Materno Bossi

The epitaph of Materno Bossi in the Church of St. Peter and Paul , Würzburg

Materno Bossi (born July 18, 1737 in Porto Ceresio , Lombardy , † August 28, 1802 in Würzburg ) was an Italian plasterer and outfitter. He was particularly active in the Würzburg monastery , where he helped shape the baroque and early classicism.

Life

Materno Bossi was born on July 18, 1737 in Porto Ceresio in Lombardy on Lake Lugano . He came from a family of stucco workers that should produce several well-known members. The profession of his father, Natale Bossi, is unclear, however. Materno's mother, Clara Bossi, had several children, but not all of them reached adulthood. Materno Bossi began an apprenticeship as a plasterer at an early age , but the sources are silent about this training.

At the age of 18 he then accompanied his younger brother Augustin , a plasterer like himself, across the Alps to Würzburg . In Germany, the older brother Ludovico already worked as the court plasterer of Duke Karl Eugen von Württemberg , as well as his uncle Antonio Bossi , who was employed by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg. The latter probably became the master of the arriving relatives. At least until 1757 Materno learned from his uncle, although the exact time is unclear.

After completing his training, Bossi went on a hike. In 1759 he probably visited the construction site of the Italian building of the Bayreuth Residence. In 1762 he was recorded in Stuttgart . He was named here as the best man of brother Ludovico. Here he also took on the duties of a master plasterer for the first time. Materno also worked on the construction of his brother in Ludwigsburg, where he stuccoed the Monrepos Castle.

Together with his brother he then traveled again to Würzburg. The stairwell of the newly built residence was to be stuccoed and the Italian masters were ideally suited for this. In 1766 Ludovico Bossi left Würzburg, but his little brother Materno stayed. In 1767, Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim engaged the younger Bossi to carry out further stucco work on his city residence.

The satisfaction of the bishop led to Materno Bossi being appointed official court plasterer to the prince-bishop on September 14, 1769. Two years later, in 1771, Bossi married Agnes Amadey, daughter of the prince-bishop's court confectioner, from Würzburg . The marriage, Agnes died in 1798, remained childless. The father-in-law also bequeathed the newlyweds a house near Haug Abbey . As early as 1784 the couple bought their own in today's Theaterstrasse, as Materno had also been appointed valet in 1778.

The appointment as court plasterer was also associated with a large number of orders. First and foremost, Materno Bossi was responsible for stuccoing the secular buildings of the bishopric . In addition, he also worked for noble individuals and the many monastic orders. In 1789 Bossi stuccoed the church of the Juliusspital , before that he had already installed the stucco in the Würzburger Käppele . He also worked in the Teutonic Order Palace in Mergentheim and in the garden of the pleasure palace in Veitshöchheim.

Although Materno Bossi received all the commissions from the Würzburg and Bamberg monasteries , he only became a citizen of the Lower Franconian royal seat in 1793. Two years later, in 1795, the Italian artist began to decline when Bishop Georg Karl von Fechenbach took office . Younger and modern plasterers had overtaken him. Materno Bossi died on August 28, 1802 in Würzburg.

Works (selection)

Since most of the works by Materno Bossi were not signed, the classification is only based on archival sources. The assignment to the Italian ₠ uvre is made even more difficult by the fact that the workshop also consisted of his younger brother Augustin in addition to Materno and his employees.

