Honey treat
The honey licker is a putto , a figure made of plaster , created by the sculptor and plasterer Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer . It is located in the Birnau pilgrimage church to the left above the right side altar, the Bernhard altar dedicated to Bernhard von Clairvaux .
description
The figure shows a boy who holds a beehive in his right hand and licks honey from his left index finger . The original setting was white and gold, later the gold was replaced by a delicate pink. Today the gilding has been partially reattached, the pink has also been included. The bees are all gilded and also sit on the altar frame .
In the opposite pendant , a putto indicates the opening words of the Rule of St. Benedict there.
Interpretations
The depiction suggests the nickname of St. Bernard of Clairvaux , whom his contemporaries had given him because of his talent for preaching. They called him “ Doctor mellifluus ” (honey flowing teacher) because the words flowed like honey from his mouth. The figure further refers to the diligence of the bee , and to the temptation as missing .
The curly hair , the shapely belly and the cautious posture, the source of the honey, trying to hide the beehive a little, suggest a mischievous "Moritz" after Wilhelm Busch, but his counterpart is clearly not a "Max", he looks serious and almost strict as he pointed in the book with his finger. They are treated as meaningfully as statues and represent large figures.
literature
- Wilhelm Boeck , Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer , Wasmuth, Tübingen 1948.
- Wilhelm Boeck, the sculptor, altar builder and plasterer Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer Gessler, Friedrichshafen, 1981, ISBN 3-922137-09-1
- Ulrich Knapp, Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer 1696–1770. Stadler, Konstanz 1996, ISBN 3-7977-0347-3
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Boeck: Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer , Wasmuth, Tübingen 1948, p. 190