Martin Dreyer (artist)

Martin Dreyer OSB (born October 31, 1748 in Eichenberg near Berkheim , † October 21, 1795 in Wiblingen near Ulm ) was a Benedictine in the Wiblingen monastery near Ulm and a painter.

Wiblingen Monastery Church, reliefs on the prospectus of the choir organ (rear wall of the choir stalls)

Martin Dreyer was born as Johannes Dreyer in Eichenberg near Berkheim in Upper Swabia . He learned to paint in an unknown place. As a lay brother , he entered the Benedictine monastery in Wiblingen in 1776. He made his vows on November 11, 1776 in Wiblingen Monastery, where he was given the religious name Martin. There he was employed as a nurse, but he worked actively with the extensive baroque measures. He gilded the stucco decorations, the tabernacle, the pulpit and reliefs with scenes from the Old Testament and the life of St. Benedict . These reliefs were made according to his designs and are located on the rear wall of the choir stalls , which also serves as the prospectus for the choir organ . Furthermore, two finely executed pictures of St. Wendelin and a Guardian Angel have been preserved, which are still in the so-called altars today, as well as two pictures on the back wall of two other altars. These two pictures show the birth of Christ and the entry of Saints Placidus and Maurus into the monastery . The predella pictures with representations from the Passion of Christ, some of which are worked on canvas or metal, were painted by Martin Dreyer.

In the cemetery chapel in Wiblingen, the three ceiling paintings from 1790 and the stations of the cross are from him. He may also have been active in the church of St. Martin in Unterkirchberg and in other village churches belonging to the Wiblingen monastery, so that he was awarded the title of homo pius, prudens, humilis, laboriosus in the monastery chronicle. He painted the large ceiling fresco of St. Xavier on the ceiling of the chapel in Unterweiler in just five days from September 12 to 16, 1786. He also worked in the Roggenburg monastery and the Rot an der Rot monastery . During his creative period he also trained several students.

Martin Dreyer died of dropsy on October 21, 1795 .

literature

• Franz Jos. Schwarz (Ed.): Archive for Christian Art . Publishing house of the Rottenburg Diocesan Association for Christian Art, Stuttgart 1883, p. 84 .

Web links

• Extract from the archive for Christian art, 1883, page 84 on sueddeutscher-barock.de