Johann Georg Gigl

Johann Georg Gigl (baptized September 28, 1710 - not April 9, 1687 - in Schönwag-Forst in the municipality of Wessobrunn in Upper Bavaria ; † August 11, 1765 in St. Gallen, Switzerland ) was a plasterer of the Wessobrunn School . The Gigl plasterer family had around 25 members known by name, of which Johann Georg, Johann Kaspar and Anton Gigl were the most important. Johann Georg worked in the Rococo style .

St. Gallen Abbey Library: ceiling stucco by Johann Georg Gigl, 1757

Minster of Our Lady, Lindau: stucco work by Johann Georg Gigl, 1749

Parish church Maria Himmelfahrt (Tiengen), stucco work by Johann Georg Gigl, 1753

Stucco and stucco marble altars by Johann Georg Gigl, 1763/4 in the monastery church of the Ittingen Charterhouse

Life

He was a son of the plasterer Pontian Gigl (1681–1742), who worked for example in the group of Dominikus Zimmermann in the pilgrimage church Steinhausen , and Anna Maria geb. Head. Johann Georg learned the trade from his father and then from Joseph Schmuzer . Four younger brothers or stepbrothers were also plasterers and often worked with Johann Georg. When he died and the furnishings for the choir of the collegiate church of St. Gallen were still unfinished, the troop completed it under the direction of his brother Matthias. His youngest brother Johann Caspar became famous for the decoration of the St. Blasien Cathedral .

plant

High-quality stucco like the ones made by the Wessobrunners was in demand around the middle of the 18th century. Gigl found a region with almost no competition in southern Baden and neighboring Switzerland. Significant works by his hand and the hands of his Stuckhadors were created chronologically:

• 1723 in St. Martin Zusamaltheim , under Schmuzer
• 1740/1741 in the nave of the parish and pilgrimage church of the Assumption in Kirchhofen .
• 1742–1746 courtyard building in the monastery of St. Blasien .
• 1743 in the church of the former Wilhelmitenkloster von Mengen in the district of Sigmaringen, newly built by Peter Thumb and destroyed in 1810 . Since then, Johann Georg Gigl was Peter Thumbs' preferred plasterer.
• 1745 in the church of St. Martin by the builder Franz Ruedhart in Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, wall decorations and ceiling stucco.
• 1749 Heiligkreuzkirche Kirchberg (not preserved)
• 1749–1750 in the parish church of St. Peter and Paul, also built by Peter Thumb, in Hilzingen im Hegau .
• 1749–1753 in the former women's collegiate church, now the Cathedral of Our Lady , in Lindau on Lake Constance .
• From 1750 in the monastery of St. Peter in the Black Forest . In July 1750, the “art-experienced marbling and stucco maker from Bavaria” contracted to Abbot Philipp Jakob Steyrer to “give the library room as soon as possible after the approved crack”, in such a way that the work “was to be The artist himself would like to have his own fame and praise ”. Steyrer attached great importance to the fact that "He H. Giggel should be present at work himself for several times, and that such workers should not be left to the journeymen to produce alone". This is how the stucco in the library, in the prince's hall, the sick chapel, the chapter room, also known as the Holy Cross Chapel, and the convent staircase was created by 1757.
• 1753 in Peter Thumbs church of St. Ulrich in the Black Forest formerly belonging to St. Peter : eight angel figures.
• 1753–1754 in Peter Thumb's parish church of the Assumption in Waldshut-Tiengen .
• 1754 in the parish church of St. Alexius in Herbolzheim . The attribution to Franz Anton Vogel is said to be erroneous.
• 1757–1760 in the former Benedictine monastery church of St. Jakobus and Georg in Isny im Allgäu .
• From 1757 in the monastery of St. Gallen , so in the collegiate church and the collegiate library , where Peter Thumb worked again. For the interior of the nave, the convent engaged the Freiburg sculptor and painter Christian Wentzinger , who in turn employed other sculptors, painters and plasterers and provided them with designs. There has been talk of “collective authorship”. For the plasterers, the practice was like this: “Three people alone were busy all day carrying plaster and water onto the scaffolding. Supporting fittings made of iron wire had to be prepared for protruding and cantilevered parts. Constant and reusable elements were molded from models cut in the late 1757, such as 56 types of different flowers, leaves, but also putti heads, which could then be individualized with hand-modeled hairstyles, eye stars and more. In addition to assembling and reshaping these parts and drawing profiles using templates, the application of the stucco was carried out in several work steps ... until the finely worked ornament could finally be modeled over the raw piece of land. "
• 1761 Catholic Church of St. Michael in Niederbüren
• 1761 to 1763 St. Gallen Abbey Library
• 1763/64 Ittingen Charterhouse
• 1764 Choir in the St. Gallen monastery church

