Josef Ignaz Mildorfer

Dome fresco in the pilgrimage church Hafnerberg (Lower Austria)

Josef Ignaz Mildorfer (born October 13, 1719 in Innsbruck , † December 8, 1775 in Leopoldstadt , today a district in Vienna ; also Josef Ignaz Mülldorfer ) was an Austrian painter of the 18th century.

After initial training in painting by his father Michael Ignaz Mildorfer (1690–1747), Josef Ignaz Mildorfer was one of Paul Troger's most outstanding students alongside Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Johann Wenzel Bergl . At first he mainly dealt with oil painting and at the age of 23 he was awarded a first prize by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts for the picture Cain, slaying his brother Abel . This led to his recognition as an artist, and only one year later (1743) he created one of his most important works, the dome fresco of the pilgrimage church in Hafnerberg (Lower Austria).

In 1751 he was appointed court painter to the Duchess Emanuela of Savoy . In the same year he was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, but a tax offense led to his dismissal without notice in 1756. In 1759 he became court painter to Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein . After that, his activities mainly shifted to Moravia and Hungary, although he was no longer able to build on his earlier achievements.

From 1757 Josef Ignaz Mildorfer was married to Franziska Wiedon, daughter of the kk court painter Franz Josef Wiedon .

Despite a mercy re-employment by the Academy, he died in 1775 in abject poverty.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Mildorfer, Joseph Ignaz . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 18th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1868, p. 311 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Klára Garas: Unknown frescoes by Josef Ignaz Mildorfer . In: Communications from the Austrian Gallery 24–25, 1980–1981, pp. 93–131.
• Günter Brucher: ceiling frescoes . In: Günter Brucher (Ed.): The art of the baroque in Austria. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg 1994.
• Regina Kaltenbrunner: Painting by JI Mildorfer. Salzburg Museum - The work of art of the month , 31st year, sheet 362, June 2018.
• Lydia Grasl: Pilgrimage Church Hafnerberg. Diploma thesis, University of Innsbruck 1994.
• Bohumil Samek: Umělecké památky Moravy a Slezska II, J – N , Praha 1999, p. 516.
• Elisabeth Leube-Payer: Joseph Ignaz Mildorfer 1719-1775: Academy professor and Savoy-Liechtenstein court painter . Böhlau, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-205-78626-9 .
• Hanns-Paul Ties: Paul Troger, his students, his time. New finds and new additions to Tyrolean baroque painting , in: Der Schlern . Zeitschrift für Südtiroler Landeskunde, Volume 86, 2012, Issue 7/8, pp. 136–165, here pp. 139–141.

Web links

Commons : Josef Ignaz Mildorfer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by Josef Ignaz Mildorfer in: Digitales Belvedere
• Entry on Josef Ignaz Mildorfer in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Entry on Josef Ignaz Mildorfer in the database of the state's memory of the history of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )