Johann Balthasar Keller
Johann Balthasar (also Hans or Jean-Balthazar) Keller vom Steinbock (born March 16, 1638 in Zurich , † 1702 in Paris ) was a Swiss ore caster .
Live and act
Johann Balthasar Keller came from one of the oldest patrician families in Zurich , the Hohenstaufen Keller vom Steinbock, also known as the key or cellar of Schwamendingen (raised to the knighthood in the ninth century, second noble patent «from the Ibex» 1487). He was born in Zurich as the son of Johann-Balthasar Keller vom Steinbock (1603–1657) and Verena Wetzel (1617–1679).
As a talented draftsman, he began training as a goldsmith . At the suggestion of his brother Johann Jakob Keller (1635–1700), cannon maker in French service, he went to Paris in 1660 to practice this craft. Together they were entrusted with the construction of foundries in Besançon , Neuf-Brisach and Pignerol ; after 1674 they returned to Paris.
In the late 1680s, Johann Balthasar Keller began the casting preparations for the equestrian statue of Louis XIV , intended for the Place Vendôme in Paris (then Place Louis le Grand) , which visualized the king as a Roman emperor. The concept came from the French sculptor François Girardon . In a specially built foundry, the almost seven-meter-high statue was first cast in a single casting process on December 31, 1692 (unveiling in 1699, destruction in 1792). Keller also realized statues for the Park of Versailles and the Tuileries Garden .
In 1697 he was appointed commissioner general of the foundries of the royal artillery and inspector of the large foundry of the royal arsenal in Paris. The four famous statues, cast by the Keller brothers between 1684 and 1686, were intended for the facade of the Palace of Versailles (1701).
On February 9, 1682, he married Susanne de Boubers de Bernâtre, daughter of a rich family from Picardy .
The Keller brothers, who supplied hundreds of cannons in the course of their careers, had a decisive influence on the development of artillery in France.
literature
- Arthur Norris Kennard: Gunfounding and Gunfounders - a directory of cannon founders from earliest times to 1850. Arms and Armor Press, 1986.
- Lorenz Seelig: Keller, Balthasar (Quelair, Quailer). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 429 f. ( Digitized version ).
Web links
- Tapan Bhattacharya: Keller, Johann Balthasar. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keller, Johann Balthasar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Keller vom Steinbock, Hans Johann Balthasar; Keller, Balthasar; Quelair, Balthasar; Quailer, Balthasar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss goldsmith and cannon founder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 16, 1638 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zurich |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1702 |
| Place of death | Paris |