Johann Baptist Fischer (sculptor)

Johann Baptist Fischer (Vischer) (baptized May 29, 1626 in Graz ; † February 9, 1702 ibid) was a sculptor from Graz.

life and work

He was the son of the Graz bookseller Simon Vischer (before 1598-1653), father of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and since September 26, 1650 with the widow of the sculptor Sebastian Erlacher († August 18, 1649), Anna Maria Erlacher, born . Khrätschmair (before 1618–17 May 1677) and after her death married Maria Barbara Khiesel (since 30 January 1678).

The exact scope and type of his work have not yet been comprehensively researched. There is evidence that he ran a large workshop with four journeymen and five apprentices in 1660. Perhaps his earliest work is the epitaph (1649) for Sebastian Erlacher, his former teacher (?) In the Graz parish church . Only the sculptural decorations (284 roses) for the large hall of the Graz country house (1652), work on Eggenberg Castle near Graz (1653, 1661, 1663/64), three altars for the new church of the monastery of St. Gotthard are documented to this day ob Graz (1654–1659), a fountain figure for Waldstein Castle (1658, lost), his collaboration on the Graz Triumphal Gate in honor of Emperor Leopold I (1660), the high altar of the deanery church of Passail with the two figures of Peter and Paul ( 1670), the high altar for the parish church in Deutschfeistritz belonging to the Rein Abbey (1672), three sculptures for the Peßnitzbrücke am Pletsch (1676), four sculptures in Irdning (1678–1681, lost), a high and two side altars in Birkfeld ( 1680, lost), a high altar for the parish church in Uebelach belonging to the Rein Abbey (1688), two angels and a Salvator mundi for the St. Kathrein church in Offenegg (1687), a work not described in detail in St. Veit (1689) , two i Angels in Fürstenfeld (1692), altar figures in Straden (1695) and a high altar in St. Peter am Ottersbach (1696, lost). Presumably he also created the high altar for St. Lorenz (near Birkfeld), the Dolorosa of the Ecce Homo column on Grazer Griesplatz, the Maria with child in the courtyard of the Eskomptebank in Herrengasse and the assistant figures on the high altar of Graz Cathedral .

literature

• Emil Kümmel: Art and artists supported by steir. Landscape from the 16th and 18th centuries. Study from the arithmetic books and acts of the state archive , in: Contributions to the customer of Styria historical sources 16, 1879, pp. 83-125
• Josef Wastler: Steierisches Künstler-Lexikon , Graz 1883
• Albert Ilg: The origin of Fischer von Erlach’s , in: Local-Anzeiger der Presse [Die Presse] 39, Vienna, February 11, 1886, p. 1
• Josef Wastler: The Fischer von Erlach family and his parents' house in Graz , in: Tagespost 32, Graz, April 2, 1887, No. 92, pp. 1-3
• Josef Wastler: News about objects of the fine arts in Styria , in: Mittheilungen des Historisches Verein für Steiermark 38, 1890, pp. 181–188
• Albert Ilg: The fishermen from Erlach. Life and works of Joh. Bernh. Fischer's father , Vienna 1895
• Erika Tietze-Conrad: The journeyman sculptor Franz Ferdinand Ertinger's travel descriptions through Austria and Germany , Vienna 1907
• Robert Meeraus : The workshop of Johann Baptist Fischer. A contribution to Styrian baroque research , in: Blätter für Heimatkunde 5, 1927, pp. 18-20
• Karl Pallasmann: Johann Baptist Fischer and the early days of his son Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. A contribution to the history of art in Styria , (Dissertation Graz 1927)
• Rochus Kohlbach : The Father's Work. The sculptor Johann Baptist Fischer. in: Die Furche 12, Vienna, July 21, 1956, No. 30, pp. 9-10
• Rochus Kohlbach: Styrian sculptor. Graz 1956
• Fischer, Johann Baptist . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 40, Saur, Munich a. a. 2004, ISBN 3-598-22780-9 , p. 459.