Hans Sixt from Staufen

Master Hans Sixt von Staufen was a late Gothic wood and stone sculptor from Upper Rhine . Works by him from 1515 to 1532 are reliably documented.

Life

Sixt von Staufen is only known from the fact that archival documents have been preserved for some of his works. In Europe at the end of the 15th century, sculpture had not yet been raised to the rank of the liberal arts. Their creators were master craftsmen who carried out work that the free spirit of their clients had given them. Sixt von Staufen did not see himself as an "artist" in the medieval sense and stepped back behind his works, although it was already common in his time to designate works of art and paintings, such as on the high altars of the Freiburg Minster by Hans Baldung and the Breisacher Münster by Master HL can be seen.

In the accounting books of the Freiburg cathedral factory and the Freiburg department store he is called "Sixt von Stoufen" or "Sculptor von Stoufen". So he came from Staufen , where he is called "Hans Sixten" in tax books, from which we know his full name. Between 1515 and 1532 he carried out works in Freiburg , not all of which are known to us. This apparently happened from his workshop in Staufen, because he also received wages for transporting his carvings. In Staufen he is still listed as the owner of a garden property in 1534.

There is no reference to the year of birth or death in the archives, and the church registers in which these dates must have been listed were burned. It is believed that the name "Hans Sixstein" (Sigstein) is identical with "Hans Sixten". A “year”, ie the church intercession for the soul on the anniversary of the death of “Hans Sixstein”, is noted in the year book of the Staufen parish church without an exact date in the middle of the 16th century. According to this, Sixt would no longer have lived around 1550.

education

In general, a connection between the works of Sixt and sculptures from Nuremberg and Würzburg is seen. If he was not a Riemenschneider student, it can be assumed that he had come across such work on his travels.

Works

Protective mantle Madonna in the Lochererkapelle

Roraffe the swallow's nest organ

Archivally secured works

• In 1517 Sixt received an additional payment for a work from 1515 that we do not know. In 1518 he was paid 6 guilders 5 shillings for “two form zu hauwen in sant maria madalenen körlin” that were also not identified.
• From 1521 to 1524 Sixt created his main work, the protective mantle altar in the Lochererkapelle in Freiburg Minster. It is one of the few carved altars from the late Gothic period that has been almost completely preserved and is still at the original site. With the almost 6.5 m high blast, it almost reaches the full height of the choir chapel. It is “a typical transitional work of the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era: while the architectural design with the tall, rectangular, stepped shrine and the monumental splinter still fully corresponds to the taste of the late Gothic, the figures already show Renaissance-like features. So the people seeking protection with their individual faces and the realistically reproduced, contemporary clothes, the strong child angels educated as nature boys and also Maria, who no longer appears as an unapproachable, remote Madonna, but as a down-to-earth young woman ”.
• In 1527 Sixt was paid a guilder for another job in the Freiburg Cathedral, with the note “von Bossen (console stones) uff den pfiler”. “This can only mean the stone consoles on the Levite's chair , on which angel putti hold the coat of arms of the city and the Münster hut. Their lively, moving, fat bodies and lively, smart faces are so related to the little angels in the Locherer Altar that there can be no doubt about the Staufener's mastery ”. These angel consoles are located behind the Levite chair on the ambulatory wall on the descent into the bishop's crypt.
• In 1530 Sixt received one guilder and five shillings for "the roraffen to the organ". This is the moving half-figure of a man at the long ship organ of the Freiburg Minster, who, when the organist pulls the Roraffenzug at the beginning of a concert, raises his trumpet to his mouth.
• Finally, from 1530 to 1532 Sixt carried out a “particularly honorable assignment in Freiburg” for the newly built department store , namely the “statues of the rulers from the House of Habsburg, which stand in splendid, fashionable armor on consoles on the facade. They are Emperor Maximilian I , the 'last knight', his young deceased son Philip of Burgundy , his grandchildren, the then reigning Emperor Charles V and the sovereign Ferdinand . The faces of the princes are reproduced 'true to life' from portraits and the armor depicted with great accuracy. Sixt is thus following the desire of the time for a more precise representation of the individual, personal and the diversity of materials. In addition to the statues, the beautiful bay reliefs with the multi-part coats of arms of the Austrian hereditary lands on the department store are also from the master ”.

