Bernt Notke

Bernt Notke (†1509)


Bernt Notke is mentioned in about 50 documents. This is an unusually large number compared to many other medieval artists. Unfortunately must of them are court documents where Notke in many cases only appears as a witness and thus they only tell us that Notke was present in this and that city - at this and that time. To sketch out his life then becomes a game of connect-the-dots.


The first time Notke was mentioned in any document was in Lübeck 14th April 1467 where he complained to the city council that the painters guild were harassing his apprentices because he was not a member of the guild. On this occasion, Notke produced at birth letter (not a birth certificate) from Lassahn, Pomerania.

This does not prove that he was born in Lassahn - only that he knew somebody in Lassahn well enough to vouch for him. It's more likely that he was born in Tallinn: Notke is not an unusual name in the Tallinn-area, and a letter from 23rd August 1468 indicates that Notke was related to the Tallinn vicar Diderik Notken.

From 1483 he spent some years in Sweden and for a time he was Deputy Master of the Mint in Stockholm. In 1505 he was appointed churchwarden in St. Peter's Church in Lübeck - a position that meant managing the church's tile works, which sold bricks to Scandinavia. In 1509 he was referred to as dead.