Franz Matthias Hiernle

Franz Matthias Hiernle (* 19th September 1677 in Landshut , † before 7. May 1732 ) was a German sculptor of the Baroque .

Live and act

From 1705 he was the court sculptor of the Mainz Elector Lothar Franz von Schönborn . His two sons, Sebastian Hiernle († 1755) and Johann Kaspar Hiernle († 1755), also became sculptors and no doubt contributed to their father's work at times. Hiernle became - alongside Burkard Zamels , Johann Peter Melchior and Sebastian Barnabas Pfaff (1747–1794) - despite his Bavarian descent, an important representative of the "Middle Rhine variant" of baroque sculpture. He died in 1732 and was buried on May 7th in Mainz .

Cornelius Andreas Donett (1683–1748) from Frankfurt am Main was one of his students.

Exemplary works

“Hercules” figure made of red sandstone, probably from the workshop of Franz Matthias Hiernle. One of only two surviving remnants of the rich figurative equipment of the Mainz Favorite. Installed today in the Mainz city park .

• Münster , in St. Paulus Cathedral , western transept: " Mater Dei ", as a counterpart to it " Salvator Mundi " (destroyed), both figures made of alabaster , 1723
• Mainz , cathedral , in the cloister: " John the Baptist "
• Mainz, in the former baroque garden of the Favorite pleasure palace : a large part of the figurative furnishings of the gardens, around 1720. The statues of Bacchus , Faunus , Jupiter and Juno , Ceres and Flora as well as all nymphs and genii from Greco-Roman mythology are placed here attributed. The group of figures in the themed fountain “ Pluto's Rape of Proserpina ”, which crowned the central garden, should be mentioned as a particularly elaborate work by Hiernle . As with all large water systems, Hiernle also worked here according to the designs by Maximilian von Welsch and implemented them artistically according to the structural specifications. Hiernles' sons probably helped design the figures. A significantly smaller proportion of the Favorite's figurative jewelry comes from Johann Wolfgang Fröhlicher .
• Mainz, " Neuer Brunnen " at Neubrunnenplatz: two lying river gods ("Rhein" and "Main") as well as two nymphs, 1726 (originals today in the Landesmuseum Mainz ; the nymphs have not been preserved)
• Idstein , in the Union Church (former Collegiate Church of St. Martin), to the left of the altar: grave monument for Prince Georg August Samuel von Nassau-Idstein (* 1665 - † 1721), his wife Henriette Dorothea and their children (design: Maximilian von Welsch, execution : FM Hiernle).

literature

• Ernst Neeb : A picture of Our Lady from the workshop of the Mainz sculptor Franz Mathias Hiernle; a contribution to the history of art historical research in Mainz . In: Stadt und Stift: Contributions to the history of Mainz. Festschrift for Heinrich Schrohe , Mainzer Presse (commissioned by Wilckens Verlag), Mainz 1934, pp. 120–124.
• Ludwig Döry: Sebastian and Johann Kaspar Hiernle, Mainz sculptors of the second generation . In: Mainzer Zeitschrift , Vol. 79/80, 1984/85, pp. 209-238. ISSN  0076-2792
• Ursula Roehlig:  Hiernle, Franz Matthias. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 111 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• "Mater Dei" and "Salvator Mundi", St. Paulus Münster / Westf. , Photo library of the Central Institute for Art History, Munich.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mainzer Zeitschrift , Verlag des Mainzer Altertumsverein, 1979, p. 41 u. 42; (Detail scan)