Jakob Russ

High altar, Chur Cathedral (detail)

Figure of the Count Palatine near the Rhine from the Ueberlingen Town Hall (photographed in an exhibition in Ravensburg)

Jakob Russ (also Jacob Ruß, Ruess, Ruoss ; * before 1482, † after 1506) was a South German sculptor at the transition from the late Gothic to the Renaissance.

Life

Draft contract for the execution of the town hall, Überlingen City Archives

Jakob Russ' life dates are unknown. He was first mentioned in 1482 as Jacob Ruß, bildhower in a tax list as a citizen of the imperial city of Ravensburg . The last mention of a Ravensburger expat is in 1506.

Russ probably received his training in Ulm or Konstanz.

In 1486 he was commissioned by Bishop Ortlieb von Brandis for the high altar in the Cathedral of St. Mary's Assumption in Chur (Graubünden).

In 1491 Russ began his second major work, furnishing the town hall in Überlingen on Lake Constance with carved figures depicting the status of the Holy Roman Empire according to the quaternion system .

For the execution of the two major orders, Russ moved his workshop to Chur and Überlingen for several years, but during this time he always remained a Ravensburger citizen.

In addition to the two main multi-figure works in Chur and Überlingen, which are secured by archive materials, sculptures in the Chur cathedral, in the state museums in Stuttgart and Zurich and in churches in Ravensburg and the surrounding area are attributed to Russ and his workshop. A detailed art-historical classification of these traditional attributions is still pending.

reception

Russ' high altar in Chur is considered to be the most important and beautiful carved Gothic altar in Switzerland. For Jacob Burckhardt , the heads of the figures in the tabernacle “certainly belonged to the sweetest and most beautiful [...] that the XV. Century in the north. "

In art historical literature, Russ is only seen in the second row of the carvers of his time, behind more famous contemporaries such as Michael Pacher , Tilman Riemenschneider , Veit Stoss or Michel Erhart .

In the 20th century, a street in the Ravensburger Südstadt was named after Russ ("Jakob-Russ-Weg"). In 2010 the Ravensburger Museum dedicated a special exhibition to Humpis-Quartier Russ. There is also a trail named after him in Überlingen.

Works

Hl. Jungfrau (attributed to the workshop), Landesmuseum Württemberg, Inv. 1962-12, detail

Secured

• Epitaph of the Chur bishop Ortlieb von Brandis, 1485 (only preserved in the archives, apparently made of stone)
• High altar of Chur Cathedral with 152 figures, 1486–1492
• Town hall hall with 49 figures, Überlingen, 1491–1494

Attributed to Russ, his workshop or his circle

• Holy Virgin (or Mother of God?), Around 1480, Landesmuseum Württemberg , Stuttgart (Inv. 1962–12)
• Madonna and Child, around 1480, St. Antonius parish church, Ravensburg-Oberzell
• St. Virgin (St. Barbara?), Around 1485, Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart (inv. 1939–22)
• Pietà, Chur Cathedral, around 1490
• Man of Sorrows, Chur Cathedral, around 1490
• Tumbenplatte for the Chur Bishop Ortlieb von Brandis, Chur Cathedral, 1490–1491
• Our Lady and Child, 15th century, Museum Humpis-Quartier , Ravensburg
• Maria, parish church St. Jodok, Ravensburg
• St. John the Evangelist, Parish Church of St. Jodok, Ravensburg
• St. Catherine of Alexandria, Liebfrauen parish church, Ravensburg
• St. Ursula, Liebfrauen parish church, Ravensburg
• Figures of saints, National Museum Zurich
• Shrine figures, Church of St. Philip and Jacob, Naz near Brixen

Controversial or outdated attributions

• Lucius Altar, Church of St. Maria and Michael , Churwalden, 1511
• Stalls in the Martinskirche , Chur
• St. Urban, St. Christina parish church, Ravensburg

literature

General

• Paul Beck :  Soot, Jakob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 3-5. (outdated)
• Uta Bergmann: Russ, Jakob. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Fritz Harzendorf : Jakob Ruß. The master of the Überlingen town hall hall. New biographical statements , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 65th year 1938, pp. 37–57 ( digitized version )
• Daniel Hess: Russ, Jacob. In: Sikart (as of 2019)
• Christian Immanuel Kind : The builder of the front altar in Chur cathedral , in: Anzeiger für Schweizerische Geschichte , 6th year 1875, p. 170 f. ( Digitized version )
• Christian Immanuel Kind: Jacob Russ , in: Anzeiger für Schweizerische Geschichte , 8th year 1877, p. 291 ( digitized version )
• Agnes Klodnicki-Orlowski: Studies on Jakob Russ, a late Gothic carver from Ravensburg. Dissertation, University of Heidelberg 1990 ( digitized version of the main volume , the document and illustration volume is not digitized and is only available at Heidelberg University Library)
• Hans Rott: Sources and research on southern German and Swiss art history in the 15th and 16th centuries. I. Lake Constance area. Swell. Strecker and Schröder, Stuttgart 1933, p. 178 f. ( Digitized version )
• Ludwig Volkmann: Russ (Ruess, Ruoss, incorrectly: Rüsch, Rösch, Rufer), Jacob . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 29 : Rosa – Scheffauer . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1935, p. 226-227 .
• Heinrich Türler: Soot (Rueß), Jakob. In: Carl Brun (Ed.): Swiss Artist Lexicon. Volume 2: HR. Von Huber & Co., Frauenfeld 1908, pp. 698–699 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive or commons )
• Ludwig Volkmann: On the work of Jacob Russ von Ravensburg. In: Upper Rhine Art. Volume 8 (1939), pp. 71-83

