Balthasar Neumann

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Balthasar Neumann, Portrait of Marcus Friedrich Kleinert (1727)

Johann Balthasar Neumann , commonly known as Balthasar Neumann (* January 27, 1687 in Eger (Bohemia) ; † August 19, 1753 in Würzburg ), was one of the most important architects of the Baroque and Rococo periods in southern Germany .

One of his best-known works as an architect, master builder , artist, technician and building organizer is the Würzburg Residence , which was accorded worldwide significance by UNESCO in 1981 . The residence is a UNESCO World Heritage Site .

Life

Neumann was born in house no. 12 in the Schiffgasse in Eger as the seventh of nine children of the cloth maker Hans Christoph Neumann († 1713) and his wife Rosina Grassold and was baptized on January 30, 1687 in the church of St. Niklas in Eger.

He probably spent his first apprenticeship with his godfather , the bell and metal foundryman Balthasar Platzer in Eger. Since 1711 he has been in the foundry of Ignaz Kopp in Würzburg, where he also acquired the apprenticeship as a "gun master, serious and fun fireworks".

In 1712, Neumann joined the Franconian district artillery as a private, since this was the only way he could pursue the career of engineer that was only open to military personnel . Since 1714 he has been in the service of the Würzburg Bishopric (in 1715 he was an ensign in the princely body company of the prince-bishop's Würzburg army and in his third year studying geometry, architecture and surveying). He perfected his knowledge through studies in the field of fortress architecture, rose to adjutant, soon became artillery sergeant in the castle company and in 1718 princely engineer captain .

In 1717/18 he was with the Frankish troops in Austria and Hungary, where he probably worked as an engineer in the fortification of Belgrade . In Vienna he also got to know the trend-setting baroque buildings by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt and trained his architectural sense on them. A trip to Milan probably also brought him into contact with the works of Guarino Guarini , which were decisive for his later ingenious conception of space.

After Neumann had worked under the direction of the artillery captain and engineer Andreas Müller (1667-1720) and the princely city and state master builder Joseph Greissing in Würzburg, the new prince-bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn appointed the piece captain (of the artillery ) and senior engineer Neumann to the post prince-bishop building director in Würzburg. As such, Neumann finally took over the planning for the new construction of the Würzburg Residence in 1720 . The Würzburg Prince-Bishop followed the recommendation of his uncle, the Mainz Elector Lothar Franz von Schönborn , who had noticed the master builder's emerging talent as early as 1715.

Neumann developed his understanding of architecture in these early years by working with other architects employed by the Würzburg Bishopric, such as Maximilian von Welsch , the von Erthal brothers and Ritter zu Gronesteyn , through whom he came into contact with Mansart's early French classicism. However, the discussion with the Viennese master Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt was style-defining.

In connection with the construction of the residence, he undertook a study trip on behalf of his prince-bishop's employer, which led him to Paris in 1723 via Mannheim , Bruchsal , Strasbourg and Nancy . Here, in contact with Robert de Cotte , the first architect of the French king, he consolidated the groundbreaking ideas of new spatial arrangements. In Paris, together with Germain Boffrand , the other of France's great architects, Neumann further developed his ideas of a spacious staircase, which later made him famous. In 1724 he was promoted to major . In 1725 he married Maria Eva Engelberta Schild, daughter of Privy Councilor Franz Ignaz Schild. Both had eight children. Through his marriage, he gained family access to influential civil servants and council families in the city and diocese.

Hof Oberfrankfurt at Franziskanergasse 2

Balthasar Neumann lived in Würzburg at Franziskanergasse 2, where he had acquired the Oberfrankfurt estate from Prince Bishop Christoph Franz von Hutten in 1724 . He also had his architectural office and his employees here. A spiral staircase led to a roof terrace and from there to a viewing platform called "Belvedere", popularly known as "Neumann-Kanzel" . A pedestal with a railing on the roof of his house allowed him to overlook his Würzburg construction sites. On March 16, 1945 , the property was badly damaged by bombs and blown up in 1950 because of the danger of collapse. Later it was decided to build a new building, into which the baroque portal was integrated. The "Balthasar-Neumann-Stube" was set up as an event room on the top floor.

In 1729 he became a lieutenant colonel in the Franconian district artillery and, instead of Maximilian von Welsch , building director in Bamberg, the second diocese of the new Würzburg Prince-Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn . In 1731 he received the new chair for civil and military architecture at the University of Würzburg and became a colonel in 1741 , which was the highest possible military rank for him.

Due to the policy of the Schönborn family, obsessed with the "building worm", to occupy as many bishoprics as possible with relatives, Neumann's sphere of activity eventually expanded from Würzburg and Bamberg to the bishoprics of Speyer , Constance and Trier . Even the Elector of Cologne , Clemens August von Wittelsbach , gave him commissions.

From 1723 Neumann was a member of the episcopal building commission, which he effectively headed from 1725. As building director of the cathedral chapter, he attained a dominant position in Würzburg's building industry, even after he had temporarily lost his position as chief building director under Schönborn's successor, Anselm Franz von Ingelheim . In addition, he was also a successful independent entrepreneur, running the Schleichacher glassworks in the Steigerwald (today Fabrikschleichach, Rauhenebrach municipality ) and a mirror grinding shop in Würzburg . He not only supplied his own buildings with his products, but also exported them to other countries.

A letter dated July 19, 1747 states that Emanuel Teles da Silva, Count of Silva-Tarouca , court building director in Vienna, tried to win over the famous architect for Vienna. Neumann escorted Emperor Franz of Lorraine through the residence during his stay in Würzburg on the occasion of his journey to Frankfurt for the coronation. At that time, Franz Stephan was busy with the redesign of the Vienna Hofburg. On behalf of Emperor Franz von Lorraine , he drew designs for a new staircase in the Vienna Hofburg , which was one of the greatest staircases of the Baroque period. He wrote "... meanwhile also send to His Imperial Majesty my idea about the Imperial and Royal Castle or resident in Vienna, which already has it ready." As a gift of honour, Maria Theresia had Tarouca send him a large and beautiful snuffbox . However, the Lorraine Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville-Issey received the order , Neumann's plans were not realized.

Neumann also drew designs for residences in Stuttgart (1747–1749) and Karlsruhe (1750/51) and for Schwetzingen (1752).

He died as an artillery colonel and chief building director of the prince-bishop and was buried in the Marienkapelle in Würzburg . The abbey church in Neresheim , which he started, and the unfinished basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers were completed by other master builders.

Johann Thomas Nissler (1713-1769), Arnold Friedrich Prahl (1709-1758) and Johannes Seiz (1717-1779) stood out as Neumann's employees .

guiding ideas and works

Two of Neumann's maxims when building churches (in which he also oriented himself to Renaissance elements, such as Antonio Petrini had already used in the Carmelite Church of St. Joseph and St. Maria Magdalena and the Haug Abbey ) were "rotunda" and "curved space “. He was content only with perfect solutions that included all suggestions.

achievements in urban planning

View of a Würzburg sewer from the 18th century (the so-called Balthasar-Neumann Canal); Uncovered during archaeological excavation work in 2019

Balthasar Neumann supplied Würzburg with canals, channeled fresh spring water into the four-tube well and laid out new streets. For the calculations of his rococo buildings he developed a special proportional angle, the instrumentum architecturae . With it, the proportions of the different types of columns could be easily read.

The first accurate cartographic depiction of the city of Würzburg came from Neumann: he drew this ground plan of the city as early as 1715, which, however, only survives in a copy made by Joseph Fischer in 1775. From 1723 (implemented by Johann Salver , Johann Baptist Homann and Johann Balthasar Gutwein), a perspective bird's eye view of the city of Würzburg drawn by Neumann was widely used.

In 1737 and 1738, together with Georg Anton Boxberger , he arranged for the Franconian Saale to be relocated in Bad Kissingen . In this context, the "sharp well", today's Rakoczy spring, was rediscovered. In addition, his plans for the royal spa and the nave of the Marienkapelle were realized in Kissingen. In 1738 he drew a general view of Bad Kissingen with a town wall and 14 towers.

