Christian IV's unsuccessful military enterprises brought loss of production in the years 1657–60. Johann (II) held his position until his death in 1669. Among the children he had with his Danish wife Sophia was Hans (Johann) born in 1645. His godfather was Claus van Damm of a Hamburg-based family of casters and Johann (I)’s predecessor as head of the Copenhagen foundry.
Stockholm Gerhardt (I) The first member of the Meyer family linked with the Swedish capital is Gerhardt (I): "Me fecit Gerhardt Meyer Holmiae" – Holmia is the Latin name for Stockholm – is the caster's signature on a
bronze sculpture of a
Bathing Venus (1597). In the years 1592–1595 a Gärt (Gerhardt) Meyer is documented in Stockholm. He seems to have left the Swedish capital in 1596 by moving to Riga, where he was briefly active in Hans Meyer's workshop. Hans and Gerhardt must have been close relatives. Under Hans Meyer as head of the foundry, Gerhardt must have cast the monumental candelabrum for St. Peter's church. The next year he appears in Florence where he cast the Bathing Venus for
Giambologna, court sculptor of the Medici. In Florence he appears to have joined the German-speaking community, which gathered in the Compagnia di Santa Barbara, a religious brotherhood. In their documents a "Gherardo fiammingho" is mentioned shortly after the cast of the Venus. Thanks to the reuse of his set of punches by later generations of his family one can assume that Gerhardt (I) returned to Sweden at some point. He could be identical with a homonymous goldsmith (Giert Meyer), active in Stockholm between 1626 and 1631. This goldsmith Meyer was a protégé of Erich Larsson von der Linde, future father-in-law of Gerhardt (II). At the time it was not unusual for trained goldsmiths to be active in the challenging bronze-casting of monumental figures:
Benvenuto Cellini and
Balthazar Keller are two famous examples.
Gerhardt (II) Gerhard (II), also known as Gert, died in 1655. A permanent activity in Stockholm started with him, a son of Johann (I). Born in Riga and at his father's death in 1610 still underaged, he got his formation by his master (and possibly stepfather) Medardus Gessus. In 1621 Riga was conquered by the Swedes and in 1623 Gessus was appointed head of the Royal cannon foundry in the Swedish capital. Gerhardt is mentioned amongst Gessus’ assistants in the same year. He later became the leading bronze caster to the Swedish Crown. The challenging industry of bronze cannons (in 17th century Swedish called "Stycke") was one of the key military tasks at the time. Meyer established well in his new homeland; in 1635 he married Maria von der Linde, daughter of Erich Larsson von der Linde, one of the richest merchants in town. Gerhardt (II) owned a house in the city and had his own seat in the
German Church, Stockholm St. Gertrud's. He made proposals to Queen Christina to improve the founding industry. In 1641 he was appointed head of the Royal foundry by the Queen. On this occasion the old foundry in Brunkeberg near St. Klara church was rebuilt in order to provide the master with a modern workshop. Unlike his predecessors as founders of the King of Sweden, Gerhardt owned the foundry. Besides cannon-casting, bell-casting was an important source of income, particularly in times when there was little need for artillery. The king passed a decree to allow his cannon casters to cast bells. In 1655 Meyer was granted the permission to cast not only for the Crown but also for important aristocrats. He was rich enough to rebuild the foundry at his own expense after it was destroyed by fire. In 1647 he executed the bronze cast of a man wielding a whip for the pillory on Stortorget square, the so-called "
Kopparmatte" after a model by the German “bilthacker” (wood sculptor) Jost Henne or
Martin Redtmer. This was the first bronze statue ever cast in Sweden; today it is in the collection of the Stockholm Stadtsmuseet., cast by Gerhardt II Meyer, Stockholm 1647. Stockholm, Stadsmuseum Gerhardt (II) died in 1655. His wife Maria obtained permission to carry on with the workshop.
Johann (IV) Johann (IV) lived –1679. As a son of Gerhardt (II) he was born circa 1636. He received his privilege as caster to the crown in 1655, the year of his father's death. In 1658 he became liveryman of the Stockholm guild and from 1666 he was head of the Royal foundry. He is said to have been active as gun and bell caster in Sweden as well as in Finland, where seven of his bells are known. Few of his cannons are preserved, all made between 1665 and 1677. As was already granted to his father, Johann was also permitted to work for Swedish aristocrats like Magnus de la Gardie. After his death in 1679 the workshop was continued by his widow Maria Köpke, who then ran the business together with her second husband Michael Bader from Vilnius.
