Laurenz Spenning

View into the nave vault of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, built by Spenning (1474)

Laurenz Spenning (* around 1400/1410 in Dresden ; † August 7, 1477 in Vienna ) was a Gothic builder and between 1454 and 1477 head of the building works of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna . Its fundamental importance for the development of architecture in the 15th century was only recently discovered.

activity

In his early days, Spenning probably worked in Dresden, where the choir of the late Gothic Kreuzkirche, begun in 1437, showed similarities with its formal language. Presumably he also worked on major church projects there in Strasbourg, Ulm and Regensburg and received a significant part of his architectural character here.

In 1446, Spenning from Melk , where he was working on the late Gothic building of the collegiate church, was appointed parlier under Hans Puchsbaum at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. In 1452 he and Puchsbaum had rebuilt the memorial of the spinner on the cross , which had been destroyed in 1446, in Vienna , before he himself took over the management of this supraregionally influential building works in 1454. In 1459 Laurenz Spenning, together with the Strasbourg cathedral builder Jodok Dotzinger , held a leading position at the national conference of the German-speaking stonemasonry, the Regensburg Hüttentag , responsible for the reorganization of the professional statutes. Here, for the first time, the authorship of the designing architect is emphasized and there is a reaction to the increasing individuality and artistic autonomy of building designs. On this occasion the Viennese Dombauhütte was assured an exemte position within the smelting association headed by Strasbourg and Spenning was recognized as an Öbrister Maister in the country of Lambach Steyren Burckhawssen Vungarn and Thunau . During this time Spenning was also called in as an appraiser for the construction of the Ulm Minster Tower , where he created a draft for the completion of the tower substructure around 1460.

At St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna , Spenning was responsible for the sacristy extension (1458/59), the west gallery (1465), two altar canopies (1466), the Friedrichsgiebel and the Singertorhalle (1470) as well as the arching of the nave (1474). The design for the north tower, begun in 1467, came from him, the basement of which with vestibule and St. Catherine's Chapel was completed when he died. Around 1475 he built a late Gothic vestibule on the Virgil Chapel, which is located immediately south of St. Stephen's Cathedral .

Other works by Spenning include a design for a new town hall in Vienna in 1455 ( Maister Laurentzen pawmaister to sant Steffan because of the vision for the new town hall ), the reconstruction of the Gaming Charterhouse , the vaulting of the choir of the Steyr parish church built by Hans Puchsbaum and the parish church von Ybbs an der Donau and the vaulting of the cathedral of Pressburg / Bratislava . Its easternmost building was the Ascension Chapel at the collegiate church of Donnersmark ( Slovakia ). Many of these activities were previously ascribed to his predecessor, Hans Puchsbaum .

In 1470 he had a new building erected for the Vienna Dombauhütte, which provided additional space for the training of foremen and probably also for the archiving of an extensive inventory of architectural drawings. A large part of the drawings that were made, collected and carefully preserved are still preserved in Vienna today.

Spenning and his wife Kathrei had a daughter Anna. His successor as master builder of St. Stephan was his previous parlier and son-in-law Simon Achleitner († 1488) in 1477 .

Appreciation

Laurenz Spenning can be regarded as the real finisher of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, under which it essentially received its present form. In addition, he worked as a national architect on numerous church buildings. Characteristic of Spenning's architectural style is a deliberately retrospective basic stance in favor of a high Gothic formal language while largely dispensing with the fish bladder in the tracery that predominated in the late Gothic , while in the vaults, especially in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, he came up with very advanced solutions.

