Johann Caspar Brenzinger

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johann Caspar Brenzinger (* around 1651 in Kirchhofen im Breisgau ; † December 7, 1737 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German baroque painter and an important councilor of the city of Freiburg.

In 1923 Brenzinger said: "Although he is named as 'artful' in numerous documents, no paintings by him are known" - but that changed after research by his fifth-generation descendant Heinrich Brenzinger , who wrote a detailed family history . An art-historical monographic treatment is not yet available.

Life

Johann Caspar was the sixth of eight children of Johann Baptist Brentzinger (1610–1685) and his wife Maria Jakobe geb. Billmayer († 1693). The father was an administrative officer for the Freiherrn von Schauenburg and from 1652 administrative officer (registrar, clerk) and finally councilor of the city of Freiburg. In Kirchhofen, where Johann Caspar was born, his father also worked as a Schauenburg bailiff after the Swedes had evacuated the place, which had been conquered bloody in 1633, in accordance with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Johann Caspar attended the municipal Latin school in Freiburg and then the grammar school academicum directed by the Jesuits , but, according to the judgment of his teachers, was one of the “boys who are not considered fit to study”. The painter Matthias Schweri († 1687) lived next to the Brenzinger family in what is now Merianstraße, and Johann Kaspar probably apprenticed to him. In 1681 he went on a trip to Italy. He used his impressions when he decorated the Freiburg Loretto Chapel with wall paintings. In 1683 he married Maria Ursula Vogler († 1690). She was the sister of the abbot of the Benedictine monastery St. Blasien Romanus Vogler and the abbot of the Benedictine monastery Schuttern Jakobus Vogler. In 1686 Brenzinger was referred to as the "pictor noster" in the diary of the St. Blasien monastery. He moved into an apartment in St. Blasien and painted passion pictures for the church as well as a resurrection of Jesus Christ, which Abbot Romanus gave to the Mariastein monastery near Solothurn .

In 1687, he succeeded the late Schweri and became one of the twelve civil councilors of Freiburg and moved from St. Blasien to Freiburg. Compared to his numerous municipal and other offices, his artistic activity now resigned. He became the asset manager of the wealthy Schuttern Monastery, continued to work for St. Blasien and was elected guild master of the “Giant Painters' Guild” several times. Above all, he was responsible for all construction projects in the city for thirty-four years, until 1734, as the “governing builder”. It was a time of rich building activity, after Freiburg had initially been expanded into a French fortress by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban from 1678 and then became Habsburg again in 1697 with the Peace of Rijswijk .

The great-great-great-grandson describes how everyday life could be structured: “In June 1709, after a heavy downpour, a flood of the Dreisam caused enormous damage 'like nothing has been experienced for a man's age'. The street ' in der Höll ', the Höllental , and in Buchenbach , areas that belonged to the urban manorial rule ('Talvogtei'), were 'totally ruined'. The adjoining goods were flooded, weirs and bridges were badly damaged and the 'Auweg' was destroyed. After an inspection, 'in order to put the Auweg as well as the bruckhen without ahnstandt in a practicable standt', a large contingent of assistants was ordered and Johann Caspar was appointed 'supreme master of soldiers and workers'. ”In 1704 Brenzinger bought for his grown-up The family owned the house at “Kleine Fälklin” on today's Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse , opposite the Heiliggeist-Spital on the corner of Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse and Münsterstrasse, for whose church he painted a picture of the Evangelist Markus in 1705 . Brenzinger had eighteen children from three marriages, but when his third wife died in 1725, he married a fourth time the following year at the age of seventy-five, namely the widow Anna Maria nee. Studer († 1735), who for her part entered into the marriage for the third time - “no wonder that these complicated family relationships resulted in protracted inheritance disputes”.

plant

Assumption of Mary in heaven in Kirchzarten
St. Urban in the parish church in Freiburg-Herdern
The Romanesque Herdern Church, demolished in 1839

The wall paintings in Freiburg's Loretto Chapel, which were carefully attributed to Johann Caspar Brenzinger in 1929, are closely related to the wall paintings in the 'Casa santa' of the Italian pilgrimage town of Loreto : several Madonnas, Saint George , twice Saint Anthony the Great and donor portraits are similar to a votive tablet , separated by open spaces, distributed over the walls. They are evidently neither Brenzinger's personal style nor baroque in general.

The high altar paintings in the parish church of St. Gallus in Kirchzarten show the young Brenzinger's own style . The main picture, a Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Heaven , is signed and dated 1683. The upper picture shows the church patron with the abbot and the bear bringing firewood to the holy man. On the left in the background you can see the Kirchzartener "Talvogtei", the administrative center of Freiburg for its property in the catchment area of ​​the Dreisam.

