Christian Mayer (painter)

Christian Mayer (born September 1700 in Volkratshofen , † June 22, 1771 in Memmingen ) was a German painter during the Baroque period .

Life

Crucifixion scene in Our Lady in Lauben near Memmingen

Christian Mayer was born in early September 1700 as one of 20 children of the Volkratshofen pastor Johann Conrad Mayer and was baptized on September 5th. Mayer probably completed his apprenticeship with Johann Friedrich Sichelbein , the leading Memmingen painter in the baroque era. It is not known where and how he spent his journeyman years traveling. He only reappeared in Memmingen when he married Sabrina Hermann on July 3, 1724 in St. Martin . On November 9, 1724 he was enrolled in the Kramer guild responsible for the painting trade. As a result, however, he switched to the profession of a businessman. Due to the statutes of the Kramer Guild, he was only allowed to practice one profession, so that he was not allowed to work as a painter. The job change went extremely badly. A short time later, immense debts had piled up due to an excessively high standard of living and poor business as well as a house purchase. In 1739, a partner in the Helcke & Brune company from Iserlohn dared to make a massive advance to the City of Memmingen, because Mayer owed him 186 guilders. He asked the city of Memmingen to arrest Mayer, to pay a deposit and to surrender or pay for the delivered goods. The city commissioned the judges Koch and Hommel to inspect Christian Mayer's shop. The arrest of the goods was granted to the partner of Helcke & Brune. A short time later, Mayer asked the city council for a moratorium with his creditors, as he had already gotten into debt with 2,400 guilders.

Probably because of this over-indebtedness, he turned back to painting and hired a journeyman. According to the guild rules, he was not allowed to work as a shopkeeper and painter at the same time, which is why the painters Johann Leonhard Rupprecht and Elias Grimmel protested at the guild on May 13, 1740. After Mayer's objection, the two plaintiffs did not give up and issued a further statement on May 27, 1740. A request for a month's postponement of the journeyman's dismissal was denied to Mayer due to the clear legal situation. A year later, the painters Rupprecht and Johann Andreas Hommel complained again because Mayer now employed two journeymen. Mayer replied that one journeyman would be responsible for gilding roses and that he would fire the other, but that didn't help. The city council insisted that both journeymen be dismissed without notice. Because the shop opened on Sunday during the evening sermon, he was fined four guilders. He got around this punishment with an apology. On September 19, 1742, Mayer honored the city of Memmingen with the painting The High Priest in the Temple , which earned him 40 guilders from St. Martin's care and 50 guilders from the imperial tax office. The picture was hung in the central nave of the Martinskirche. Due to the rather modest painting skills, Mayer tried to keep himself afloat in 1744 by publishing a weekly customer and advertising paper, which he published for over a year, because on November 18, 1745, the Unterhospital recorded four weekly papers from Mayer.

His wife died on August 23, 1745 after giving birth to three boys and three girls. On November 22nd, 1745, Christian entered into another marriage with Margaretha Hermann. The bride brought in 600 guilders as a dowry, but this did little to alleviate Mayer's financial situation. The next step to stabilize the finances was a lottery approved by the City Council of Memmingen under high conditions, in which pictures by Mayer were raffled as prizes. In order to service the accrued interest debt, Mayer persuaded some lenders to convert the interest debt into lots for this lottery. Other lenders could not be persuaded, which is why Mayer turned to the city council of Memmingen and asked to persuade the other creditors to convert. The advice worked to meet Mayer. As early as 1749 he wanted to organize another lottery, which the council refused. He recommended Mayer to sell his house in order to be able to repay the loans.

Mayer came across the Cartapesta technique around 1746 . This paper mache technique should make him quick money. Several sources indicate that this has partially succeeded. For example, on November 8, 1746, the city of Isny paid him 30 guilders and 40 kreuzers for a portrait of Emperor Franz I. In the following years he created several such works. However, this only improved his financial situation to a small extent. Now he sold his house and shop for 2,450 guilders. The creditors then asked the council to deposit the purchase price in the city chancellery in order to satisfy them from there. Mayer received a mere 50 guilders personally. The money was not enough to pay off all debts, but an amicable settlement was reached at a creditors' meeting in the city chancellery.

The city's carpenters and artisans increasingly saw his Cartapesta work as competition for their own craft businesses, which is why they filed a complaint with the City Council of Memmingen on November 22, 1754. According to Mayer's assurance that his journeyman would not do any carpentry work, the plaintiffs let it rest. From 1749 Mayer painted a cycle on the life of Jesus for the Frauenkirche in Lauben near Memmingen . This work was done by hand and should not come from him, but only from his workshop, as it lags behind the main work of Johann Friedrich Sichelbein in terms of quality. Further orders for arbors followed.

