Balthasar Schmitt

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Balthasar Schmitt (born May 29, 1858 in Aschach near Bad Bocklet , † May 1, 1942 in Munich ) was a German sculptor , medalist and university professor .

Life

Balthasar Schmitt was born as the third son of Johann Michael Schmitt and his wife Barbara Schmitt. Beutler (born November 30, 1817 in Großenbrach ; † September 9, 1894 in Aschach), who married on November 18, 1849. Schmitt himself never married despite several admirers. Support he learned of his equally unmarried surviving nieces Clementine (1890-1970) and Loni (Apollonia), the daughters of his brother Johann Schmitt, giving it to his later Lives in Solln (now part of Munich ) until his death ran the household.

Schmitt received his artistic training first from Michael Bauer (* June 8, 1853; † June 8, 1922), an autodidact on site, then as an apprentice to the sculptor Michael Arnold in Bad Bocklet. The apprenticeship with Arnold lasted only a short time because of his early death. Schmitt created a bronze relief for Arnold's grave, which has been on the tower of the old Bad Bockleter parish church since Arnold's grave was abandoned.

Funded by the Aschach doctor Dr. Werner and from the Aschach lord of the castle, Count Friedrich von Luxburg , he received after studies at the Nuremberg School of Applied Arts (January 1878 to 1880) and at the Munich Art Academy (October 1880 to July 1880) and later from the Martin von Wagner Foundation of the Julius Maximilians -Universität Würzburg a scholarship for a two-year study visit to Italy. He received the grant for his work A sketch of the plaintive Job as a single figure and the burial of a martyr . During his stay in Rome, Schmitt had the opportunity to attend a general audience for artists with Pope Leo XIII. to participate. During his stay in Rome, Schmitt was artistically influenced by historical artists such as Donatello and Luca della Robbia . As an artistic work to which he was obliged according to the terms of the scholarship, he made the plaster relief of Adam and Eve after the Fall .

Marble - relief of St. Cecilia , organ playing singing with Two Angels, 1892 in Rome

After returning from Italy, Schmitt settled in Munich, but still spent his annual vacation in Aschach, where he replaced the house where he was born in 1900 with a new building. At the Aschach cemetery, Schmitt erected an ornate tomb for his parents that depicts his mother wearing a headscarf that is common in the Rhön . Schmitt's nieces Clementine and Leoni, who died in 1970, were also buried in the grave. The tombstone also reminds of Schmitt's great-nephew of the same name, Balthasar (1902–1944), who was also a graphic artist and sculptor by profession and who died in East Prussia during World War II .

In Munich, during the building boom, which was slowly recovering after the start-up crisis , he received numerous orders and from 1891 onwards he ran a studio on Karlstrasse together with the sculptor Thomas Buscher . In Solln, Schmitt lived in a representative villa built in 1902. According to Schmitt's last will, the villa and studio were to be given up after his death, but his niece Clementine lived in the house until 1967, which was then torn down together with the studio in 1970.

As a co-founder of the German Society for Christian Art and initially administrator of the professorship for Christian Art (from 1903) at the Munich Art Academy, he was mainly given orders for sacred art. Among his students were Ludwig Gies , Wilhelm Jaeger and Karl Romeis . When Schmitt was to be appointed full professor in 1905 , anonymous accusations arose that the distance to his private studio and his alleged frequent absence from the academy were practically unfounded.

The Luitpoldbrunnen in Königshofen , which he created and named after the Bavarian Prince Regent Luitpold , was opened to the public on October 1st, 1911. Schmitt had the fountain figure of the reaper , the symbol of the fertility of the Grabfeldgau , also produced and marketed as a knickknack figure, a kind of historical merchandising .

In 1908 Schmitt was awarded the Order of Merit by the Prince Regent of St. Michael IV Class and on December 30, 1912 by Prince Regent Ludwig III. with the III. Class of the same order awarded.

After reaching the age limit passed as part of the general austerity measures , Schmitt retired on December 23, 1923 . On March 5, 1925, Schmitt became an honorary member of the art academy. Balthasar Schmitt was also a full member of the German Association of Artists .

Cemetery chapel at the Aschach cemetery

In 1921 Schmitt, who was associated with his hometown throughout his life, built a chapel for Our Lady of Sorrows in the Aschach cemetery . When his younger sister M. Clementine Schmitt died in 1936, he did not have her buried in the family grave, but under a simple grave slab directly in front of the cemetery chapel, and he also determined this grave site for himself.

Schmitt died of cardiac paralysis on May 1, 1942 in his house in Solln . The funeral ceremony held on May 4, 1942 at Munich's Ostfriedhof found extensive coverage in the daily Münchner Latest Nachrichten . Following the wishes of the deceased, Schmitt's body was buried in the Aschach cemetery in front of the chapel he had donated. Also on May 4, 1942, a detailed obituary was published in the Bad Kissinger Saale-Zeitung , written by editor Theo Schachenmayer personally.

Works (selection)

Luitpoldbrunnen in Bad Königshofen

literature

  • Herbert Schultheis: Bad Bocklet. History of the districts of Aschach and Großenbrach . (= Bad Neustadt contributions to the history and local history of Franconia , Volume 6.) Bad Neustadt ad Saale 1996, ISBN 3-9800482-9-2 , pp. 390–396.
  • Werner Eberth : Balthasar Schmitt, a Franconian sculptor . (Booklet accompanying the exhibition in Aschach Castle from April 28 to July 30, 1995) Theresienbrunnen-Verlag, Bad Kissingen 1995.
  • Werner Eberth: Balthasar Schmitt (1858–1942), sculptor . In: Fränkische Lebensbilder , Volume 19. (= Publications of the Society for Franconian History , Series VIIa.) Neustadt (Aisch) 2002, ISBN 3-7686-9296-5 .
  • Werner Eberth: Balthasar Schmitt. Christian art designer . In: Peter Weidisch, Thomas Ahnert (ed.): 1200 years Bad Kissingen (801-2001). Facets of a city's history . (Festschrift for the anniversary year and book accompanying the exhibition) Verlag TA Schachenmayer, Bad Kissingen 2001, ISBN 3-929278-16-2 .

Web links

Commons : Balthasar Schmitt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ artist. Balthasar Schmitt. German Society for Medal Art, accessed on July 10, 2014 .
  2. ^ Leonard Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . Schmitt, Balthasar. Volume V. Spink & Son Ltd, London 1912, pp. 392 and 390 (English) ( archive.org ).
  3. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Ordinary members of the German Association of Artists since it was founded in 1903 / Schmitt, Balthasar (accessed December 28, 2017)
personal data
SURNAME Schmitt, Balthasar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor, medalist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Aschach near Bad Bocklet
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1942
Place of death Munich