The picture of the evangelist Markus from the church of the Heiliggeist-Spital Freiburg, dated and signed 1705, was transferred to the parish church of St. Agatha in Horben when this church was closed and is now in private ownership.

In 1974 , Pastor Franz Kern discovered a picture of Pope Urban I in the granary of the parish church of St. Urban in the Freiburg district of Herdern . It is signed “JC Brentzinger fecit 1706”. The Pope stands on a cloud on the right and blesses the small, old Romanesque Herdern church in front of vineyards, which was demolished in 1839. On the left Mary appears on clouds with her child. “The two painted puttos, both of which are busy creating the symbols of St. Urban to carry the grapes. While one puts his hand on a wicker basket that is filled with blue and light-colored grapes, the other carries what is known as a 'handle' - twigs each with two grapes hanging in his hands. "

In 1717 the two side altar leaves of the parish church of the Assumption of Mary in Umkirch were made , on the right Saint Sebastian and Wendelin , on the left Maria with her parents Joachim and Anna .

From 1718, the St. Blasien Monastery rebuilt its Freiburg city courtyard, which is now the Freiburg City Archives in Salzstrasse . The ceiling paintings on the 1st floor, the abbot's rooms, a St. Augustine and a wedding at Cana , heavily painted over, are said to go back to Brenzinger.

In 1721 Brenzinger created the ceiling paintings for the nave in the parish church of St. Gallus and Otmar in Ehaben , a Lord's Supper , "where he succeeded in creating splendid characters", a picture of Mary in heaven, other scenes from Mary and Saints Gallus and Benedict of Nursia .

The wall of the choir arch of St. Michael's Chapel , consecrated in 1725 in Freiburg's Old Cemetery, shows Chronos , an old man with a scythe and hourglass, on the left, three putti playing with soap bubbles , each under a clock face. The monogram "JCB" on the left picture supports the attribution to Brenzinger.

Johann Caspar's older brother Bartholomäus, a Capuchin priest, was also an artist, as a sculptor. In 1707 he made a (not preserved) Mount of Olives group for the Freiburg Minster . The painter Erhard Joseph Brenzinger was a great-grandson of Johann Caspar .

literature

  • Heinrich Brenzinger: The Brenzinger family. First volume. Private print 1949.
  • Heinrich Brenzinger: Johann Caspar Brenzinger 'suae artis pictor' - his relationship with the monastery of St. Blasien and a travel report from 1688 . In: Schau-ins-Land 72, 1954, pp. 89–97.
  • Hermann Brommer : Brenzinger, Johann Caspar . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 14, Saur, Munich a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-598-22754-X , p. 137.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseph August Beringer : Erhard Joseph Brenzinger. An artist's story in family pictures . In: Schau-ins-Land . 47-50, 1923, pp. 52-69.
  2. a b c d Heinrich Brenzinger: The Brenzinger family. First volume. Private print 1949. No further volume has appeared.
  3. Heinrich Brenzinger: Johann Caspar Brenzinger 'suae artistic pictor' - its relationship with the monastery of St. Blaise and a travelogue from 1688. . In: Schau-ins-Land . 72, 1954, pp. 89-97.
  4. Josef Dotter: The wall paintings of the Freiburg Loreto Chapel traced back to their origin . In: Schau-ins-Land . 54-55, 1929, pp. 19-25.
  5. ^ Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments Baden-Württemberg II. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1999. ISBN 3-422-03030-1 , p. 218
  6. ^ Manfred Hermann and Franz Kern: Parish Church of St. Gallus Kirchzarten. 4th edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1999, ISBN 3-7954-4794-1 .
  7. ^ Franz Kern: A rediscovered work by JC Brentzinger in the Herderner Urbanskirche . In: Schau-ins-Land . 93, 1975, pp. 93-96.
  8. The village church. In: Vinzenz Kremp: History of the village of Umkirch. 1st half band. Church and parish. Umkirch 1981, pp. 11-41.
  9. ^ A b Hermann Brommer: Brenzinger, Johann Caspar . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 14, Saur, Munich a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-598-22754-X , p. 137.
  10. Peter Kalchthaler: Freiburg and its buildings. 3. Edition. Promo Verlag, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-923288-13-1 , S. #
  11. Manfred Hermann: Catholic parish church St. Gallus and Otmar Ehaben / Breisgau. Schnell & Steiner, Munich and Zurich, 1987.
  12. Josef Dotter: The paintings in the chapel in the old cemetery in Freiburg . In: Schau-ins-Land . 64, 1937, pp. 3–36, here p. 23.