Head of Christ (Hans Seyfer)

Head of Christ by Hans Seyfer (1505)

The head of Christ is the remains of a large crucifix that Hans Seyfer erected in front of the Sülmertor in Heilbronn around 1505 . How long the crucifix existed in its original form is not known. The head of Christ was found again in 1905 during construction work in Klostergasse 4 in Heilbronn and was later part of the permanent exhibition in the Deutschhofmuseum .

history

The former Palatinate cellar Albrecht Burger, known as Dinkelsbühl, gave Hans Seyfer the order on March 30, 1505 to create a large stone crucifix "to sanct Barbara in front of the Sulmer thore to our women away", "unparalleled three toes or four toes schüch hoch" ( approx. 360–390 cm), “the god if five werckschuche be long” (approx. 140 cm). He also decreed: "The creutz [should] be placed on aynem staynin rock."

The Barbara Chapel was located directly in front of the Sülmer Tor, from where the Neckarsulmer Weg branched off to the north towards Neckarsulm and the Weinsberger Weg (Frauenweg) to the east towards Weinsberg . The cross was probably erected directly at the fork in the road, following an old tradition.

The cross at Sülmertor is mentioned again in a document in 1540, after which it is no longer verifiable with certainty.

The breeding, labor and orphanage (later the Bläß'sche Palais ) was built on the site of the Barbarakapelle in 1758, and the empty base of the crucifix in the south-western corner of the garden can still be traced back to 1955 when the war-torn area was built over. The almost life-size head made of yellowish Heilbronn sandstone , however, was found in 1905 during renovation work on House 4 at Klostergasse , probably in the floor ceiling of the courtyard. It then came into the collection of the Historical Museum. Paul Ferdinand Schmidt and Moriz von Rauch assigned him to the work of Hans Seyfers in 1909.

The older research assumed that the Heilbronn bricklayer and master craftsman Georg Andreas Cluss (1750-1822) broke off the crucifix in 1804 and then the base came into the garden of the Bläß'schen Palais, while the head was used as filling material for the Cluss'sche Haus at Heilbronner Klostergasse 4 had been used. However, Peter Wanner suspects that the crucifix was destroyed before 1658, possibly in the course of the Thirty Years' War , as it does not appear in the city views and descriptions from 1658 onwards. At this point in time, the head had already been installed in House 4 at Klostergasse.

reception

Chronologically, the head in Seyfer's work, dated 1505, is located between the crucifixion group dated 1501 in front of the choir of Leonhard's Church in Stuttgart and the Mount of Olives groups in the cloister of Speyr Cathedral (begun in 1506) and at the choir of Regiswindis Church in Lauffen (1507). According to Andreas Pfeiffer, “the impressive head of Christ was always highly valued [in artistic terms]” Rudolf Schnellbach classifies it as “one of the best achievements of late Gothic stone sculpture”. Theodor Müller describes the sculpture as "one of the greatest documents for the force of the plastic in the Dürer period".

literature

• Peter Wanner: Hans Seyfer, Johann Lachmann and Adolf Cluss: The stone cross in front of the Sülmertor and the head of Christ from Klostergasse . (PDF; 601 kB) In: Christhard Schrenk and Peter Wanner (eds.): Heilbronnica 2. Contributions to the city's history. Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 2003. ISBN 978-3-928990-85-1 . Pp. 163-176.
• Andreas Pfeiffer and Reinhard Lambert Auer: The Heilbronn carved altar by Hans Seyfer , Stuttgart 1998, p. 15 and fig. P. 17.
• Die Kreuz am Frauenweg , in: Schwaben und Franken. Local history supplement of the Heilbronner Voice , 15th year, No. 10, October 11, 1969, pp. I – III.
• Christhard Schrenk , Hubert Weckbach , Susanne Schlösser: From Helibrunna to Heilbronn. A city history (=  publications of the archive of the city of Heilbronn . Volume 36 ). Theiss, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8062-1333-X , p. 45 ( Christ head on a crucifix by Hans Seyfer, created in 1505 on behalf of the former Palatinate cellar Albrecht Burger, known as Dinkelsbühl. ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} https://stadtarchiv.heilbronn.de/stadtgeschichte/geschichte-az/s/suelmertor.html
2. ↑ Schwaben and Franken 1969 , SI
3. ↑ Moriz von Rauch : Master Hans Seyfer, sculptor and carver in Heilbronn. In: Monatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft 2 (1909), p. 506.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Peter Wanner: Hans Seyfer, Johann Lachmann and Adolf Cluss: The stone cross in front of the Sülmertor and the head of Christ from Klostergasse . (PDF; 601 kB) In: Christhard Schrenk and Peter Wanner (eds.): Heilbronnica 2. Contributions to the city's history. Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 2003. ISBN 978-3-928990-85-1 . Pp. 163-176.
5. ^ Helmut Schmolz and Hubert Weckbach : Heilbronn - history and life of a city . 2nd Edition. Anton H. Konrad Verlag, Weißenhorn 1973, p. 102, no. 289 [ Christ head, 1505 ]
6. ↑ Andreas Pfeiffer and Karl Halbauer (eds.): Hans Seyfer: Sculptors on Neckar and Rhine around 1500. Edition Braus in the Wachter-Verlag, Heilbronn 2002, ISBN 3-930811-95-2 .
7. ↑ Rudolf Schnellbach: The high altar of the Kilian church and its masters . In: Das Schöne Franken , July 1932, issue 2, pp. 151–153.
8. ^ Adolf Feulner and Theodor Müller: History of German sculpture. Bruckmann, Munich 1953. p. 396.