Christoph Abraham Walther

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Christoph Walther Abraham (* around 1625 in Dresden , † 22. August 1680 (funeral)) was a German sculptor of the Baroque .

Life

He comes from the artist family Walther and was the last child of the sculptor Sebastian Walther . Of his 13 sisters, Viktoria and Marie Sophia were married to the sculptors Zacharias Hegewald (1596–1639) and Johann Georg Kretzschmar (1612–1653), respectively . Growing up in Dresden, he learned the carving trade in the family sculptor's workshop at Terrassenstrasse 12 and worked on the family's works since his early youth.

His first major independent work was the completion of the relief of the man stand on the gallery of the (old) Frauenkirche after the death of his father in 1645. In 1648 he went on a journey and worked in Ulm for the ivory and wood carver David Heschler (around 1610 until 1667). There he met the sculptor Melichor Barthel (1625 to 1672) , who was also from Dresden . In Ulm he married the daughter of the sculptor Heinrich Wilhelm and took over the workshop after his death. Back in Dresden around 1653, his next works were the figural decoration of the Justitia fountain on the Altmarkt .

In 1655 he went hiking again and worked in Regensburg. In his wife's homeland he bought a quarry and used it for his work. There he made the niche statues for the interior of the Benedictine collegiate church in Lambach in his workshop . A little later he received the order from the Saxon Elector Johann Georg II to make a crucifix for the Dresden Elbe Bridge (later Augustus Bridge ) for 100 guilders . The work was finished in March and he brought it to Dresden himself on July 6, 1658. It was erected there after a mold had been made for a cast . It was cast by Andreas Herold in 1670 and erected in September. In 1845, on March 31st, during a strong flood , the pillar with the crucifix collapsed and it has been lost ever since.

In the years 1659 to 1660 he created the tombs for his deceased mother (1657) and his two eldest daughters in the Walther family arch on the Frauenkirchhof . In 1660 he worked for the Margrave Albrecht V of Brandenburg (-Ansbach). There followed in 1664 complicated regulations of inheritance matters in Regensburg with the help of charter from the Saxon sovereign to the Bavarian elector and the Regensburg magistrate. At the same time he sold his quarry and workshop. From 1665 he was back in Dresden. He received the civil rights of the city of Dresden at the council meeting on February 23, 1666. He worked for the Saxon court and for the Margrave Albrecht V of Brandenburg. He created sculptures , reliefs , figures, epitaphs , tombs and altars made of sandstone , granite , marble and alabaster in and around Saxony . At the age of 65 he died in Dresden and was buried in the family grave of the Frauenkirchhof.

Works (selection)

Figure Mother of God , Benedictine collegiate church in Lambach

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Augustus Bridge . In: Dresden and Saxony. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013 ; accessed on October 15, 2014 .
  2. ^ Johann Gottfried Michaelis : Dreßdnische Inscriptiones und Epitaphia . Self-published by the author, Dresden 1714, p. 172 ( digitized version in the Google book search).
  3. ↑ Schönfeld Church. In: Dresden districts. Retrieved October 15, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Walther, Christoph Abraham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German baroque sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1625
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH 22nd August 1680
Place of death Dresden