Anton Leins

Anton Leins (born May 27, 1866 in Vollmaringen , † February 24, 1925 in Horb am Neckar ) was a German sculptor .

Life

Born in the parish village Vollmaringen im Korngäu, belonging to the Württemberg Oberamt Horb, as the second youngest of seven children of Sebastian Leins and Theresia Ruggaber, Anton Leins was able to train as a sculptor after attending the local elementary school on the recommendation of the pastor and dean Joseph Reiter (1849-1917) the Horber workshop of Peter Paul Hausch (1840–1899) and Johann Bayer (1845–1892).

The two students of Johann Nepomuk Meintel (1818–1872) had taken over their master’s studio in Neckarstrasse in 1876 and four years later founded their own workshop in Stuben's small castle in Horb. Anton Leins worked there until he was 21 years old. From 1887 he attended the arts and crafts school in Stuttgart for three semesters . Equipped with a scholarship, Leins was then able to go on an art tour through Germany and spend a summer in Munich to study the churches and museums there.

After his return to Horb, Leins acquired the Meintel property in Neckarstrasse in 1890 and founded his own "workshop for church art" here. He received orders primarily through the mediation of Rottenburg Bishop Paul Wilhelm von Keppler , during whose term of office between 1898 and 1926 eighty new churches were built in the Diocese of Rottenberg alone. Anton Leins' sculptor's studio delivered works for churches in Württemberg, Baden, the Palatinate, Bavaria and Switzerland. After his early death in 1925, Leins' sons Franz and Eduard continued the business together with their son-in-law Rupert Straub until the 1930s.

The church furnishings created by the representatives of Horb school of sculpture include art history to historicism . Most of her works were cleared away during church renovations as a result of the Second Vatican Council and were often destroyed, especially the high altars, which had lost their significant function in worship after the liturgical reforms of the Council. It is hardly possible to get an overview of Anton Leins' work and the orders from his Horber studio. Again and again, however, sculptures and furnishings by him appear that were moved to the attics during the church renovations in the 1970s, for example six figures of saints that Leins created between 1906 and 1911 for the Catholic parish church in Empfingen , four of which again are placed in the church. Carved Stations of the Cross from the Leins workshop can be found in the Horber Collegiate Church (1904) and the Catholic parish church of St. Mauritius in Winzeln (1909).

literature

Sculptor Anton Leins (Nekrolog), in: Heimatblätter vom Ober Neckar. Issue 11, April 1925, p. 123.
Paul Meintel : Leins, Anton . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 22 : Krügner – Leitch . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1928.
Joachim Lipp: Night watchmen find the way of the cross. In the Winzelner church there is an imposing work by Anton Leins from the Horber sculpture school , in: Südwestpresse from Aug. 29, 2015

Remarks

↑ Meintel's altar building workshop was the starting point for the so-called Horber sculpture school, which specialized in church furnishings for three generations and supplied numerous new buildings in southern Germany. A total of 55 painters and wood sculptors belong to this group.
↑ Stubensches Schlösschen
^ As early as 1885 as a theology professor in Freiburg, Keppler had taken over the chairmanship of the Art Association of the Diocese of Rottenburg, which examined all structural measures and was heard on artistic issues.
↑ The marriage with Walburga Steim (born January 10, 1867 in Horb; † June 24, 1919 ibid.) On October 21, 1890 in Horb resulted in thirteen children.

personal data
SURNAME	Leins, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	May 27, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vollmaringen
DATE OF DEATH	February 24, 1925
Place of death	Horb am Neckar

[1] Meintel's altar building workshop was the starting point for the so-called Horber sculpture school, which specialized in church furnishings for three generations and supplied numerous new buildings in southern Germany. A total of 55 painters and wood sculptors belong to this group.

[2] Stubensches Schlösschen

[3] As early as 1885 as a theology professor in Freiburg, Keppler had taken over the chairmanship of the Art Association of the Diocese of Rottenburg, which examined all structural measures and was heard on artistic issues.

[4] The marriage with Walburga Steim (born January 10, 1867 in Horb; † June 24, 1919 ibid.) On October 21, 1890 in Horb resulted in thirteen children.