Karl Dankwart

Karl Dankwart (* in Sweden; † May 24, 1704 in Neisse ) was a church painter based in Neisse.

Dankwart was born the son of the colonel in the Swedish army. There is no information about his youth in Sweden and his move to Lower Silesia . The name "Carolus Tanquart Royal Court Painter in Poland" in the baptismal register of St. Jacob's Church in Neiss testifies to his change of denomination. The earliest news comes from 1686, when he settled in Glogau , married there and started his family. His first clients were the Jesuits . For their Konvikt he created the paintings in the interior of the Neiss Ascension Church, which had just been built, and pictures for the Carolinum grammar school . He became court painter to the Bishops of Breslau and to the Palatinate Elector Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg .

In 1693 Dankwart created fourteen frescoes for the Church of the Assumption of Mary in Glatz on the text of the hymn Salve Regina as well as a depiction of the Marian vision of the Prague Archbishop Ernst von Pardubitz . Later he created eleven pictures for the Glatzer Jesuit Church in richly decorated oval frames with depictions of Jesuit saints as well as Mary, Jesus and the head of St. John the Baptist.

Karl Dankwart was also active in Moravia and Poland. For the Jesuit Convict in Znojmo he painted the altarpiece for the Michaeliskirche there .

In Poland he created the wall and ceiling paintings in the Basilica of the Assumption and the Finding of the Holy Cross in the Jasna Góra Monastery in Czestochowa and in the Anna Church in Krakow (in collaboration with the plasterer Balthasar Fontana and Innozenz Monti).

Around 1701 he was still active in Krakow in the St. Hyacinth Chapel in the Dominican Church and probably also in the St. Andrew's Church. Karl Dankwart was also court painter to King Jan III. Sobieski .

literature

• Andrzej Kozieł: Szwed i jezuici. Karl Dankwart i jego nieznane prace malarskie dla nyskich i kłodzkich jezuitów (The Swede and the Jesuits. Karl Dankwart and his unknown works for Neisser and Glatzer Jesuits) [from:] Po obu stronach Bałtyku. Via Nova: Vol. 1, Wrocław 2006; ISBN 8360544050 .
• Arkadiusz Muła: Karl Dankwart - szwedzki malarz i jego związki z dworem biskupa Franciszka Ludwika von Pfalz-Neuburg (Karl Dankwart - a Swedish painter and his relations with the court of Bishop Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg ) [from:] Po obu stronach Bałtyku . Via Nova: Vol. 1, Wrocław 2006; ISBN 8360544050 .
• Anna Ptak: Artistic activity of Karl Dankwart and the beginning of early baroque fresco painting in Silesia.

Web links

• (Polish)
• (German)