place	year	plant	Remarks
Amerdingen	1789-1790	Amerdingen Castle : stucco decoration
Ansbach	1779-1780	Catholic prayer room: stucco, high altar, pulpit	merely attributed
Aub	1773	Aub Castle : stucco, fittings, almost completely destroyed
Aub	1773	Assumption of the Virgin: Mount of Olives	merely attributed
Bad Bocklet	around 1788	Princely building: stucco decoration
Bad Kissingen	1774-1777	St. James : Stucco, high altar, pulpit, side altars
Bad Mergentheim	1780	Mergentheim Palace : Chapter House of the Teutonic Order
Bamberg	1772-1773	New residence: two hallways
Bamberg	1792-1793	St. Martin (Bamberg) : Tabernacle, Antependium
Dettelbach	1778-1779	Mary in the sand : altar of grace	merely attributed
Ebrach	1773-1791	Ebrach monastery : stucco, furnishings
Eichstatt	1781/1782	Hof Walderdorff: stucco decoration in the bel étage	merely attributed
Forchheim	1775	Oberamtshaus: stucco decoration
Fuchsstadt	1767-1769	Assumption of the Virgin : stucco decoration, altars and pulpit	New building from 1751 to 1766 by Johann Michael Fischer
Gaukönigshofen	1776-1777	Guardian Angel Church: stucco, modernization of the altars
Hausen (Bad Kissingen)	1772-1776	Upper saltworks : chapel, stucco, almost completely destroyed
Heidenfeld	1783-1784	Heidenfeld Monastery : stucco and furnishings, destroyed	merely attributed
Kirchheim (Lower Franconia)	1790-1796	St. Michael: stucco, high altar, side altars, pulpit
Kitzingen	1793-1794	St. Johannes : pulpit
Memmelsdorf	1770-1775	Seehof Castle : grotto, destroyed; Theatre; Garden shed
Hall on the Saale	1777	Visitation of the Virgin Mary: draft church furnishings, not carried out
Triefenstein	1784-1786	Triefenstein Monastery : stucco and furnishings
Veitshochheim	1771-1774	Veitshöchheim Castle Park: garden pavilion, destroyed; Grotto house; Cascade, destroyed
Fourteen saints	after 1774	Vierzehnheiligen monastery : draft of the pulpit	merely attributed
Werneck	around 1793	Werneck Castle : Pulpit of the castle chapel	merely attributed
Wipfeld	1786-1787	St. Johannes Baptist: stucco, high altar
Wurzburg	1767-1768	Residence : 2nd guest room, destroyed and reconstructed
Wurzburg	1769-1770	Residence: Green lacquered room, destroyed and reconstructed; Oven in the White Room
Wurzburg	1770-1771	Residence: opera hall, stage set-up, destroyed; Fürstensaal, destroyed and reconstructed
Wurzburg	1772-1774	St. Michael : equipment, destroyed; Piece; pulpit
Wurzburg	1774	Hofkirche St. Michael : pulpit
Wurzburg	after 1774	Monastery church Finding the cross: draft of the pulpit, destroyed	merely attributed
Wurzburg	1776-1779	Residence: Ingelheim room, destroyed and reconstructed; Stucco; Whitewashing
Wurzburg	1777	Residence: corner fireplace in opera room, destroyed
Wurzburg	around 1780	Blasiusgasse 9, ballroom: stucco, destroyed	merely attributed
Wurzburg	1780	Residence, ambassadorial building: Stucco stairwell, hall, 4 rooms, destroyed
Wurzburg	1785-1788	Käppele : Design of the stucco decoration	merely attributed
Wurzburg	1789-1790	St. Stephan : design of the stucco decoration	merely attributed
Wurzburg	1796-1798	St. Michael : choir stucco, altars
Zellingen	1787-1788	St. George: stucco, 3 altars, pulpit

literature

• Ernst Eichhorn: On the share of "Welsch" artists in Baroque art in Franconia (= Erlanger building blocks for Franconian history No. 6) . Erlangen 1959. pp. 127-157.
• Reinhard Müller: Materno Bossi a Franconian stucco worker. Diss . Wuerzburg 1920.
• Iris Ch. Visosky-Antrack: Materno and Augustin Bossi. Stucco workers and outfitters at the Würzburger Hof in early classicism (= Art Studies, Vol. 83). Diss . Munich, Berlin 2000.

Web links

Commons : Materno Bossi  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• German biography: Materno Bossi
• WürzburgWiki: Materno Bossi

Individual evidence

1. ↑ While the older literature assumes the years 1739/1740, Visosky-Antrack (p. 16) gives this date.
2. ↑ Visosky-Antrack, Iris Ch .: Materno and Augustin Bossi . P. 16.
3. ↑ Visosky-Antrack, Iris Ch .: Materno and Augustin Bossi . P. 17.
4. ↑ Visosky-Antrack, Iris Ch .: Materno and Augustin Bossi . P. 17.
5. ↑ Visosky-Antrack, Iris Ch .: Materno and Augustin Bossi . Pp. 81-83.