Two Latin Epigrams by Daniel Gotlieb Messerschmidt Dedicated to Iohannes Philipp Breyn (1680–1764)

Abstract

The article presents a publication of two epigrams written by D. G. Messeschmidt and dedicated to I. Ph. Breyn; both are preserved in the latter’s archive. The first epigram is an inscription in verse to Breyn’s portrait and was probably sent to him from Saint Petersburg following Messerschmidt’s return from Siberia, i.e. between 1727 and 1735 (and not 1701–1800 as indicated on the site of Dresden Fotothek). It is very likely that the inscription was meant to accompany the engraving a copy of which is preserved at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Signatur/Inventar-Nr.: Anon 1, Singer 3769/9920) and may be seen on the website of Deutsche Fotothek Dresden (Archiv-Nr 169051). I. Ph. Breyn might have sent two portraits to Saint Petersburg, one of himself and one of his father, and Messerschmidt would have composed an inscription in verse for each. In 1739 an elegiac distich by Messerschmidt was published that was also incorporated in the frame of the portrait of Jakob Breyn, painted by the famous engraver P. G. Busch. S. S. Orekhov has suggested that P. G. Busch’s engraving might render the portrait drawn by the same unknown master (Deutsche Fotothek Dresden, Archiv-Nr 169050). Iohannes Philipp Breyn’s own portrait remained unpublished. The second poem is a dedication in an album that is preserved in I. Ph. Breyn’s museum in Gdansk (Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Chart. B 1002) and is dated November 1716. The poem is untitled (the fact that is also emphasized in the text), but introduced by an epigraph in Old Hebrew that has been extensively commented upon by Cyrill von Buettner (Bitner). The Latin poem that abounds in assonances and complex word play leaves the feeling of a certain emotional strain. Both poems, however, reflect Messerschmidt’s general erudition and character, as well as his enthusiastic admiration for I. Ph. Breyn as a senior colleague in scientific and medical studies.