Neumann is also credited with the baroque remodeling of Schönborn's residence in Wiesentheid. Today's Castle Wiesentheid ensemble is said to go back to the master builder's plans.

Works (selection)

Balthasar Neumann created "around 100 important bridges, churches, monasteries, castles, residential and commercial buildings".

  • Fountain hall in Bad Bocklet (photo 2007)

  • St. Paulin in Trier (photo 2016)

  • Interior of St. Paulin (photo 2007)

  • Basilica of the Fourteen Saints (photo 2005)

  • Marmelsteiner Hof in Würzburg

  • Fichtelhof, Bronnbachergasse 8 in Würzburg

honors

monuments and plaques

Stamps, banknotes and commemorative coins

schools

Named after Balthasar Neumann:

streets

Several streets were named after Balthasar Neumann. So in his hometown of Eger, in Bayreuth , Bruchsal , Nuremberg , Stuttgart , Neresheim , Koblenz , Fabrikschleichach ( Rauhenebrach ) and Trier. The Balthasar-Neumann-Promenade in Würzburg deserves a special mention .

Others

  • The Bundeswehr barracks in Veitshöchheim are named after Balthasar Neumann.
  • After the Balthasar Neumann House in Würzburg was destroyed in 1945, the Neumann pulpit was restored and a "Balthasar Neumann Room" set up.
  • Balthasar Neumann Prize

Cinematic representations

  • Balthasar Neumann - Completer of the Baroque. Bayerisches Fernsehen 2003. Shown in BR-alpha on October 10, 2009, 8:15 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (photos of the buildings).

literature

  • Jakob Degen : Balthasar Neumann in Kronach. In: Bamberger leaves for Franconian art and history. Supplement to the Bamberger Volksblatt . Year 13/1936. No. 2 and year 4/1936. Number 1.
  • Max H. von Freeden : Balthasar Neumann. Life and work. 3rd, expanded edition. German art publisher, Munich/Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-422-00118-2 .
  • Max H. von Freeden: Balthasar Neumann in Italy. New archival contributions to the artist's early days. In: Main Franconian yearbook for history and art. Volume 1, 1949 (= Archive of the Historical Association for Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg. Volume 72), pp. 204-207.
  • Erich Hubala , Otto Mayer, Wolf-Christian von der Mülbe: The Würzburg Residence. Edition Georg Popp in Arena-Verlag, Würzburg 1984, ISBN 3-88155-111-5 .
  • Uta Hasekamp: Balthasar Neumann's garden planning. Between baroque tradition and a new understanding of nature. In: The Garden Art . Vol. 4, No. 1, 1992, pp. 139-155.
  • Wilfried Hansmann : Balthasar Neumann. DuMont, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-8321-7167-3 .
  • Wilfried Hansmann: Balthasar Neumann as garden architect. In: The Garden Art . Vol. 1, No. 1, 1989, pp. 33-46.
  • Wilfried Hansmann: An unknown portrait of the master builder Balthasar Neumann. In: INSITU 2020/1, pp. 93-102.
  • Joachim Hotz : Balthasar Neumann as draftsman and graphic artist. Bavaria Antiqua. Munich 1983.
  • Thomas Korth, Joachim Poescke (ed.): Balthasar Neumann. Art historical contributions to the anniversary year 1987 . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7774-4610-6 .
  • Thomas Korth:  Neumann, Balthasar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , pp. 140–142 ( digitized ).
  • Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginning of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (ed.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576-678 and 942-952, here: pp. 648-662, passim.
  • Karl Lohmeyer (ed.): Balthasar Neumann's letters to Friedrich Karl von Schönborn, Prince Bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg and documents from the first years of construction of the Würzburg Residence ( Das Rheinisches Barock 1), Hofer, Saarbrücken 1921.
  • Mainfränkisches Museum Würzburg (ed.): From Balthasar Neumann's building office. Plans from the Eckart Collection for the buildings of the great baroque architect. Special exhibition on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Balthasar Neumann's birth , Mainfränkisches Museum Würzburg, May 16 – July 19, 1987. Echter, Würzburg 1987 (exhibition catalogue, without ISBN).
  • Bärbel Manitz: wall, vault and rotunda. Themes and leitmotifs in Balthasar Neumann's curved sacred architecture (= Manuscripts for Art Studies in the Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft. Volume 34). 2 volumes. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1992, ISBN 978-3-88462-933-8 .
  • Eugen Ortner : The baroque master builder Balthasar Neumann. A biography. Gondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1989, ISBN 3-8112-0625-7 .
  • Ekkart Sauser :  Balthasar Neumann. In: Biographical-Bibliographical Church Lexicon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , cols. 645–647.  ( Article/beginning of article in the Internet Archive )
  • Bernhard Schütz: Balthasar Neumann. Herder, Freiburg/Br. 1988, ISBN 3-451-20614-5 .
  • Harmen Thies : ground plan figures of Balthasar Neumann. On the true-to-scale geometric layout of the Schönborn chapel and the Hofkirche in Würzburg . Editrice Edam, Florence 1980.
  • Otto Weigmann :  Neumann, Balthasar . In: General German Biography (ADB). Volume 52, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906, pp. 668-679.
  • Manuel Weinberger: Planning material from Balthasar Neumann and his construction office that was believed to be lost, and an unknown drawing from the circle of Johann Dientzenhofer. In: RIHA Journal, No. 0003, April 14, 2010 ( online at journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de, retrieved on January 17, 2022).
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Neumann, Johann Balthasar . In: Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire . 20th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1869, p. 265 f. ( digital copy ).

