Bartholomäus d. Ä.
Viatis

* May 18, 1538 Pesari in Val Trompia near Brescia, then part of Venice – † 18, buried November 21, 1624 Nuremberg, formerly grave no. 6 in the St. John's Cemetery, epitaph now on the southern outer wall of St. John's Church. Son of Bernardo, grocer. ∞ I) January 25, 1569 Anna Scheffer (* 1530 – buried September 14, 1585), widow of Georg Scheffer, merchant, who brought eight children into the marriage, in addition to four children they had together, of whom only their son Bartholomäus the Younger and their daughter Maria survived; II) 1586 Florentina Jäger (* Schwäb. Gmünd 1563/64 – † 1628), four sons, seven daughters; the second marriage was not particularly happy. In 1550, he came to Nuremberg as a penniless boy with the Nuremberg merchant Hans Vollandt, with whom he spent seven years as an apprentice trader. Vollandt then sent him to Lyon for four years. After disagreements, he left Vollandt. After several job changes, he finally worked for Jörg Scheffer in Nuremberg, for whom he appears to have spent three years in Silesia. After Scheffer's death, he returned to Nuremberg, where, after the Breslau company was dissolved, he received 1,250 florins. He married Scheffer's widow, who brought about 11,000 florins into the marriage. On November 3, 1569, he became a citizen of Nuremberg, named from 1574 to 1624, captain of the streets in 1583, first market foreman in 1609, and assessor in the city almoner's office from 1615 to 1622. In 1570, he founded a trading company with two Nuremberg merchants, Forst (Fürst) and Lang. In 1579 he was one of the city's largest taxpayers, contributing 500 florins. Over the years, various changes occurred, and in 1591 his son-in-law Martin →Peller was admitted to the trading company. The assets of his trading companies, for which up to 3,000 people worked at any one time, were at times estimated at two million florins. Viatis conducted extensive trade with Venice, was a publisher for numerous weavers' guilds in Central Germany, and was one of the largest and most financially powerful companies in Germany. In 1621 he made a large contribution to the founding of the Banco Publico. His secret book and an overview of assets from 1598 are in the Nuremberg City Archives. He founded an extensive collection, which was continued by his son Johann Andreas. On August 30, 1569, he purchased from Hieronymus Beheim the Younger and his wife Anna for 3,100 florins. In cash plus 2,700 florins in mortgages, he built the so-called "Hirschvogelhaus" on the Barfüßerbrücke (Königstraße 2), which he had magnificently expanded and painted on the outside by Thomas →Ölgast. He sold the house at Kaiserstraße 33, which had belonged to his wife's first husband, in 1578 for 721 florins. In 1591, he acquired the Schoppershof manor house for around 8,500 florins. At his death, his personal fortune, after deducting debts, amounted to 1,098,862 florins, making him presumably the richest citizen of the empire. He left numerous charitable legacies. The Viatis family sold their shares in the business in 1729, the Pellers in 1740. A portrait of Bartholomäus Viatis is in the GNM, as is his deathbed portrait, painted by Georg →Gärtner the Younger in 1624. Panzer recorded his portrait in several versions. 1613 Medal. Viatisstraße was named after him. Music: NUREMBERG, StadtA: Viatis Family Archives. References: Waldau, Zion 1787, p. 59; Roth, 1802; Nuremberg Figures, 1950; Haarländer, 1964; M. Kellenbenz, in: Lebensbilder Franken, 1, 1967; G. Seibold: Die Viatis u. Peller, Nuremberg 1977; G. Seibold, in: GNM A, 1982; A. Tacke: Bartholomäus I. Viatis im Portrait, in: MVGN 83, 1996; Stadtlexikon 2000; Zahn, DI-N No. 2077, 2930 and No. 3867. Exhibition: 1952/4; 1970/12; 1998/11, p. 180. (quoted from the Nuremberg Artists' Encyclopedia, edited by Manfred H. Grieb)Feedback geben