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  The historic department store

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  Emperor Maximilian I.

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  Philip I of Burgundy

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  Emperor Charles V

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  Emperor Ferdinand I.

Attributed works

With the given documents, all ascriptions of works to Sixt must remain assumptions. "Overzealous research" even wanted to ascribe the Breisach high altar and related works to him. Therefore only two often mentioned, if not undisputed works are listed, possibly the first and last known work by Sixt.

• The carved altar, which is back in the Vitus Chapel in Wasenweiler after its restoration, was created by Sixt immediately after his apprenticeship in Franconia . “The lovely figure of Mary in the middle niche is accompanied by a bishop and a deacon on the side. Many details of the carving agree with the Locherer altar and also with works by Riemenschneider. This altar will have been made between 1510 and 1515 and would be Sixten's earliest work ”.

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  Veil of tendrils over St. Nicholas as bishop in full regalia

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  General view of the carved altar in St. Vitus, Wasenweiler

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  Vine veil over the deacon, probably St. Laurentius or St. Stephanus

• In 1545 three guilders and fifteen shillings are paid to the “picture maker of the merge picture (image of the Virgin Mary) on the organ”. The name of the sculptor of the organ Madonna on the nave organ of the Freiburg Minster “is not mentioned, but one can see from the similarity in style with the Mother of God in the Locherer Altar Master Sixt as a carver. Yet this beautiful, reflective figure of the Virgin contains new features compared to the earlier work; it is more richly wrinkled and at the same time tart and simple ”.

The city patroness Anna

Mary's Lament

Attributed works in Staufen

Sixt was based in Staufen. It would therefore be almost surprising if there were no works by him to be found in the Martinskirche there. It is also noticeable that "the sculptor did not work for the Freiburg Minster between 1518 and 1522 when the new Staufens town church had just been inaugurated and there could have been work on furnishing for the local master". However, it must be taken into account that in a major city and church fire in 1690 not only the parishes, but also some works of art were destroyed.

• Anna from a group of figures of Anna the same three stood on the church granary in the upper floor of the tower. In 1935 it was brought out. “Saint Anne was certainly a magnificent work of art in the past.” However, “she missed Mary and the child, who were apparently attached and not carved from the same linden tree. The sculptor Fridolin Dettlinger in Freiburg had the figure of the city's patroness added and repainted. Much of the bitter character of the generous figure was lost, so that the hand of the woodcarver Sixt is no longer quite visible; nevertheless the fine, sweeping folds betray the hand of a good master. Anna is dressed as a bourgeois woman of the Dürer period, her costume and the mighty body shape suggest that it was created around 1516 at the time the new late Gothic church was completed. ”This statue“ is most likely to be the work of the brilliant Sixt ”.
• The Pietà group is called “Marienklage” in Staufen. “The group of the Lamentation of Mary is also disfigured by new painting, the thick chalk ground of which hides the intricacies of the carving. Slender Maria, kneeling, holds the half-erect, muscular body of the son in front of her and supports the drooping head with her right hand. Her fine, painful face and graceful body are encased in a scarf and cloak, the folds of which encircle the limbs in distinctive features and pile up on the floor. These quick parallel folds and wavy hems can also be found in other works by Master Sixt, for example on the Locherer Altar; only the lamentation seems to have originated earlier ”.
• A crucifix made of pine wood, which was repurchased from a private hand, is in the St. Anne's Chapel in the tower of the church. It is “- if carved by him at all - a work from the early days of the master. The quiet, masculine face of the Savior speaks to us without pathos, it is full of pain and patience. The body is stocky and the rib cage and tendons are almost lifelike. A wrinkled loincloth surrounds the slender hips with fluttering tips. Carved flat like a board and a bit dry in detail, the well-structured figure makes you think of a workshop job that Master Sixt may not have done himself ”.
• In the ribbed vault of the church there are four keystones with the coat of arms of the barons of Staufen , John the Baptist , St. Anna and St. Martin . "It is believed that these relief pictures were made by the well-known Staufen sculptor Sixt". “It can actually be assumed that he was used for this”.