To the Chur high altar

• Max Bach: The high altar of Chur Cathedral. In: Diöcesanarchiv von Schwaben. 16th year 1898, No. 12, pp. 177–179 ( digitized version )
• Astrid von Beckerath: The late Gothic high altar retable of Chur Cathedral - a symbol of power? In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History. 48th year 1991. pp. 129-147 ( doi: 10.5169 / seals-169148 )
• Astrid von Beckerath: The high altar in the cathedral of Chur. Master and client on the eve of the Reformation. Verlag an der Lottbek, Ammersbek 1994, ISBN 3-86130-017-6 (plus dissertation, University of Hamburg 1994).
• Agnes Klodnicki-Orlowski: The late Gothic retable on the high altar of the cathedral in Chur. A convertible convertible altar. In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History (ZAK), 48th year 1991, pp. 148–160 ( doi: 10.5169 / seals-169149 )

To the Überlinger Rathaussaal

• Guntram Brummer: Empire and Law in the Überlinger Rathaussaal. Old and new to understand Jakob Russ's carving. In: Research on legal archeology and legal folklore. 16: 51-76 (1996)
• Agnes Klodnicki-Orlowski: A medieval contract for work. Jacob Ruß and the Ueberlinger Rathaussaal. In: Life at the lake. 9th year 1991, pp. 316-322
• District Office Bodenseekreis (ed.): The Überlinger Rathaussaal. A work of art from the autumn of the Middle Ages. With contributions by Guntram Brummer, Georg Poensgen and Peter Putzer. Photos by Ulrike and Toni Schneiders. (= Art at the lake; 25). Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 1993, ISBN 3-922137-94-6
• Siegfried Lauterwasser: The medieval estates. The carving of Jacob Russ in the hall of the town hall in Überlingen. Edited by Georg Poensgen. (Thorbecke Art Library; Volume 5). Thorbecke, Lindau and Konstanz 1958
• Christian Roder: Master Jakob Russ from Ravensburg, the manufacturer of the wood carving in the town hall in Überlingen. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. NF Volume 2 (1887), pp. 490–497 ( digitized version )
• Ludwig Volkmann: The Überlinger Rathaussaal of Jacob Russ and the representation of the German imperial estates. Berlin 1934 ( digitized version )
• Benedikt Ziegler: The carving in the hall of the town hall in Überlingen and master Jakob Russ from Ravensburg. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings, 18th year 1889, pp. 34–39 ( digitized version )

Web links

Commons : Jakob Russ  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Press photos for the special exhibition in Ravensburg 2010–2011
• Pictures of the restoration of the Chur high altar

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans Rott: Ravensburg, Biberach, Weingarten, Wolfegg and Heiligkreuztal . In: Sources and research on Southwest German and Swiss art history in the XV. and XVI. Century . tape 1 : Lake Constance area . Strecker and Schröder, Stuttgart 1933, p. 169–190, here pp. 178–179 , doi : 10.11588 / DIGLIT.2914 ( uni-heidelberg.de - Jakob Russ [1479–1506] - with mention of a Jacob, bildhower from 1479).
2. ^ Daniel Hess: Russ, Jacob. In: Sikart (status: 2019), accessed on March 1, 2020.
3. ^ Jacob Burckhardt: Description of the cathedral church of Chur. In: Communications from the Antiquarian Society in Zurich. Volume 11, 1857, Issue 7, p. 159 ( books.google.de ).
4. ↑ Astrid von Beckerath: The late Gothic high altar retable of the cathedral of Chur - a symbol of rule? 1991, p. 129.
5. ↑ Jacob Russ - A late Gothic carver from Ravensburg ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2015 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. . 
6. ↑ Eugen Schnering: Überlingen. City history in street names . Verlag der Gesellschaft der Kunstfreunde Überlingen e. V., Überlingen 1998, p. 69-70 .
7. ↑ cf. Object of the month  ( 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. at landesstelle.de.