After all of Spenning's drawings came into the possession of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1841 , his work was able to exert a lasting influence on the development of Viennese neo-Gothic Friedrich von Schmidt and his students.

literature

Jaroslav Bureš : On the work of the master Laurenz Spenning . In: Évolution génerale et développements régionaux en histoire de l'art. Actes du 22e Congrès International d'Histoire de l'Art . Budapest, 1972: pp. 539-542.
Johann Josef Böker : Architecture of the Gothic. Inventory catalog of the world's largest collection of Gothic architectural plans (legacy Franz Jäger) in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; with an appendix on the medieval architectural drawings in the Wien Museum Karlsplatz . Anton Pustet Verlag, Salzburg 2005.
Johann Josef Böker: The Vienna St. Stephen's Cathedral. Architecture as a symbol for the House of Austria . Anton Pustet Verlag, Salzburg 2007, here p. 252ff.
Johann Josef Böker: Laurenz Spenning and the development of the architectural profession in the late Middle Ages . In: Stefan Bürger, Bruno Klein (Hrsg.): Werkmeister of the late Gothic. People, office and image . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2010, pp. 162–170.

proof

↑ Johann Josef Böker: Laurenz Spenning and the development of the architectural profession in the late Middle Ages . In: Stefan Bürger, Bruno Klein (Hrsg.): Werkmeister of the late Gothic. People, office and image . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2010, pp. 162–170.
↑ Richard Perger: The builders of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in the late Middle Ages . In: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte , 23, 1970, pp. 97f.
^ Friedrich Dahm, Manfred Koller: The Viennese spinner on the cross . Vienna 1991.
^ Johann Josef Böker u. a .: Gothic architecture. Ulm and Danube Region . Müry & Salzmann, Salzburg 2011, No. 7.
^ Johann Josef Böker: The Vienna St. Stephen's Cathedral. Architecture as a symbol for the House of Austria . Anton Pustet, Salzburg 2007, here pp. 252–294.
^ Johann Josef Böker: The late Gothic reconstruction of the monastery church of the Kartause Gaming . In: Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation , LX (2005), pp. 223–234.
^ Johann Josef Böker: The choir of the parish church of Steyr and its builders . In: Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation , LVII (2003), pp. 213–232.
^ Fritz Eheim: The Viennese Dombauhütte and the parish church of Ybbs . In: Our home. Journal of the Association for Regional Studies of Lower Austria and Vienna , XLIII (1972), pp. 169–172.
^ Johann Josef Böker: Architecture of the Gothic. Inventory catalog of the world's largest collection of Gothic architectural plans (legacy Franz Jäger) in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; with an appendix on the medieval architectural drawings in the Wien Museum Karlsplatz . Anton Pustet, Salzburg 2005.

personal data
SURNAME	Spenning, Laurenz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Gothic builder
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1400
DATE OF DEATH	August 7, 1477
Place of death	Vienna

[1] Johann Josef Böker: Laurenz Spenning and the development of the architectural profession in the late Middle Ages . In: Stefan Bürger, Bruno Klein (Hrsg.): Werkmeister of the late Gothic. People, office and image . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2010, pp. 162–170.

[2] Richard Perger: The builders of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in the late Middle Ages . In: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte , 23, 1970, pp. 97f.

[3] Friedrich Dahm, Manfred Koller: The Viennese spinner on the cross . Vienna 1991.

[4] Johann Josef Böker u. a .: Gothic architecture. Ulm and Danube Region . Müry & Salzmann, Salzburg 2011, No. 7.

[5] Johann Josef Böker: The Vienna St. Stephen's Cathedral. Architecture as a symbol for the House of Austria . Anton Pustet, Salzburg 2007, here pp. 252–294.

[6] Johann Josef Böker: The late Gothic reconstruction of the monastery church of the Kartause Gaming . In: Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation , LX (2005), pp. 223–234.

[7] Johann Josef Böker: The choir of the parish church of Steyr and its builders . In: Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation , LVII (2003), pp. 213–232.

[8] Fritz Eheim: The Viennese Dombauhütte and the parish church of Ybbs . In: Our home. Journal of the Association for Regional Studies of Lower Austria and Vienna , XLIII (1972), pp. 169–172.

[9] Johann Josef Böker: Architecture of the Gothic. Inventory catalog of the world's largest collection of Gothic architectural plans (legacy Franz Jäger) in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; with an appendix on the medieval architectural drawings in the Wien Museum Karlsplatz . Anton Pustet, Salzburg 2005.