Michael Willmann
Michael Leopold Lukas Willmann (born September 27, 1630 in Königsberg ; † August 26, 1706 in Leubus in Silesia ) was one of the most successful German painters of the Baroque period .
Career and workshop
After training with his father, the painter Christian Peter Willmann, Willmann went to the Netherlands around 1650 to learn about the art of the great masters. It was mainly the works of Rembrandt , Rubens and van Dyck that inspired him. For financial reasons he could not afford training in the studio of a well-known painter.
After a two-year stay, he returned to Königsberg, passed the master craftsman examination and went on a wandering tour. Via Danzig he went to Prague, where he lived from 1653 to 1655. He then worked in Wroclaw for about a year . The first known paintings originate from this time, which he created for the Lower Silesian Cistercian monastery Leubus on behalf of Abbot Arnold Freiberger , which was soon to become his most important work.
From 1657 to 1658 he was in Berlin, was electoral court painter and painted mythological paintings for Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg , the great elector , which were probably intended for his residence in Königsberg. In 1682 he painted an apotheosis of the Great Elector . The valuable painting was saved from Königsberg in an “incredible odyssey”. In 1660 he settled in Leubus because he received extensive orders for the monastery church, which enabled him to build a large workshop.
The fame of his monumental painting quickly spread through the workshop, which was organized according to the Dutch model and which was decisive for baroque painting in Silesia. Further orders from the Cistercians followed for their abbeys in Grüssau , Heinrichau , Kamenz , Rauden and Himmelwitz . Willmann's artistic expressiveness met the counter-reformation movement. In addition, the Cistercian monasteries were artistic centers around this time, whose abbots wanted to manifest their prince-like social status through art.
Willmann became the leading painter in Silesia. Due to his artistic expressiveness, his technical dexterity and speed, he received further large orders from the Wroclaw patriciate and from noble families and religious institutions in Bohemia . During these commissions he got to know Peter Johann Brandl and Wenzel Lorenz Reiner , who were strongly influenced by Willmann's painting and both later also worked in Silesia. Willmann also became a role model for subsequent generations of painters.
Willmann's workshop had many employees, including his son Michael Leopold Willmann the Elder. J., his daughter Anna Elisabeth, her husband Christian Neunhertz and their son Georg Wilhelm Neunhertz as well as Johann Kretschmer from Glogau, Johann Jacob Eybelwieser from Breslau, the Cistercian Jacob Arlet from Grüssau and Willmann's stepson Johann Christoph Lischka . Together with students and helpers, Willmann created more than 500 paintings and frescoes in the course of his life. Numerous drawings for graphics carried out by other engravers come from him and his workshop.
Personal
Willmann married Helena Regina Lischka from Prague in 1662, converted from Calvinism to Catholicism a short time later and assumed the baptismal names Leopold ( after the ruling emperor ) and Lukas ( after the patron saint of painters ). He became prosperous and was able to purchase an estate near Leubus. He made it possible for his son and stepson to study in Italy.
Willmann's fame was of supra-local importance. While still alive, his biography was recorded in Sandrart's "Teutsche Academie der Noble Bau-, Bild und Malereikünste". He died in 1706 as a highly honored artist. He found his final resting place in the monastery crypt of Leubus, where he was buried next to the abbots because of his services. His mummified body has been preserved to this day.
After his son died in the same year, the workshop was run by his stepson Johann Christoph Lischka until 1712, then by Willmann's grandson Georg Wilhelm Neunhertz until 1724. Willmann's house was destroyed in a major fire in 1849.
Works
For the Leubus Abbey
Leubus Abbey was secularized in 1810. The archive, library and art treasures (including 63 paintings by Willmann) were largely incorporated into the state collections in Wroclaw. The unique baroque furnishings of the church from Willmann's workshops are no longer preserved on site. The main altar painting of the Assumption is in Pyry near Warsaw. Of the 43 paintings accepted by Willmann and his workshop, three are in the possession of the National Museum in Warsaw , 28 hang in Warsaw churches and monasteries, the rest are kept in the National Museum in Wroclaw . The painting St. James from the St. James Church is considered lost.
