Johann Isaak Friday

Hans Freitag is a redirect to this article. For other people see Hans Freytag .

Johann Isaak Freitag , also Hans Freitag (born April 18, 1682 in Rheinfelden ; † February 19, 1734 there ), was a Swiss wood sculptor . He is considered the main representative of Baroque sculpture in the Fricktal . His main works are in the Fridolinsmünster in Bad Säckingen and in the parish church of St. Niklaus von Herznach .

Life

Johann Isaak Freitag was the son of a blacksmith. His teacher from 1696 was Johann Viktor Scharpf , who was born in Solothurn in 1643 and died in Rheinfelden in 1702, and was the youngest son of Hans Heinrich Scharpf . Friday then completed the usual years of traveling , which probably also led him to his brother, the painter Johann Jakob Freitag , in Vienna . After he returned to Rheinfelden in 1707, he married the daughter of his teacher, who had meanwhile died, and took over his apartment and workshop. Because of his skills, he became the dominant baroque sculptor in the Fricktal. Of his three daughters and six sons, two sons became sculptors again, but one died early. The established artist became a member of the “Zum Gilgenberg” guild and assumed the office of governor for them , initially in the Grand Council from 1714 , and from 1723 in the Daily Council . From 1732 he was mayor of his hometown.

Freitag did not work in stucco - as is typical of the time - but, like Franz Xaver Wiederkehr from Mellingen, only worked with wood, for which he only used linden wood . Above all, he created numerous figures for altars and church pulpits, as well as relief carvings . Stylistically, soft, flowing forms are typical for him - as with his teacher Johann Viktor Scharpf. Freitag probably found further inspiration during his years of traveling in Austria, for example in the colors of the figures by Thomas Schwanthaler and Meinrad Guggenbichler . Friday often composed the main and supplementary figures harmoniously by corresponding in posture or gesture. Opposing figures stand side by side and thus result in balance. Her posture and facial expressions are expressive down to details such as hair and folds and have an individual character, the gestures lively reach into the room. All figures are polychrome . The sculptures of the highest quality on Fridays are his John the Baptist in the Berau parish church, the Samson figure on the pulpit of the Fridolin Minster in Bad Säckingen and the Saints St. Nicholas and St. Martin in the parish church of Herznach.

Works

The pulpit of the Fridolin Minster in Bad Säckingen

• Gipf-Oberfrick , St. Wendelin cemetery chapel: Altar, 1709, Friday's first dated work
• Lottstetten , parish church: pulpit and altar figures
• Berau , parish church: pulpit and altar figures (including John the Baptist )
• various early individual figures in places in the cantons of Aargau and Basel-Landschaft .
• Eiken , Chapel of St. Ursula altar, side altars (the latter in 1910 removed at a renovation) and in the chancel arch a Madonna and Child (the figure was in the course of an interior renovation in 1963 by A. Flory, Baden, restored and relocated to the left front) , 1718/19. Attribution as a work from the workshop of Hans Freitag.
• Bad Säckingen , Fridolinsmünster , 1719–1724:
  • Altar sculptures: Francis of Assisi , Anthony of Padua , Dominic and Catherine of Siena
  • Pulpit sculptures (with the program “proclamation of the word”): the four evangelists ( Matthew , Mark , Luke and John ) and John the Baptist as the first penitential preacher are depicted on the basket, the four Church Fathers of the West ( Gregory , Hieronymus and the Bishops Augustine and Ambrosius ), St. Fridolin as a messenger of faith and, as a conclusion, an angel with a trumpet, who announces the Last Judgment . The pulpit is carried by the figure of Samson created in 1720 . Samson is seen as the Old Testament forerunner of Christ's resurrection , which is why the figure of the risen One is directly above him.
• Herznach , parish church of St. Niklaus: high altar and pulpit (with the Saints St. Nicholas and St. Martin , among others ), 1732
• Rheinfelden , collegiate church St. Martin : altar figure Saint Sebastian , linden wood, 1733/34. Works are also kept in the Fricktaler Museum in Rheinfelden on Fridays.
• Kaisten , parish church St. Michael: pulpit with the statues of the four church fathers, built in 1770.
• Lengnau , St. Martin Church: some work
• Olsberg , collegiate church : altar figures
• Laufenburg , town church and death chapel: some sculptures
• Ottmarsheim (Alsace), Parish Church of Peter and Paul: Madonna and Child, after 1730 (attribution)

literature

• Regula Zweifel: Sculptor Johann Isaak Freitag (1682–1734) . Unpublished licentiate thesis at the University of Zurich, 1975.
• Regula Zweifel: The sculptures by Johann Isaak Freitag in the Säckinger Münster . In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History 32, 1975. pp. 78–84 ( digitized version ).
• Peter Felder: Friday Hans von Rheinfelden . In: Rheinfelder Neujahrsblätter , 1973, pp. 11-25.

Web links

• Regula Zbinden: Friday, Johann Isaak. In: Sikart