Johann Dominik Mahlknecht

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Portrait of the artist at the Ferdinandeum Museum by Antonio Spagnoli (1884)
Bronze statue depicting Terpsichore , copy from the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum, on the church square of his birthplace
Madonna JD Mahlknechts in the parish church of Ortisei in Val Gardena
The St. Francis de Sales on the right outside wall of the church of La Madeleine (Paris)

Johann Dominik Mahlknecht (* 1793 in Überwasser in Ortisei in Val Gardena , municipality of Castelrotto , † 1876 in Paris ) was a French sculptor of Tyrolean origin. In France it is mainly known under the name Dominig or Dominique Molknecht, Molchneht or Molchnecht .

biography

Johann Dominik Mahlknecht emigrated to France at a young age, where he was named one of the most important sculptors of his time and finally a "state artist". Mahlknecht died in Paris in 1876.

It is falsely claimed that Mahlknecht was a student of Canova . In 1810 he emigrated to France in the service of the Black Forest trader Andre Mölzer. Temporary admission to the Sanoner family of Val Gardena in Lyon and also financially supported by them, he moved to Le Mans for seven months , where a fellow countryman who was not known by name trained him further. From 1812 Mahlknecht settled in Nantes . He probably worked there in the workshop of Joseph Debay (1779–1863) and became an independent and well-known artist at the age of 20. In 1826 Mahlknecht was appointed “His Royal Highness Sculptor” and the Ministry of the Interior made available to him a studio at Quai D'Orsay No. 9 in Paris. Two of his most famous students were Amédée René Ménard and Jean-Baptiste Barré .

In 1840, the French state commissioned 33 different artists to create the 33 larger-than-life statues that adorn the outer walls of the La Madeleine church (Paris), alternating with the 52 columns of the peristilium. This variety of styles by well-known artists and the succession of male and female saints prepares the visitor for the monumental character of the church interior. Mahlknecht created St. Francis de Sales, who stands on the right outer wall of the church, as the eighth saint, between the saints Adelheid and Helene.

In 1859 a critic of the Bothen for Tyrol and Vorarlberg wrote to the Terpsichore Mahlknecht: “If a Greek came over from ancient times, he would probably not recognize a Terpsichore in the Malknecht statue, and would only be able to form a judgment if he came to Paris and seen a ballet in Paris. For a muse it is too ignoble, too passionate and too expressionless ... Mahlknecht did not study his Terpsichore in antiquity, but adapted it entirely to the sensualistic tastes of modern Parisians. It is this superficiality of conception that we must disapprove of, without doubting the artist's significant talents; we must even, to be fair, acknowledge that this statue was made with an expenditure of artistic ability and skill which would be worth a nobler cause ”(Bothe for Tyrol and Vorarlberg 124 (1859) 536).

Other works

  • Matthew with the angel

  • Luke with the bull

  • Mark with the lion

  • John with the eagle

Saint Philomena with the attributes of a martyr's palm , whip, anchor and arrows, plaster statue in the Val Gardena Museum

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Dominik Mahlknecht  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ellen Hastaba: Program with coincidence and flaws - all-Tyrolean: the facade of the Tyrolean Provincial Museum Ferdinandeum. In: Publications of the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Volume 83 (2003), pp. 63–94 ( PDF; 224 kB )
personal data
SURNAME Mahlknecht, Johann Dominik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Molknecht; Newts; Dominig; Dominique
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Overwater near Ortisei in Val Gardena
DATE OF DEATH 1876
Place of death Paris