web links

Commons : Balthasar Neumann  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Balthasar Neumann  – Guide

itemizations

  1. ↑ Hanswernfried Muth: Pictorial and cartographic representations of the city. In: Ulrich Wagner (ed.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 294-307 and 901, here: p. 303.
  2. ↑ Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginning of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (ed.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576-678 and 942-952, here: p. 658.
  3. ↑ a b Josef Kern: The master builder's command bridge . In: Wertheim newspaper from 9./10. January 2010.
  4. ↑ Erika Kerestely: Würzburg. City guide with colored city map. Stürtz city guide. Verlagshaus Würzburg GmbH & Co KG, Würzburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-8003-1929-9 , p. 51.
  5. ↑ Werner Loibl: The mirror factory in Würzburg. A branch of the Steigerwald glassworks in (Fabrik-Schleichach). Scripts from the Würzburg City Archives. Issue 18. Würzburg 2011. ISBN 978-3-87717-830-0 .
  6. ↑ Ida Olga Höfler, Maria Theresa and Don Manoel Tellez de Menezes Castro, Duke of Sylva, Count of Tarouca, Helikon Series, 1994.
  7. ↑ Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginning of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (ed.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576-678 and 942-952, here: pp. 619 and 655.
  8. ↑ T. Kozik: Archeology Würzburg. In: grubungsfirma-bayern.de. Bureau of Archeology Neupert, Kozik & Simm, retrieved 22 January 2021 .
  9. ↑ Hanswernfried Muth: Pictorial and cartographic representations of the city. In: Ulrich Wagner (ed.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 294-307 and 901, here: pp. 282 and 303-305.
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Jung: The great master builder - Balthasar Neumann . In: 100 reasons to love Mainfranken . Main Post, Würzburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-925232-24-4 , p. 10 .
  11. ↑ Stefan Kummer: Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. 2004, p. 656 f.
  12. ↑ Stefan Kummer: Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. 2004, p. 654 f.
  13. ↑ Stefan Kummer: Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. 2004, p. 656.
  14. ↑ Stefan Kummer: Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. 2004, p. 656.
  15. ↑ DM banknotes - BBK3 series. Retrieved January 21, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Neumann, Balthasar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neumann, Johann Balthasar (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Architects of the Baroque
BIRTH DATE January 27, 1687
PLACE OF BIRTH Eger
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 1753
PLACE OF DEATH Wuerzburg