Johann Wilhelm Götz

The summer

Johann Wilhelm Götz (* 1732 ; † 1762 ) was a German porcelain maker .

life and work

Johann Wilhelm Götz worked in the Ludwigsburg porcelain factory of Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg . His series of standing figures of gods is known, for example, which takes up a topic popular in the Rococo era , but in contrast to the god series by Götz's colleague Franz Joseph Ess testifies to anatomical knowledge of a classic body structure and its movements. The cycle is probably not completely preserved. The Jansen collection includes a volcano that works with a blacksmith's hammer, a Leda with a swan and a Hercules .

Another theme popular in the Rococo was the allegorical representation of the four seasons. Götz depicted spring, summer, autumn and winter in the form of a pussy couple on a bank adorned with rocaille : in spring , the cavalier reaches for the rose in his lady's neckline, in summer a reaper with a sickle does not defend herself too violently against the intrusiveness of the young man with whom she shares the bench, autumn is symbolized by a basket with grapes at the feet of the corresponding couple and the figures representing winter try their hand at music, a glowing brazier and a Keeping lapdogs warm. The four benches on which these scenes take place can be combined to form a centerpiece with a circular floor plan.

Götz also created characters based on literary works or theater plays, for example Lucinde and Clitandre around 1760 and a few other characters from L'Amour médecin by Molière . Götz worked for many figures from drawn or engraved templates, for example the composition of his Leda group can be traced back to a painting by Nicolas Bertin , which was engraved by Bernard Picart among others . The drawings for Lucinde and Clitandre were made by François Boucher . In the depiction of the maid Martine from Les Femmes Savantes , also by Molière, Götz apparently made a mistake because he misunderstood the gestures on the engraving that served as a model. Overall, however, Götz's theatrical figures are an important source and supplement to the traditional two-dimensional representations for theater historians, because they convey gestures and physical expression better.

Carl Eugen, who loved theater and ballet, was also supplied with miniature representations of stage performers by other artists at his Ludwigsburg porcelain factory. For example, the wax boss Johann Christoph Haselmeyer created a series of child actors and the deaf and mute Joseph Nees created numerous dancer and musician scenes . Musicians were also part of the repertoire of the head model master Johann Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Beyer , who was Carl Eugen's court sculptor from 1759.

Allegory of Africa

Johann Wilhelm Götz died at a young age. It can be assumed that some of his designs were later developed or executed by other artists. Several groups of figures from Ludwigsburg, which were at times attributed to the modeller Johann Heinrich Schmidt, probably go back to Götz. The attribution of Ludwigsburg products to Götz is possible on the basis of characteristic features of his figures. Even Hans Christ, who initially gave him the emergency name “Modellers des Apollo chandeliers”, described these peculiarities in his 1921 book on Ludwigsburger Porzellanfiguren : “The swelling bodies of our modeller are moved like stiff jointed dolls in a Rococo style. The pathetic posture, the stick-legged, still quite unsteady standing, the forced sitting with the crossed lower legs are unmistakable peculiarities. Most figures do not like to turn the torso out of the frontal position. "

literature

• Patricia Brattig (ed.): Splendor of the Rococo. Ludwigsburg porcelain from the Jansen collection , Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-89790-286-2
• Hans Dieter Flach, Hera and Leda by Johann Wilhelm Götz. A pair of figures from Ludwigsburg rediscovered after 245 years , in: Ludwigsburger Geschichtsblätter 59, Ludwigsburg 2005, pp. 105–112
• Reinhard Jansen, Johann Wilhelm Götz - early modeller at the Ludwigsburg Porcelain Manufactory , in: Keramos 163, January 1999, pp. 3–58

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Dieter Flach, Leda with swan and eagle , in: Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg 40, pp. 43–62, here p. 60 ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was used automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 362 kB)  
2. ↑ Christel Heybrock, Gods, Ladies, Cavaliers - sweet games made of porcelain. The Ludwigsburg manufactory in the Reinhard Jansen collection , on kunstundkosmos.de
3. ↑ Hans Dieter Flach, Leda with swan and eagle , in: Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg 40, pp. 43–62, here p. 48 ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was used automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 362 kB)  
4. ↑ quoted from Hans Dieter Flach, Leda mit Schwan und Adler , in: Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg 40, pp. 43–62, here p. 51 ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 362 kB)