Alessandro Abondio

Alessandro Abondio also Abondi (* around 1570 ; † April 1648 in Munich ) was an Italian medalist and wax boss and son of the painter, medalist and wax boss Antonio Abondio .

Life

Alessandro Abondio was probably trained intensively by his father Antonio and continued his manner in an even more detailed and finely crafted style. The early works suggest stays in Vienna, Prague and Innsbruck, where nobles and members of the Habsburg family were among his clients. He has been dating his own works since 1595. In 1606 his presence in Prague as an imperial "sculptor and image digger" is attested, and after the confirmation of his profession as a sculptor and bossier by Emperor Matthias he found himself in Nuremberg in 1614, where the much admired "wax portraits of the Freher couple" were created. From 1619 Abondio stayed in Munich and married the widow of Hans von Aachen , Regina von Aachen, daughter of the composer Orlando di Lasso . He acquired citizenship and worked outside the guild constraints primarily for Duke Albrecht VI. and later for Elector Maximilian I. After his work, he stayed in Vienna 1628–1631 and in May 1635 in Augsburg.

plant

According to tradition by the Augsburg art agent Philipp Hainhofer , he was already a famous and highly valued artist with an extensive oeuvre around 1614. However, only a very small part of the complete works has survived, portraits are among others in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, Victoria and Albert Museum London, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, as well as in Padua, Dresden and Kremsmünster. One of the losses of the Second World War is a wax-bossed Pietà from around 1640, originally in the Trinity Church in Munich.

• Wax medallion of the merchant Johann Manlich , 1635, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, collection for sculpture and applied arts
• Pietà (Munich, Bavarian National Museum , inv. No. 91/29), 1632, wax, 46.5 × 35 cm / 44.7 × 33.8 cm

The Munich Pietà

Made after the model of a Pietà by the Antwerp artist Willem Key († April 1568 ) from the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Abondio shows in this wax relief Mary with the body of Christ in front of a landscape with Jerusalem and the Golgotha ​​hill. The portrait was probably made as a devotional image for a rich gentleman or as a collector's item for an art chamber, although the motif of the Pietà and especially the Willem Keys variant had been copied since the 16th century. In addition to the copy from the Bavarian National Museum , two other versions with almost the same composition are known that are in private ownership.

literature

• General artist lexicon . Volume 18, Saur, Munich and Leipzig 1998.
• Paul Grotemeyer:  Abondio, Alessandro. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 20 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Georg Habich: Wax portrait of Johannes Mannlich by Alessandro Abondio . In: The Swabian Museum, 1928.
• Georg Habich: Studies on Antonio and Alessandro Abondio . In: Helbing's monthly reports for art history, year 1, issue 10.
• Peter Volk: A Munich wax relief from 1632 after Willem Key . In: Weltkunst, issue 19, Munich 1992.

Web links

• Filippo Rossi:  ABONDI, Alessandro. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 1:  Aaron – Albertucci. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960.