Johann Matthäus van den Branden

Marketplace fountain

Johann Matthäus van den Branden (* 1716 in Heidelberg , † 1788 in Mannheim ) was court sculptor and court plasterer in the Electoral Palatinate .

He was the son of Peter van den Branden and reworked the memorial created by his father for Heidelberg, which Elector Carl Theodor donated to the city of Mannheim, and created the base. Instead of the four elements, the monument erected on the Mannheim market square now shows the city goddess Mannheimia, the god of trade Mercury and the river gods Neckar and Rhine.

For the National Theater Mannheim van den Branden made the relief and the urns and figures on the three balconies. He created several vases for the orangery of Schwetzingen Palace .

Van den Branden made wood carvings in Mannheim Castle (library and painting cabinet), in the St. Sebastian Church (electoral oratory), in the Capuchin Church (the figures of the high altar are now in the Catholic parish church of St. Afra, Neckargerach ) and in the Jesuit church (including confessionals and pulpit lids). He also created the epitaph of Josepha von Heydeck , the lover of Elector Karl Theodor, in the chapel of Zwingenberg Castle .

On behalf of Joseph Fontanesi he created a statue of St. Joseph for the city of Frankenthal (Palatinate) in 1779 . Today it stands in the anteroom of the local church of St. Ludwig.

The city of Mannheim named a street after him in 1993.

literature

• Hans Huth: The art monuments of the city district of Mannheim. Munich 1982, ISBN 3-422-00556-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website Schloss Zwingenberg, with mention of the tomb
2. ↑ Website with a photo of the Zwingenberg castle chapel. The epitaph Heydeck on the chapel photo, on the left edge of the picture
3. ^ Website of the city of Frankenthal on Joseph Fontanesi
4. ↑ MARCHIVUM: Street names, Van-den-Branden-Weg. Retrieved August 27, 2018 . 

Web links

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