Imhoff family

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The Imhoff coat of arms

The Imhoff, Imhof or Im Hof family is a noble patrician family that belonged to the wealthy trading dynasties and ruling oligarchy in the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg during its Golden Age in the Renaissance. The Imhoff Trading Company was one of the most important European traders between the 15th and 17th centuries. It maintained branches and trade connections throughout Europe and financed European courts with loans.

History

The family was originally from

Nürnberg, to which the family sent representatives between 1402 and 1806, with only short interruptions. The family was related to other protestant patrician families of Nuremberg like the Tucher or Haller
.

The Imhoffs became prosperous through long-distance trade by supplying the markets and trade fairs in Frankfurt, Cologne, Strasbourg, in the Upper Palatinate and in Bohemia from Lauingen. The Nuremberg "Imhoff Trading Company" was first mentioned in 1381 in trade between Venice, Nuremberg and Eastern Europe. They worked closely together with other Nuremberg traders such as the Gross, Mendel, Pfinzing, Stromer and Pirckheimer families. Their retail range was extensive and mainly included spices, colors, precious metals, silk, canvas and cloth, wine, tobacco, leather and skins, weapons and Nuremberg handicraft products, the latter mostly in exchange (raw materials for finished goods). The family was also invested in the mining industry in Saxony and Silesia.

Hans IV Imhoff (d. 1499) founded a second trading company which, from the second half of the 15th century, concentrated on the trading centers of Western Europe. He had eight sons who not only maintained the older trading branches in Venice, Salzburg, Linz, Prague, Brno and Olomouc, but also founded new retail branches in Naples, Águilas, Messina, Lyon, Zaragoza, Lisbon, Antwerp and Amsterdam. In 1510 the Imhoffs founded a trading post in

Welser families, took part in an expedition on the first trade trip of Upper German merchants to India. Around 1500, the Imhoff expanded trading and barter into money and banking and became involved in silver and gold mining in Saxony and Silesia. From 1540 onwards they financed European courts with loans. Around 1520 they briefly had a monopoly on the trade in pepper and ginger from the Portuguese colony of Goa
in India. Around 1565, the Imhoff trading company reached its greatest extent.

Hans V (1461-1522) also entered the banking business. He was a close friend of

Eobanus Hessus, and supported them financially. His grandson Willibald Imhoff (1519–1580), also a grandson of Willibald Pirckheimer, became a famous art collector. He was portrayed by Titian
, and after the death of Andreas Dürer (Albrecht's brother) Imhoff was able to acquire numerous works by Albrecht Dürer.

The Nuremberg Imhoffs continued to compete with the Tucher's trading company in the saffron trade until the 17th century, making it one of the last trading companies of the Nuremberg patricians that was active on a large scale. The

Fugger family. The new Augsburg Town Hall was commissioned by mayor Hieronymus Imhoff (1575–1638) in 1609. He supported the Counter-Reformation and was therefore arrested by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. The family also spread to Austria, as well as Saxony, Braunschweig, Hanover and the Netherlands. Through the acquisition of estates, individual family members were accepted into the imperial knighthood. Individual lines were raised to the status of imperial barons
from 1679 onwards, the others to the status of Bavarian barons in the 19th century.

The Imhoff family donated numerous works of art in Nuremberg and elsewhere, including altars and paintings. The sacrament house in the St. Lawrence Church in Nuremberg by Adam Kraft, donated in 1493, is one of the major works of the German late Gothic period.

Imhof(f) is a common name in Germany, and not all persons named Imhoff belong to the patrician family. Several branches of the family still exist.

Family members

  • Andreas I Imhoff (1491–1579), merchant, treasurer of Nuremberg, keeper of the Imperial Regalia
  • Willibald Imhoff (1519–1580), patrician and art collector
  • Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff (1705–1750), governor of Ceylon and then the Dutch East Indies for the Dutch East India Company
  • Amalia von Helvig, née von Imhoff (1776–1831), artist, writer, translator and socialite
  • Sigmund von Imhoff (1881–1967), Generalmajor in the German military during the Second World War
  • Konrad Imhoff (1486, by Jakob Elsner)
    Konrad Imhoff (1486, by Jakob Elsner)
  • Andreas I Imhoff (1491–1579) (by Nicolas Neufchâtel, c. 1573)
    Andreas I Imhoff (1491–1579) (by
    Nicolas Neufchâtel
    , c. 1573)
  • Willibald Imhoff (1519–1580)
    Willibald Imhoff (1519–1580)
  • Willibald Imhoff (by Titian), before 1576
    Willibald Imhoff (by Titian), before 1576

Works of Art donated by the Imhoffs

See also

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