Johann Heinrich Meissner

Johann Heinrich Meissner (born in 1701 in Konigsberg , died before 8. May 1770 in Gdansk ) was a German sculptor of the rococo . He is considered one of the best sculptors of his time in Prussia .

Life

Meißner came to Danzig in 1726, where he was able to work as a freelance master sculptor without being obliged to be a guild . In the same year he married Anna Maria Giesebrecht, with whom he had six children. Meißner must have been successful quickly, so that wealthy citizens of Danzig became godparents of his children. He first lived in the old town near the Katharinenkirche and from 1755 in the Niederstadt in Langgarten. The date of his death is unknown; he was buried on May 8, 1770.

Act

Marienkirche in Danzig: figurative decoration of the organ prospect

Meißner worked in different materials; Among other things, works in sandstone , marble , alabaster , boxwood and ivory can be proven. He created both fully plastic sculptures and reliefs . Meißner had a large workshop with numerous employees who implemented his designs, including ironwork. It is assumed that several people were involved in almost all of the works; Meissner's sole authorship seems likely only for the small-format wooden statuettes.

At the beginning of his professional life he mainly worked for private clients. In 1730 he received the first major public contract, as the Königsberg magistrate with him a monument to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I ordered. His most intensive phase of work began in the 1740s and lasted until the mid-1760s. For the Cathedral of the Assumption and St. Andrew in Frombork he made several sculptures and decorative vases in 1752. In 1755 his monument to the Polish King August III. unveiled in Gdańsk Artushof . Between 1760 and 1765 numerous works were created for the Marienkirche in Gdańsk , including a statue of St. Reinhold and the figural decorations of the organ prospectus and the pulpit. The figural decorations on the prospectus of the small organ in the Johanneskirche also originate from this creative phase.

For private clients, Meißner mainly produced small-format statuettes and reliefs on topics from ancient mythology; they are counted among his best work. Among the works with mythological references include reliefs for the balustrades to the typical Gdansk porches .

In the opinion of the art historian Teresa Grzybkowska, there is “nothing on par in Gdansk art” in the area of ​​small sculptures with their virtuoso forms and selected materials. She classifies Meissner's work as "rococo-like [n] Neomanierism", which is influenced by Dutch and Prague mannerism . According to Paweł Freus, his work is characterized by a high degree of individuality, softly modeled forms are combined with realistic design.

Works (selection)

Several hundred works were created in Meißner's workshop, most of which, however, have not survived. A significant part of the entire work was lost in the course of the Second World War , in particular the two monumental sculptures and numerous works in the church as well as the architectural sculptures. Some of the better preserved small sculptures are in private hands, others in public collections, especially in the Danzig National Museum , but also in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg.

Monuments

Monument to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I .; South side of the Königsberg Castle

• Monument to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I , Gotland sandstone, 1730–1736; first at the packing house in Königsberg, then set up on the south side of the castle ; Loss of war
• Statue of the Polish King August III. for the Artushof Danzig, marble, 1752–1755; Loss of war; Miniature copies in the Dendrological Museum in Kórnik , in the Museum of Art and Industry in Hamburg and in the Grassi Museum of Applied Art in Leipzig

Working in the church

• Altar decoration of the Cathedral of the Assumption and St. Andrew in Frombork, wood, 1752; consisting of four angel figures, two vases and other decorative elements
• Decorative figures on the prospectus of the small organ of the Gdańsk St. John's Church (St. John and four angels), wood, 1760; Loss of war
• Statue of St. Reinhold for the Reinhold chapel of the Marienkirche in Gdańsk, wood, 1760; Loss of war
• Decorative figures on the organ front of the Marienkirche in Gdańsk, wood, 1760–1761; receive
• Figurative decoration of the pulpit of the Marienkirche in Gdańsk, wood, 1762–1763; Loss of war
• Figurative decoration of the stalls in the Michaelskapelle in Gdańsk's Marienkirche, wood, 1763–64; Loss of war
• Statues of Christ and Moses for the goldsmith's chapel in the Marienkirche in Gdańsk, wood, 1765; receive

Building plastic

Chronos; Bas-relief on Langer Markt 45 house in Gdansk

• Relief decoration of the additions on the house Langer Markt 45 in Gdansk, originally placed at ul. Korzennej 43; Allegories and mythological figures: science, Chronos, Apollo, Athena, putto with palms, putto with lute
• Relief decoration of the additions to the Schlüterhaus in Gdansk (ul. Piwnej 1/2); ancient ruins and landscapes
• Relief decoration of the additions on the house at ul. Chlebnickiej 14 / 14a in Gdansk; Allegories of the Seasons
• Relief of resting girl in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg

Small plastic

• Hercules and Omphale , relief, boxwood, 1759, in the National Museum in Gdansk and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
• Hippomenes and Atalanta , relief, boxwood, in the National Museum in Gdansk
• Omphale , statuette, boxwood, 1760s, in the National Museum in Gdansk
• Sleeping putto , statuette, boxwood, in the National Museum in Gdansk
• Venus , statuette, boxwood, 1760s, in the National Museum in Gdansk
• Hercules and Venus , statuettes, boxwood and walnut, in the Art Gallery of Ontario

literature

• Georg Cuny: Meissner, Johann Heinrich . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 24 : Mandere – Möhl . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1930, p. 346 .
• Irmgard Koska: Johann Heinrich Meißner. An 18th century sculptor from Gdańsk . In: Danzig Art History Research . Issue 3. Kafemann, Danzig 1936.
• Christine Rohrschneider: Meißner, Johann Heinrich . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 88, de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-023254-7 .
• Hans Friedrich Secker: Two Danzig sculptors: JH Meissner and R. Freitag . In: Publication of the Art Research Society Danzig . Issue 3. EA Seemann, Leipzig 1921.

Web links

Commons : Johann Heinrich Meißner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Georg Cuny: Meißner, Johann Heinrich . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 24 : Mandere – Möhl . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1930, p. 346 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Paweł Freus: Johann Heinrich Meissner. Adam Mickiewicz Institute Warsaw, December 2006, accessed October 25, 2015 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Christine Rohrschneider: Meißner, Johann Heinrich. In: General Artist Lexicon. The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 88, Saur, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-023254-7 .
4. ↑ quoted after the article in the Allgemeine Künstlerlexikon
5. ^ Adolf Boetticher (ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the province of East Prussia. On behalf of the East Prussian Provincial Parliament . Booklet VII. The architectural and art monuments in Königsberg. Bernhardt Teichert, Königsberg 1897, p. 209-211 .