Giuseppe Antonio Albuccio

Giuseppe Antonio Albuccio (* 1720 in Clivio , Italy ; † 1776 ibid; is also known as Albuzzi (o), Albuzi (o), Albuti (o) or Alberici) was an Italian plasterer of the Baroque era, who was known for his ornate stucco work on building projects of the Elector Karl Theodor became famous.

Life

Giuseppe Antonio Albuccio came from Clivio , Italy , where the Palazzo Albuzzi can still be found today. All that is known about his family ties is that he was related to the brothers Filippo, Pietro Natale and Paolo Lafranchini . Until his death in 1776 he was court plasterer in the service of the Palatinate. His successor was Joseph Anton Pozzi .

Works

Albuccio's professional path can be traced from the works that can be assigned to him. How he came to Germany from Italy is not known. In any case, he created his earliest documented stucco work in 1748 in Ellwangen , Württemberg , where he probably also met Balthasar Neumann during the construction of the collegiate town hall . All other works known by him between around 1753 and 1762 stem exclusively from the collaboration with the Palatinate Baroque architects Nicolas de Pigage and Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti , who planned and built numerous buildings on behalf of Elector Karl Theodor .

The following stucco works come from him in chronological order:

Stiftsrathaus Ellwangen

On behalf of Prince Provost Franz Georg von Schönborn-Buchheim , the new construction of the baroque collegiate town hall began in 1748 on the foundations of the old Ellwang town hall. The town and country master builder Arnold Friedrich Prahl, an employee of Balthasar Neumann, was responsible for the planning and implementation. He was also involved in the building design. The interior with the stucco work by Albuccio was carried out in the winter of 1748/49.

The town hall has been a court building since 1854 and today houses the administration and civil chambers of the regional court.

Schwetzingen Castle

The southern circular buildings of Schwetzingen Palace were built between 1753 and 1755 by Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti. In this building, intended as a hunting lodge , richly decorated game and dance halls were set up, which Albuccio decorated with magnificent stucco with hunting scenes.

Mannheim Palace

The private library of Electress Elisabeth Auguste is located in a hidden corner on the ground floor of the Baroque Palace in Mannheim . In 1755, Nicolas de Pigage designed this room in the Rococo style , which despite the rich furnishings does not appear overloaded. The stucco work carried out by Albuccio's workshop was provided by the director of the courtly painting cabinet, Philipp Hieronymus Brinkmann , in pink and light green paintings.

The cabinet library is the only one of more than 500 rooms in the palace that was spared major damage during the air raids in World War II and has been preserved in almost its original condition.

Jesuit Church St. Michael in Friborg (Switzerland)

From 1756 to 1771, the rococo renovation of the interior of the St. Michael Church, planned by Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti, took place . In 1756/57, Albuccio designed the stucco decorations of the pulpit with its figures and the gallery .

The pulpit was restored several times in the second half of the 20th century, whereby the measures that were preserved did not prove to be permanent. The retouching of the material at the time darkened noticeably over the years and the stucco marble continued to show signs of deterioration, caused by the ingress of moisture and rust. A comprehensive restoration at the beginning of the 21st century has now eliminated the causes of the damage and the appearance of the pulpit from the construction period has been restored.

Jägerhof Palace in Düsseldorf-Pempelfort

On behalf of the Elector Karl Theodor, master builder Johann Joseph Couven was commissioned with the renovation of the decaying Jägerhof Palace in Düsseldorf-Pempelfort . Court builder Pigage was also involved in the work, which lasted until 1762, and Giuseppe Antonio Albuccio was responsible for the design of the stucco ceilings.

Benrath Castle

The interior fittings of the main building of Benrath Castle were carried out from 1760 to 1773 according to Pigage's designs. Albuccio was responsible for the decoration of the interiors, which are largely in the style of Louis XVI. were executed. Around 1765, together with the Swiss plasterer Joseph Anton Pozzi , he decorated the dome of the ballroom with 840 hand-made plaster rosettes . In addition, he probably designed the eight-sided eastern bedroom of the Electress from 1760 to 1762 with a heavily structured, richly ornamental stucco ceiling. About the covered with silk wallpaper wooden panels he created a powerful, rich STUCCO cornice with Taufries , shell-work , reed shaft and Perlfries . In the broad cove fields , separated by large cartouches in the corners, there are putti surrounded by rose garlands and portrait medallions as allegories of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Still lifes and emblems of the four seasons can be seen in the narrow sections of the coves . On the ceiling surface rose garlands stretched in a star shape towards the center, which are held together by four putti to form a wreath. The alcove room belonging to the bedroom was decorated in the same way with stucco work, whereby the corner cartouches were modeled with scenes from children, which are surrounded with rocailles . The two oval central rosettes on the ceiling are framed with double-volume leaves and flowers.

Web links

• Short biography from SIKART lexicon and database

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ticino artists in the 13th to 19th centuries , accessed on December 19, 2016
2. ^ Friedrich Walter: History of Mannheim. Volume 1, Verlag der Stadtgemeinde, 1907.
3. ↑ Stiftsrathaus Ellwangen ( Memento from January 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on July 20, 2009
4. ^ Private library in Mannheim Palace ( Memento from February 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 27, 2009
5. ^ Jesuit Church St. Michael in Freiburg (Switzerland) ( Memento from October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 678 kB) accessed on May 8, 2011.
6. ↑ Benno Vogler: The ceiling paintings of the Church of St. Michel in Freiburg i.Üe. (Switzerland) - Conservation of findings and development of a sustainable conservation and restoration concept based on pilot areas . Diploma thesis, Hildesheim 2006 ( abstract )
7. ^ Jägerhof Palace , accessed on July 20, 2009.
8. ↑ Schloss Benrath  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 20, 2009.  
9. ↑ Museums of the Benrath Palace and Park Foundation On the trail of the craftsmen in Benrath Palace (PDF) accessed on July 24, 2009.
10. ↑ baufachinformationen.de ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 20, 2009.  
11. ↑ Joachim de Bürger: Schloss Benrath and its builder Nicolas de Pigage, 1723–1796 . Ed .: Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, museum for art, city and theater history in the Reiss Museum of the city of Mannheim. Wienand Verlag & Medien, 1996, ISBN 3-87909-502-7 ( Google Books ).