Christoph Perwanger (sculptor)

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Marienfigur, wayside chapel to Springborn Abbey

Christoph Perwanger (* around 1700 in Tyrol ; † before 1767, probably 1764 in Memel ) was a sculptor who worked in West and East Prussia as well as in Warmia .

Life

The exact dates of Perwanger's life are not known. He originally came from Tyrol and was a trained brewer. Perwanger had settled permanently in Tolkemit , from where he pursued his "active artistic activity". When exactly Perwanger came from Austria to Tolkemit, which at that time belonged to West Prussia and located on the Frischen Haff , is unknown. Perwanger is documented in Tolkemit in the period from 1741 to 1761. However, it is possible that he lived in Tolkemit from 1735 or 1738/1739.

In addition to his sculpting, he also worked as a beer brewer in Tolkemit . Since May 1742 Perwanger was a member of the brotherhood of the Tolkemite Mälzenbräuerzunft , whose board he was in the years 1746 and 1756. In 1758 he was elected mayor of Tolkemit.

In November 1741 he married Elisabeth Feldkeller, the widow of the late Tolkemite citizen Peter Feldkeller († 1740). His wife died in December 1759 (according to other sources as early as 1758) without having given him a child or an heir. In January 1760 he married for the second time in Tolkemit; he married the unmarried Dorothea Meschel, the daughter of a deceased Tolkemite citizen. From this marriage a son (* 1761) emerged who was baptized with the name "Johann Christopherus". The baptism of his son is the last mention of Perwanger in the Tolkemite church records. In 1761 he is said to have left Tolkemit and lived for a short time in "Królewiec" (possibly Königsberg ), where he worked as a plasterer and sculptor. The general artist encyclopedia gives 1764 as the year of death and Memel (Klaipėda) in the Memelland as the place of death . In the guild book of the Mälzenbräuer there is an entry in 1767 that Perwanger was "already gathered with the fathers".

The exact date of Perwanger's death is still unknown. However, it can be considered largely certain that he died before 1767. According to other sources, Perwanger settled in Rößel towards the end of his life , where he is said to have died in 1785.

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Perwanger is a "downright Rococo sculptor of artistic importance". He is considered the "forerunner of the Rococo in Warmia ". His work emphasizes the "light and delicate in the formation of forms, the sweet and sensitive in the posture of the head and expression". His style is particularly influenced by the workshop of the sculptor Anton Kornowski from Tolkemit, in whose workshop he worked. His sculptures were done in plaster of paris , stucco , marble , sandstone , wood and ivory .

Perwanger's most important sculptures were or are in Tolkemit, Frauenburg , the Springborn monastery , the pilgrimage church of Heilige Linde and the Nikolaikirche in Elbing . Perwanger's workshop made sculptures and wood carvings for pulpits , confessionals and church decorations , but also for street shrines and chapels. Perwanger's "secured" creative period covers the years 1741 to 1761. The statue of Mary, created but not used for the high altar in Frauenburg Cathedral in 1738, may also come from Perwanger, provided that the "Tolkemite sculptor" has an identity with the one in Tolkemite at that time based in Perwanger. He was artistically active until 1766 at the latest, so that a total of around 30 years can be estimated for Perwanger's artistic activity.

He designed numerous works and figures, especially for the monastery church in Springborn (1744) and for the pilgrimage church in Heilige Linde (1744–1748). Perwanger's earliest known works, dating from 1742, are the 14 stucco depictions of the Passion of the Cross in the Springborn Abbey. The works are artistically at the transition from Baroque to “delicate Rococo”. With the groups of figures of St. Franziskus und Petrus von Alcantara , which were created in 1744 for the monastery church of the Springborn monastery, Perwanger made the stylistic change to the Rococo.

Perwanger's greatest commissions include the statues for the handling of the pilgrimage church in Heilige Linde, which were created between 1744 and 1748. Perwanger created figures from sandstone for the gable , the churchyard and the handling of the arbors . For the Catholic parish church in Tolkemit, Perwanger created two altars made of gypsum marble in 1747/1748 and 1750, including the new main altar , which was gilded and marbled with oil paint in 1748 , and a rosary altar , as well as the pulpit completed in 1751, also made of plaster of paris marble. These works were completely destroyed in the city fire in Tolkemit in 1767.

Perwanger's main work is the high altar in the Catholic St. Nikolaikirche in Elbing , "not only artistically and historically, but also stylistically", which Perwanger created in 1754 at the expense of Bishop Adam Stanislaus Grabowski . The altar was completely destroyed in 1777 after a lightning strike in which the church roof burned out by the subsequent collapse of the vault.

Works that have not been authenticated are or were in the Nikolaikirche in Elbing, in Freudenberg , Heilsberg , Wormditt , Crossen , Sturmhübel ( Rössel district ) and in other places in East Prussia and Warmia. Christian Bernhard Schmidt (* 1734, † 1784) could also be considered as the author of some of these works . The figure of St. Perwanger is attributed to Catherine of Siena on the rosary altar (1761) in the church in Wormditt. The Stations of the Cross of the Cadinen Monastery are said to come from Perwanger .

Documented works

  • 1742: 14 depictions of the Stations of the Cross in the Springborn Abbey
  • 1742: Figure of Mary / Mother of God in a chapel on the way to Springborn
  • 1744: Groups of figures of St. Francis and Peter of Alcantara in the Springborn monastery
  • 1744–1748: 44 or 46 statues of the lineage of the Savior for the pilgrimage church in Heilige Linde .
  • around 1745: Figures by Aloys Gonzaga and Stanislaus Kostka ; Exterior of the pilgrimage church in Heilige Linde
  • around 1745: figure of John of Nepomuk; East side of the parish church in Frauenburg
  • 1747: Mother of God in a road chapel to Kleiditten near Springborn
  • 1747/48, 1750 and 1751: Two altars made of plastered marble and a pulpit (1751) for the church in Tolkemit (not preserved)
  • 1752: statue of St. Francis on the way to Kerwienen
  • 1754: high altar of the cath. Nikolaikirche in Elbing (not preserved)
  • 1761: figure of St. Antonius in the Kerschdorf Chapel (not preserved)

Attributions (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Perwanger, Christoph . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 26 : Olivier – Pieris . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1932, p. 460 .
  2. ^ Anton Ulbrich: History of Sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, Koenigsberg 1929, pp. 672-694.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Krzysztof Perwanger. Biography on historia-wyzynaelblaska.pl. Retrieved October 17, 2018 (Polish).
  4. ↑ a b c d Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 672.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 673.
  6. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, pp. 672-673.
  7. ↑ Perwanger, Christoph. In: General Artist Lexicon . (Access only with login, degruyter.com ).
  8. ^ Anton Ulbrich: History of Sculpture in East Prussia…. (Note on p. 673).
  9. ^ A b c Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 674.
  10. ^ Anton Ulbrich: History of Sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 684.
  11. ^ Anton Ulbrich: History of Sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 675.
  12. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 678.
  13. ^ Anton Ulbrich: The pilgrimage church in Heiligelinde. A contribution to the art history of the XVII. and XVIII. Century in East Prussia . JHE Heitz, Strasbourg 1901, p. 75 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  14. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 679.
  15. ^ Anton Ulbrich: History of Sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, pp. 673-674.
  16. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, pp. 681/682.
  17. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. P. 685.
  18. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, pp. 684-694.
  19. ^ Anton Ulbrich: History of Sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, pp. 688-689.
  20. ^ A b Anton Ulbrich: History of sculpture in East Prussia…. Volume 2, p. 676.
personal data
SURNAME Perwanger, Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Perwanger, Christoph; Berwanger, Christoph; Perwanger, Krzysztof
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tyrolean sculptor in East Prussia
DATE OF BIRTH around 1700
PLACE OF BIRTH Tyrol
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 1764
Place of death Memel