Christoph Thomas Scheffler

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Christoph Thomas Scheffler (pen drawing by Georg C. Kilian after a portrait relief by Egid Verhelst , around 1745)
Fresco crucifixion in St. Paulin , Trier
Ceiling painting “Assumption of Mary in Heaven” in the former Jesuit church in Ellwangen (Jagst), 1727
Choir fresco ( Aulzhausen parish church)

Christoph Thomas Scheffler (also Schäffler ; * December 20, 1699 in Mainburg , † January 25, 1756 in Augsburg ) was a German painter of the Baroque and Rococo .

Origin and career

Christoph Thomas Scheffler was one of three sons of the painter Wolfgang Scheffler and Sabine NN. After training in his father's workshop, he worked from 1719 to 1722 as a painter's journeyman with Cosmas Damian Asam , one of the two Asam brothers . In September 1722 he entered the Landsberg Jesuit College as a lay brother , which probably gave him his first assignments:

In Dillingen he unexpectedly resigned from the order on April 17, 1728 - probably with the intention of starting his own business as a painter.

Together with his brother Felix Anton Scheffler he received in 1729 from the Wormser bishop Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg , who is also the Mainz elector and archbishop of Wroclaw and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order was a contract to Freskierung of the staircase and the main hall in the Worms bishop. On his recommendation, both brothers went to Silesia in 1730 to paint the Kreuzherrenkirche in Neisse . After completing the work, Christoph Thomas returned to Augsburg in 1732, where he founded a painting workshop and in 1738 married Maria Regina Pelle, who gave birth to five sons.

Until around 1740 Scheffler worked mainly in Swabian churches (Unterliezheim 1733, Augsburg-St. Margareth 1735, St. Laurentius and Elisabeth in Aulzhausen , Dillingen 1737, Todtenweis , Witzighausen 1740, Mother of God Chapel in Haunstetten 1742).

Complete artistic work

Scheffler was stylistically influenced by his years with Cosmas Damian Asam. He created numerous altar paintings and cityscapes. His fresco painting made him one of the most important representatives of Swabian baroque painting in the first half of the 18th century.

In his painting he preferred - probably because of the years he spent with the Jesuits - religious motifs, which are often based on a pious and instructive style. Most of his clients came from the church sector.

Although Scheffler had worked with Balthasar Neumann on the design of the Church of the Counts of Schönborn in Heusenstamm in 1741 , Neumann did not want to consult him on the design of the Würzburg Palace - probably because of Scheffler's distinctly religious motifs.

Scheffler's last years were overshadowed by illness. He mostly signed his works with a capital T and a capital S.

Other works (selection)

literature

  • Thomas Balk: The Augsburg history painter Christoph Thomas Scheffler (1699–1756). An art guide to Scheffler frescoes in churches in southern Germany . (= DKV art guide No. 537/9). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich [1999]
  • Wilhelm Braun: Christoph Thomas Scheffler, an Asam student . Stuttgart 1939 ( digitized version )
  • Heiner Martini:  Christoph Thomas Scheffler. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 37-39.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Alexander von Reitzenstein, Herbert Brunner: Reclam's art guide Bavaria . 8th edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-15-008055-X
  • Georg Paula :  Christoph Thomas Scheffler. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 613 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Peter Stoll: "Quod prodest homini: a frontispiece based on a template by Christoph Thomas Scheffler". In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 117 (2008), pp. 264–280
  • Peter Stoll: "Rosary donation: Christoph Thomas Scheffler's altarpiece for Maria Medingen". In: Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen an der Donau 110. 2009 (2010), pp. 27–49
  • Peter Stoll: "Pentecostal illusions: Christoph Thomas Scheffler, Jean Jouvenet and Cosmas Damian Asam". In: Yearbook of the Historical Association Dillingen an der Donau 110. 2009 (2010), pp. 51–70
  • Peter Stoll: Christoph Thomas Scheffler in the study church of Dillingen: Playing with frame and illusion . University Library, Augsburg 2012 ( full text )
  • Simone Hartmann: Christoph Thomas Scheffler (1699–1756): Visualization of baroque piety . 1st edition. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-7954-2961-4

Web links

Commons : Christoph Thomas Scheffler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Scheffler, Christoph Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter of the Baroque and Rococo
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1699
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainburg
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1756
Place of death augsburg