Appreciation

"Johann Georg Gigel can be counted among the most important masters of the illustrious artistic community that grew up in the shadow of the Bavarian Bededictine Abbey of Wessobrunn."

The collaboration between Peter Thumb and Johann Georg Gigl complemented the architecture and decoration. Gigl's works “never attack ... the basic tectonic attitude of Thumbs buildings. Their stucco decor is high-quality and restrained, they are able to smooth out unevenness in the architecture and to give the brittle linearity of Thumbs a lively accent ”. This is what happened in Hilzingen: "In Hilzingen ... the room image is significantly enhanced by the ornamentation that accentuates the structural elements, plays around the caesuras (such as the stitch cap ridges ), and at the same time supports them."

This is what happened in the St. Gallen library: “… the plasterers, Johann Georg and Matthias Gigl, and the painter Joseph Wannenmacher took advantage of the possibilities offered by the architect. With delicate rocaille work, they covered the numerous transitions between the vault and the stitch caps, occasionally smoothing out the unevenness of the architecture. The harmony of the bookshelves with the moving gallery and the sculptural Rocaille work of Gigl, which frame Wannenmacher's frescoes, elevates the room into an almost sacred sphere. ”This is what happened in the St. Gallen collegiate church:“ Nowhere does the decoration obscure the architecture as obscurely Network. The individual components remain clearly separated from each other. Cornices and profiles emerge as such throughout. ... Only in excellent places ... the wild rocailles grow like crystalline efflorescence from the walls, lick here and there over frames and profiles without concealing their function. ”Contemporary visitors are impressed by the work“ both in IBS work and in grinding pleased ".

Hermann Brommer's verdict on two rooms in St. Peter's Monastery in the Black Forest: "The elegant, lively stucco work by Johann Jörg Gigels, like corrugated foam, helps to turn the St. Peters monastery library into the most beautiful rococo room in Breisgau."

“Johann Georg Gigl… contributed his richest and most mature work in St. Peter with the rocailles decoration of the convent staircase. It is important to emphasize the stuccoed frames of the two ... dials of the striking clock. What Gigl decorated there as stucco ... on the walls is of unsurpassable delicacy and elegance. "

literature

• Hugo Schnell, Uta Schedler: Lexicon of Wessobrunn artists and craftsmen. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7954-0222-0 , p.?.

Web links

• Literature by and about Johann Georg Gigl in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Hugo Schnell, Uta Schedler: Lexicon of Wessobrunn artists and craftsmen. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7954-0222-0 .
2. ^ Hermann Brommer: Catholic parish church of St. Alexius Herbolzheim i.Br. 2nd Edition. Schnell & Steiner, Munich, Zurich 1984.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Josef Grünenfelder: Johann Wentzinger in St. Gallen. In: Freiburg baroque. Johann Christian Wentzinger and his time (1710–1797). Städtische Museen Freiburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-07039-4 , pp. 58–71.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Hermann Brommer: Space and Time in the Understanding of the Baroque Period. In: Hans-Otto Mühleisen: The legacy of the abbey. 900 years of St. Peter in the Black Forest. Badenia, Karlsruhe 1993, ISBN 3-7617-0297-3 , pp. 107-126.
5. ^ Hans Martin Gubler: The Vorarlberg baroque master builder Peter Thumb. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1972, ISBN 3-7995-5016-X , p. 156.
6. ^ Florens Deuchler: Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Reclam's art guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 1966, pp. 569-570
7. ^ Hermann Brommer: Artists and craftsmen in the St. Petri church and monastery building of the 18th century. In: Hans-Otto Mühleisen (Ed.): St. Peter in the Black Forest. Cultural history and historical contributions on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the inauguration of the monastery church. Schnell & Steiner, Munich, Zurich 1977, ISBN 3-7954-0408-8 , pp. 50-93.