Leonhard d. Ä.
Brechtel

painter, restorer, gilder

christened15. 9. 1558 in Nuremberg - buried 3. 11. 1632 in Nuremberg. Son of Bartholomäus the Elder, painter; father of Leonhard the Younger, painter. ∞ I) 17.5.1585 Maria Klemel, christened 13.9.1560 - buried 27.11.1595), one son, six daughters; II) 1.3.1596 Catharina christened 16.11.1573 - buried 17.10.1632), daughter of Michael Endter the Elder, bookbinder, one son, not surviving. Education probably by his father. He became master before the introduction of the painter's regulations in 1596, so that he did not have to present a test piece. 1602-06 foreman. 1598-1617 he was mentioned in by various references. Brechtel was a gilder in demand. When the painter Friedrich von Valckenborch was commissioned to paint on the occasion of the Electors' Day in 1611; he left the gilding of the picture frames to Brechtel. The council also repeatedly commissioned and paid him. In 1613/14 he painted and restored the Sebaldus altar in St. Sebald's by order of the church administrator and painted two histories for the predella; he received 500 fl. for the painting and gilding work, his five journeymen received a tip of 6 fl. each. In 1615, together with three journeymen, he painted the high altar of St. Trinity's Church in Bayreuth in nine weeks. For this he received 50 fl. and 3 fl. on loan, with free board. In 1617/18 he set and gilded the wooden pendent chandelier for the town hall hall of Hans Wilhelm Beheim, for which he received 570 fl. and 6 fl. tip for his journeymen. Besides his son Leonhard the Younger, he trained the following apprentices: Abraham Grundmann (Grubner, before 1597), Leonhard Walch (1598-1602), Georg Hoppel (1603-07), Hans Georg Rieger (Rüeger, 1610-11), Georg Ganßer (1613-?), Wolf Harrich (1619-24), Georg Krauß (1626-28), Adam Jacob (1630-34), not all of them finished their apprenticeship.

Lorenz Strauch painted his portrait in 1605, after which the portrait of 1665 listed by Panzer was etched. On 20.4.1585 Brechtel and his fiancée bought the father-in-law's property at Tetzelgasse 29, for which he paid 320 fl. to Maria Klemel's sister Margaretha. The house was sold by the heirs in 1639 for 950 fl. His daughter Susanna married the painter Heinrich Vorbruck on 19.2.1626, his daughter Magdalena the copper smith Erhard Weinmann on 28.8.1631.

Lit.: AKL; Thieme-Becker; Nagler, KL; Sitzmann, 1983; Neudörfer-Lochner, 1875, p. 201; Mummenhoff, Rathaus; Bösch, in: GNM M, 1899, p. 128; Hampe, Rv.; Tacke, pp. 372-374; Kohn, NHb Sebald.(quoted from the Nuremberg Künstlerlexikon, edited by Manfred H. Grieb)