Felix Mader

Felix Mader (born November 28, 1867 in Obernricht , † August 16, 1941 in Munich ) was a German Roman Catholic priest , art historian and monument conservator .

Life

From the age of twelve, Felix Mader attended the humanistic grammar school in Eichstätt . After graduating from high school in 1887, he enrolled at the Episcopal Lyceum , which later became the Philosophical-Theological University of Eichstätt. After two semesters philosophical and theological studies, he was seven semesters on April 3, 1892 at Eichstätt Cathedral for ordained priests . At first he worked in practical pastoral care in Lauterhofen (1892), Trautmannshofen (1893) and in the parish of St. Walburg in Eichstätt (from 1894).

Felix Mader had an innate sense of everything beautiful in nature and in art. Already during his chaplaincy he had attracted attention through various art-historical treatises, so that on November 2, 1903 he received permission from the bishop to study art history at the University of Munich . The years in Munich had a decisive influence on him. On February 13, 1905, he received his doctorate in philosophy with a thesis on the sculptor Loy Hering .

He was unable to realize the plan of following a longer study visit to Rome after his doctoral thesis was published . Instead, Felix Mader was appointed by the Royal Bavarian State Ministry for Church and School Affairs as a research assistant at the Royal Conservatory General in 1906 . Its task was to identify and describe all of Bavaria's art monuments and to serve their preservation and care. He gradually rose to the position of department director. In 1917, the title Kgl. Professor .

During his tenure, he worked tirelessly on the series Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kingdom of Bavaria . At his death the work counted 116 volumes. He himself published 21 volumes and 11 more volumes in collaboration with a colleague. The enormous workload was only possible because Mader had been relieved of all pastoral care obligations for most of his life.

His activity required that he stayed at different places all over Bavaria to inventory the art monuments there. In the last four years before his retirement, he returned to Eichstätt to record the art monuments there.

Mader's grave in Burggriesbach

After his retirement in 1933, Mader still devoted himself to his homeland, the Upper Palatinate - Franconian region, and published, among other things, the volume History of Southern Seglau . In addition to the series The Art Monuments of the Kingdom of Bavaria , he also worked on other publications such as Die alte Kunst in Bayern or Deutscher Kunstführer . He also advised pastors in the field of church building and church beautification.

Mader's unique achievements were recognized not only by the state, but also by the church. In 1924 he was appointed Episcopal Spiritual Council by Bishop Leo von Mergel and in 1931 by Pope Pius XI. appointed papal house prelate .

Felix Mader died on August 16, 1941 as a result of severe furunculosis . His grave is in the Burggriesbach cemetery .

literature

• Andreas Bauch: Felix Mader, art historian and curator, 1867–1941. In: Sigmund Freiherr von Pölnitz (Hrsg.): CVs from Franconia (= publications of the Society for Franconian History. 7th series, ISSN  0930-9314 ). Volume 6. Kommissionsverlag Schöningh, Würzburg 1960, pp. 395–403 (also in: In the service of faith and life. Figures from Eichstätts recent history. Schöningh, Würzburg 1959, pp. 57–65), (with catalog raisonné).
• Egon Johannes Greipl (Ed.): 100 years of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation. 1908-2008. Volume 1: Balance. Pustet, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7917-2119-4 , p. 341.

Web links

• Literature by and about Felix Mader in the catalog of the German National Library

Remarks

1. ↑ F. Mader: The art monuments of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Ed. On behalf of the Kgl. Bayer. State Ministry of the Interior for Church and School Affairs.