Trivia

• In Staufen, the insignificant Sixtgasse at the foot of the Schlossberg is named after Sixt.
• From Hermann Ays an artistically free play "Sixt of Stoufen", which was performed for the first time in 1937 and was revived in free machining several times since 2007 with "Stages", the annual Staufener journey into the city's history comes from.

literature

• Ingeborg Krummer-Schroth : The medieval art and master Sixt von Staufen , in Staufen - and the upper Breisgau . Verlag G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1967, pp. 51-55; largely identical to:
• Ingeborg Schroth: Master Sixt, the sculptor from Staufen , in the magazine of the Breisgau history association Schau-ins-Land 74th annual issue 1956, pp. 82-101 online
• Friedrich Kobler:  Sixt, Hans. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 480 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Werner Schäffner: Master Hans Sixt von Staufen , self-published, Staufen 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 54; Hermann Brommer : Catholic parish church St. Martin, Staufen i. Br. , Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2001, p. 9.
2. ↑ Heike Mittmann, The protective mantle altar ( online )
3. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 54.
4. ↑ Schäffner, p. 24.
5. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 54.
6. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 54.
7. ↑ Heike Mittmann, The protective mantle altar ( online )
8. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 53.
9. ↑ Joseph Riegel, The Locherer Chapel in the Freiburg Minster and the Master of its Altar , In “Freiburger Münsterblätter” 1915, pp. 10-30 ( online ).
10. ↑ The St. Vitus Chapel has its altar shrine again ( online )
11. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 55. On the other hand, Friedrich Kobler: "The attribution made by older research [...] is in general [...] no longer upheld."
12. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 54 f.
13. ^ Hermann Brommer: Catholic parish church St. Martin, Staufen i. Br. Kunstverlag Josef Fink. Lindenberg 2001, p. 9.
14. ↑ Schäffner p. 12 f.
15. ↑ Kraus, Franz Xaver (ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler des Grossherzogtums Baden , Volume 6.1, Tübingen 1904, p. 467 ( online )
16. ↑ It would be correct: Joseph Dettlinger . Krummer-Schroth, Bonath and Hermann Brommer: Catholic parish church St. Martin Staufen i. Br. , Lindenberg 2001, probably all follow Wilhelm Weitzel with the first name Fridolin: The Faust city of Staufen im Breisgau , Staufen 1936. Weitzel, as the pastor at the time, should have been close to the addition. The same Weitzel: Staufener Heimatgeschichte , Staufen 1966, writes 30 years later: "The best Gothic carver Josef Dettlinger in Freiburg renovated the statue and added the Christ child carrying a grape with mother." The famous carver was actually Joseph Dettlinger. His son Fridolin, who traded in office machines, is not known as a picture carver.
17. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 52.
18. ^ Hermann Brommer, Catholic parish church St. Martin, Staufen i. Br. , Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2001, p. 9. Likewise Friedrich Kobler: "Rightly ascribed to Sixt."
19. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 52.
20. ↑ Krummer-Schroth, p. 52. By contrast, Friedrich Kobler: "Rightly attributed to Sixt."
21. ^ Rudolf Bonath, town church and chapels in Staufen / Breisgau , Libertas Verlag Hubert Baum 1964, p. 13.
22. ↑ Schroth, p. 101.

Web links

Commons : Hans Sixt von Staufen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files