His son Christian, who had learned faience at Künersberg and worked in Ellwangen, fell seriously ill in 1757. Mayer sought help from the city council, who approved a cure. This did not happen because the son died of consumption on April 9, 1757 .

In the following years Mayer created more Cartapesta reliefs and continued to paint pictures. He received 50 guilders for the painting The twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple for the Martinskirche in Memmingen.

His daughter Sabina was expecting a child from a journeyman from Potsdam and fled to the neighboring imperial city of Leutkirch , as she had to expect a heavy punishment in Memmingen because of the premarital love affair. Mayer asked the magistrate to be able to transfer her money to Leutkirch so that she could earn a living. The magistrate rejected this on May 30, 1763, but gave in to another suggestion by Mayer when he reduced the monthly sum. A year later he was commissioned to produce the frames for the oil paintings from Cartapesta for the newly built Martinskirche in Steinheim and received 18 guilders per frame. His second wife died of inflammatory fever on February 24, 1768 at the age of 56. On June 27, 1768 he married the widow Magdalena Bleuer. In the same year he created his most important Cartapesta work, a show coat of arms of the magistrate with a written dedication. For this he was supposed to receive 100 Reichstaler, but only 75 guilders were paid out, about half of the agreed price. The other half was used to pay off debts that had grown again. The financial situation worsened in his last years, so at the end of August 1768 Christian Mayer had to ask for a food contribution from the Memmingen City Council. On August 26, 1768, he received the notice that granted him the small amount of three guilders every three months. On January 1, 1769, his third wife died of chest catarrh. With the very low inheritance he was able to alleviate his financial hardship only minimally. His daughter Sabine was expecting her second illegitimate child in the same year and should therefore be imprisoned. At the request of her father, she was able to give birth to her son Christoph on June 10, 1769 in the Seelhaus and had to return to prison after childbirth. On July 7th, 1769 Christian Mayer asked for admission to the benefice, the poor house. His health deteriorated there, so that a short time later the hospital's father Michael Henchel determined that he was in need of care. With his last wish, on November 2, 1770, he asked the magistrate to release his daughter from prison so that she could look after him. The magistrate allowed care during the day, at night the daughter had to return to the penitentiary. Christian Mayer died completely impoverished on June 22, 1771 in the hospital, a Memmingen poor house.

Works

photos

In the Evangelical Lutheran parish church of Our Lady in Lauben near Memmingen :

• Annunciation to Mary , oil / canvas, 1749
• Adoration of the Shepherds , oil / canvas, 1765
• Crucifixion of Christ , oil / canvas, 1749
• Resurrection of Christ , oil / canvas, 1755
• Ascension of Christ , oil / canvas, 1759
• Jesus and the twelve apostles , gallery parapet including its mount, 1756

Martinskirche zu Memmingen: The high priest in the temple , oil / canvas, 1742

Kinderlehrkirche Memmingen: The twelve year old Jesus in the temple , oil / canvas, 1763

Private ownership: Rifleman target depicting a cannon explosion , oil / wood, 1763

Cartapesta works

City Museum Memmingen in the Hermansbau :

• Relief with the Allegory of Justitia , 1747
• Relief with a view of Memmingen from the east , around 1750
• Family tree of the Rupprecht and Küner families , 1758
• Anniversary memorial for the 200th return of the Augsburg religious peace in 1755 , 1755
• Commemorative letter on the admission of Johannes Kiderlin to the Grand Council , 1760
• Commemorative plaque for the acquisition of judicial sovereignty by the city republic of Memmingen , 1760
• Plaque of honor for the appeal of Johann Carl Zobel to the city court , 1767
• Monument to the glorification of the imperial city regiment , 1768

Isny im Allgäu , Evangelical Lutheran Church Archives: Jubilee memorial for the 200th anniversary of the Augsburg religious peace in 1755 , 1755

Wangen im Allgäu , Heimatmuseum: Honorary monument to the glorification of Emperor Franz I Stephan , 1746

Private ownership: plaque of honor for the appointment of court lord David Rupprecht to the Inner Council , 1762

literature

• Günther Bayer: Memmingen painter at the time of the baroque. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2007, ISBN 3-89870454-8 , pp. 45–57.