Johann Georg Starcke

Palace in the Great Garden of Dresden (1678 to 1683)

Johann Georg Starcke (* around 1630 in Magdeburg ; † December 5, 1695 in Dresden ) was a Saxon architect and building clerk from the Electorate of Saxony. He combined Italian and French architectural influences and is considered a leading artistic personality in the formation of baroque civil architecture in Saxony.

Life

House Rampische Strasse 9 in Dresden (reconstruction of the facade)

Johann Georg Starcke was born in Magdeburg around 1630 as the son of a captain and probably received a demanding military training.

On March 12, 1663 Starcke received a job as an engineer at the Electoral Saxon construction department at the court of Johann Georg II in Dresden. Immediately after he was hired, he was sent on a probably two-year educational trip to Italy. After the division of responsibilities within the civil engineering department into military and civil areas in 1671/72, Starcke was appointed alongside Michael Plancke as one of the two Oberland master builders and shaped civil construction in the residential city of Dresden until his death. The new position was probably connected with an educational trip, this time to Belgium in 1672/73.

In 1683 his wife bought a house at Landhausstrasse 13, which was rebuilt in the following years (destroyed in 1945). The family should have lived here afterwards. After the death of the chief inspector of the Saxon building industry, Wolf Caspar von Klengel , Starcke was taken over by Johann Georg III in 1691 . determined to be his successor. His successors Johann Georg IV and Friedrich August I also confirmed Starcke in this position until his death. At his death in 1695 he was a wealthy man who owned a large library and an art collection.

plant

In 1669 he directed the construction work in the Italian Garden in Dresden - as a secret treasurer and chief engineer - and, along with Klengel, was involved in the design of the villa-like pleasure house there.

From 1676 to 1684, Starcke built what is now considered to be his main work in the Great Garden . The building was built in coordination with Johann Friedrich Karcher, who was commissioned to plan the garden , and Wolf Caspar von Klengel, head of construction.

The Old Stock Exchange in Leipzig, which was built between 1678 and 1683, is attributed to Starcke for stylistic reasons. Its role is not assured.

Around 1685 he rebuilt his house (Landhausstraße 13), which received rich stucco decoration on the street side and on the garden facade.

Other town houses in Dresden are ascribed to Starcke, including a. the house Rampische Strasse 9, which was rebuilt today .

Afterlife

In Dresden, the Georg-Starcke-Weg leading along the Carola lake and the chain of canals to the Neuteich was named in his honor in the Great Garden .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fundamental to life and work: Reeckmann 2000, passim.

literature

• Kathrin Reeckmann: The beginnings of baroque architecture in Saxony. Johann Georg Starcke and his time . Cologne: Böhlau 2000. ISBN 3-412-03200-X
• Henning Prinz: Samuel Bottschild. The Taschenbergpalais and the Starckisches Haus . In: Dresdener Kunstblätter 31 (1987), 1, pp. 18-24.
• Walter Bachmann: Oberlandbaumeister Johann Georg Starcke . In: Dresdner Anzeiger, Wissenschaftliche Beilage 3 and 4 (1933), pp. 9–12, 13–15.
• Hermann Arthur Lier:  Strong, Johann Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 494.