Johann Prokop Mayer

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Johann Prokop Mayer

Johann Prokop Mayer (born July 2, 1737 in Muncifaj , Bohemia , † July 25, 1804 in Würzburg ) was a pleasure and flower gardener. In fürstbischöflich Wurzburg services he created the backyard garden of the Wurzburg Residence .

Life

After three years of apprenticeship in Prague , Mayer began traveling as a journeyman in 1755 through Germany, Austria, France, Holland and England. In the years 1760/61, Mayer worked for 15 months as a journeyman in the Veitshöchheimer Hofgarten with the then court gardener Georg Joseph Ott .

In 1770 he took over the post of court gardener to the Würzburg prince-bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim as the successor to Johann Demeter and kept this position until his death. Here, among other things, he worked out the plans to redesign the courtyard garden until 1779, most of which were also implemented. At the same time he worked as a planner and consultant for aristocratic houses in neighboring territories and ran a tree nursery for fruit trees himself .

Between 1776 and 1801 he published his three-volume textbook on fruit variety Pomona Franconica with the botanical book illustrations by Wolfgang Adam from Nuremberg . In his pomological standard work, Mayer described all the types of fruit cultivated in the Hofgarten as well as his many years of experience in fruit tree cultivation . Artfully cut shaped fruit trees are shown on full-page panels and over 500 ripe fruits are shown on hand-colored copper engravings . In 2007 the Würzburg University Library and the Martin von Wagner Museum together with the Bavarian Palace Administration organized an exhibition on this book in the Würzburg Residence. This attracted the attention of an art dealer in Munich and arranged a double portrait of the court gardener and his Gaibach- born wife Eleonora Winterstein, which the Martin von Wagner Museum bought in May 2009. Only with these portraits can a portrait of the Würzburg court gardener be shown to the public for the first time from autumn 2009. The two pastels from 1786 were painted by the Moravian painter Peter Straßburger , who lived in Würzburg from 1774. The portraits bear the signature Mayering on the back , from which the experts conclude that both portraits come from the family of the youngest daughter Mayer.

Publications

  • List of fruit trees of the best, rarest and most valued genera, which are in the court and residence garden of Seiner Hochfürstl. Grace of the Most Revered Prince and Bishop of Bamberg and Wirzburg,… under the supervision of the local court gardener, dermalen… Including a description of both the trees and the fruits, and an indication of the time of their ripening = Catalog des arbres à fruits les plus éxcéllents, les plus rares, les plus éstimés, qui se cultivent actuellement dans le jardin de la cour sous la direction du jardinier de la cour , Wirzburg: Johann Mayer; Nitribitt, 1774.
  • POMONA FRANCONICA or natural illustration and description of the best and most exquisite European species of fruit trees and fruits which are grown in the Hochfürstlichen Hofgarten zu Würzburg , I-III, Verlag Winterschmidt, Nuremberg 1776–1801
  • List of domestic and foreign plants of flowers, perennials, bushes and trees, which are currently to be found in the local prince's court and residence garden, are grown and kept for us both outdoors and in glass and greenhouses: For convenience and memory of the ... , Sartorius, Würzburg 1786
  • Directory of the fruit trees of the best genera, which are now available from Johann Meyer, Hofgärtner zu Würzburg = Catalog des arbres-fruitiers des meilleures especes qui se trouvent chez Jean Mayer, jardinier de la cour a Wirzbourg , Sartorius, Würzburg 1792

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Historical Association of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg: Archive of the Historical Association of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg , Volume 11, Stütz, 1851, p. 264
personal data
SURNAME Mayer, Johann Prokop
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian prince-bishop of Würzburg court gardener
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH Schmeczna , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1804
Place of death Wurzburg