Gerhardt (IV) Gerhardt (IV) lived from 1667 until 1710. As a son of Johann (IV) he was born in 1667. He got his formation in his father's and in his stepfather's workshop before travelling as a
wandering journeyman to Germany to continue his training. Business had become tough by then. Whereas Gerhardt's ancestors and predecessors in charge of the Royal foundry had their major commissions due to the modernisation of Swedish artillery, it seems that the implementation of modern cannon types had been mostly completed at the time. Furthermore, there was in Sweden a notorious lack of copper since the 1640s, severely restricting the production of cannons. Yet, the king's ambitious plans for the embellishment of the new residence opened new fields of activity. Since 1693 there were ongoing construction works for a new Royal
Stockholm Palace after the plans by
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. For that purpose, a whole team of French artists and artisans came over the following years to Stockholm, including the French caster Jean Hubeault who made ornamental casts for the decoration of the palace. It was planned to decorate the new palace with monumental bronze sculptures. Casting bronze sculptures was a task so far unknown in Sweden. The only exception had been the above-mentioned Kopparmatte, which from a technical point of view is merely a rather rudimentary achievement. In January 1693 Meyer asked the king for permission and support to travel to France in order to improve his skills and to learn the French practices in figure-casting. The request was granted to him and in July 1693 he left Stockholm for an apprenticeship at
Jean-Balthazar Keller (1638–1702), who at the time was caster to Louis XIV in Paris. Only two months later, in September 1693, Gerhardt's stepfather Michael Bader died, which would have required his return to Stockholm. As the Swedish king guaranteed that the foundry would remain in the family's hands, Meyer delayed his return to Stockholm until July 1694. Keller was displeased with Meyer who not only wanted to leave his master before but also tried to take two of his assistants with him to Sweden. In 1695, back in Sweden, he became liveryman of the Stockholm guild, head of the Royal foundry and married in the very same year Catharina Kammecker. Soon after, Meyer wrote to the king offering to cast "large metal statues and other decorations" as well as iron "stoves", works which Meyer pretended to be able to execute thanks to his French experiences. He requested to the Royal artillery department (
War College) permission to be also allowed to cast portrait busts, statues and other kind of works in order to secure the financial success of his workshop. Nicodemus Tessin distrusted Meyer and investigated with Keller in Paris about his former apprentice and his capacities in figure-casting. Keller reported that Meyer – during his relatively short stay – only attended the final steps of the cast of an equestrian statuette and that he lacked knowledge about the decisive preparatory steps in casting such as making the core investment, building armature or melting the wax. In comparison to the cast of a statuette the cast of a monumental bronze sculpture is by far more challenging. In the words of the Swedish envoy in Paris,
Daniel Cronström, Meyer would not be capable of carrying out a large-size figure cast (“grande ouvrage”) without help. As a result of these enquiries, the French caster François Aubry was hired from Paris to cast the sculptures for the Royal palace. He arrived in Stockholm in May 1697. There is no evidence that Gerhardt (IV) did ever cast a figure. There has been an attempt to attribute the cast of Giambologna's
Bathing Venus of 1597 to Gerhardt (IV). However, the date 1597 on the Venus is paleographically undoubtedly. Nonetheless, it has been argued, that the 5 in the date of Gerhardt I's signature would originally have been, on the casting model, a 6 which did transform itself during the casting process accidentally into a 5. Therefore, the date should be interpreted as 1697 enabling the attribution of the cast to Gerhardt (IV). This assumption has been disproved on technical grounds and is contradicted by natural scientific evidence, which excludes a casting date after 1648 with a probability of 99.75%. Today some cannons and a large number of church bells cast by Gerhardt (IV) are preserved. He and three of his children died in the plague of 1710. His widow ran the business after her husband's untimely death.
Gerhardt (VI) Gerhardt (VI) lived from 1704 until 1784. As a son of Gerhardt (IV) he was in 1720, ten years after his father's death, at the age of 16 already appointed Royal cannon caster by King Frederic I. He moved to Uppsala and in 1724 he started a three-year journey through Europe, where he was an apprentice in foundries in Germany (possibly in Nuremberg), Switzerland, France, The Netherlands and England. After his return to Stockholm he became head of the Royal foundry in 1728, following his father and his grandfather. His main business must have been bell-casting, as in Finland alone 47 bells of his hand are preserved. Besides, he made bronze casts after models of the leading French artists of the time: busts of the Swedish Kings Charles XII (1747/48) and Adolf Frederick (1749/51) after Jacques-Philippe Bouchardon as well as puttoes and ornamental shields for the staircase of the Royal Palace. He cast the monuments of King Gustav Wasa in 1770 (Stockholm, Riddarhus Square) after a model by
Pierre Hubert L'Archevêque and in 1779 the
equestrian monument of King Gustav Adolf (Stockholm, Gustav Adolfs square), after models by L'Archevêque and
Johan Tobias Sergel. The latter was the first equestrian monument made in Sweden., cast by Gerhardt VI Meyer, Stockholm 1779. Stockholm, Gustav Adolfs torg He also cast in lead the medallions and trophies of the West and South façades of the Royal Castle, and, in
Riddarholmen Church, the pulpit and parts of the decorations of the Royal Burial Chapel. He was innovative in techniques of casting guns and in developing fire hoses. He opened further workshops in Akers and Stafsjö. In 1756 Gerhardt (VI) sold the family foundry to the crown, remaining its director until his retirement in 1772. He became a member of the Royal Academy of Science and was raised to the peerage in 1775.
Gerhardt (VII) Gerhardt (VII) lived from 1728 until 1797; he was a son of Gerhardt (VI). In 1772 he followed his father in the position of a Royal cannon caster, but also bells made by him are known. In 1794 the crown ordered the closing of the foundry because of their outdated equipment, and its relocation to Marieberg. With Gerhardt's death in 1797, over six generations and more than 200 years of activity of the Meyer dynasty of bronze casters ended. == Selection of bells, cannons and other objects cast by members of the Meyer family ==