Novarra – Landsknecht figure with bear

History of the work

On the column of the fountain in the middle of Bärenplatz stands a warrior in Landsknecht dress, with a young bear climbing upright beside him. According to Wikipedia the figure shows a Bernese mercenary on his way home; the bear also serves as a structural support, while the chain and sword are made of metal. The city's register gives limestone as the material, Wikipedia more precisely French limestone.

The title refers to Novara in northern Italy. According to Bern's zoo, the Bernese brought a live bear home as war booty after the battle of Novara in 1513; the animal was kept in the moat in front of the Käfigturm, and the city's first bear pit then lay on today's Bärenplatz until it was moved in 1764.

The fountain is older than its figure. Basin and shaft of white Solothurn shell limestone were made in 1840 to designs by Beat Rudolf von Sinner and first stood in front of the old casino at the north-west corner of today's Bundesplatz; in 1901 the fountain moved to the centre of the square. In 1904/05 it received a sandstone group of playing bears designed by Rudolf Münger. After the deaths of Münger and of the sculptor who carved it, Ferdinand Huttenlocher, a competition for a new figure was held among Bernese sculptors, and Linck won it. The sources give different years for the installation: the city 1937, Wikipedia 1935, the image category on Wikimedia Commons 1936. The fountain was restored in 2016.

Walter Linck (1903–1975) was the son of the painter Ernst Linck. He trained at the Gewerbeschule in Bern and in the metalwork class of the Zurich school of applied arts, then studied sculpture at the academy in Berlin. According to SIKART he moved back and forth between Paris and Bern in the 1930s, receiving his first public commissions for fountain figures in Bern. In 1943 he sank almost all his earlier sculpture in the river Aare; he later became known for moving constructions of wire and spring steel and took part in documenta II in Kassel in 1959.

At the basin, look at the side facing Spitalgasse: according to Wikipedia the year 1840 is carved there in Roman numerals.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Bärenplatzbrunnen · Wikipedia (de): Walter Linck · SIKART: Walter Linck (Michael Baumgartner) · HLS: Linck, Walter · Tierpark Bern: Bern and bears · Wikipedia (de): Bärenplatz (Bern) · Wikimedia Commons: Fontaine in Bern