- Collegiate Church of the Assumption ( Kościół klasztorny Wniebowzięcia NMP ): Wall paintings in four medallions each with scenes from the life of the saints
- Prelature: frescoes The twelve year old Jesus in the temple and Holy Family
- Summer refectory: fresco Triumph of the virtuous hero
- Parish Church of St. Valentin ( Kościół Św. Walentego ): altar paintings of the chapels Crucifixion and Maria Immaculata ; Half-length portraits of the Twelve Apostles with the Salvator Mundi cycle after van Dyck ( until 1807 in the parish church of St. James )
In other places in Lower Silesia
- Bad Warmbrunn , parish church of St. John the Baptist ( Kościół Św. Jana Chrzciciela ): high altar painting of the Assumption ; in the nave on the pillars: painting of the Twelve Apostles
- Bargen ( Barkowo ), high altar painting Jesus child ( no longer available )
- Wroclaw, Ursuline Church ( Kościół Urszulanek ): Painting Death of St. Ursula and Vision of St. Francis Xavier
- Grüssau , former Cistercian abbey and former collegiate church: side painting Twelve Prophets and Twelve Sybils The Weeping Peter and The Weeping Maria Magdalena (later Baron Durant Collection, Breslau); St. Joseph's Church: Fresco cycle Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of St. Joseph with Willmann's self-portrait in the scene Searching for a camp in Bethlehem ; on the south wall of the gallery two oil paintings: Flagellation and Ecce Homo
- Heinrichau , Klosterkirche: high altar painting Nativity in the vision of St. Bernard and Savior of the world , side altar painting Adoration of the Kings , Christ heals the sick and lepers , condemnation and crucifixion of Christ and Mary Magdalene anoints the feet of Christ ; St. Joseph's Chapel: altar painting; Trinity Chapel: altar painting; Fürstensaal: wall paintings; Church of St. Martin ( Kościół Św. Marcina ): main altar painting of the Assumption
- Jäschgüttel ( Jaszkotle ), Parish Church of the Ascension of Christ ( Kościół Wniebowstąpienia Pańskiego ): side altar painting Flagellation ( after a painting by van Dyck )
- Jauer , parish church of St. Martin ( Kościół Św. Marcina ): side altars with paintings of Our Lady and Holy Trinity
- Kamenz , Church of the Assumption ( Kościół Wniebowzięcia NMP ): Painting of the left side altar Flight into Egypt
- Liegnitz , parish church of John the Baptist ( Kościół Św. Jana Chrzciciela ): painting of St. John Nepomuk
- Lobris ( Luboradz ), Castle Chapel: wall painting ( currently in the National Museum in Warsaw )
- Neuen , Church of St. Lawrence ( Kościół Św. Wawrzyńca ): altar painting
- Parchwitz ( Prochowice ), parish church of John the Baptist ( Kościół Św. Jana Chrzciciela ): main altar painting Guardian Angel ( stolen in 1990 )
- Preichau (Przychowa) , parish church St. Laurentius: painting of the Assumption
- Polsnitz ( Pełcznica ), Church of St. Nicholas ( Kościół Św. Mikołaja ): main altar painting of St. Nicholas
- Schosnitz ( Sośnica ), Parish Church of the Exaltation of the Cross ( Kościół Podwyższenia Krzyża Św. ): Painting Martyrdom of St. Barbara ( copy after Willmann )
- Sagan , Parish Church of the Assumption ( Kościół Wniebowzięcia NMP ): side altar painting of Christ on the Mount of Olives
- Schweidnitz , St. Stanislaus and Wenceslas Cathedral ( Katedra ŚŚ. Stanisława i Wacława ): painting Death of St. Wenceslas
- Seitsch , Parish Church of St. Martin ( Kościół Św. Marcina ): main altar painting of the Assumption
- Trebnitz , Klosterkirche: cycle of paintings The life of St. Hedwig , altar painting St. Christina
- Voigsdorf ( Wojcieszyce ), Parish Church of St. Barbara ( Kościół Św. Barbary ): main altar painting Beheading of St. Barbara
- Wartha , pilgrimage church: high altar painting of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary
- Wohlau , parish church of St. Borromeo ( Kościół Św. Karola Boromeusza ): painting Christ on the Mount of Olives
In Upper Silesia
- Rauden Monastery , Former Cistercian Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary ( Kościół Wniebowzięcia NMP ): Side altar paintings of St. Benedict and St. Bernard
- Himmelwitz , Former Cistercian Church of the Assumption ( Kościół Wniebowzięcia NMP ): painting of the Rococo altar; St. Joseph's Chapel: Altarpiece Holy Kinship
- Karstenhütte ( Rybnik-Ligocka Kużnia ), Parish Church of St. Lawrence ( Kościół Św. Wawrzyńca ): Main altar painting Martyrdom of St. Lawrence . The church stood in Boguszowice until 1975, when it was moved.
- Ottmachau : Parish Church of St. Nikolaus ( Kościół Św. Mikołaja ): Altar painting St. Nicholas blesses the castaways ; Side altar painting Beheading of John the Baptist
- Steinsdorf ( Ścinawa Nyska ): painting cycle Christ as Salvator Mundi and Apostle paintings
- Goat Neck : Parish Church of St. Laurentius ( Kościół Św. Wawrzyńca ): Lamentation of Christ ( copy of a van Dyck painting )
In Bohemia
- Kreuzherrenkirche Prague: side altar painting "Exaltation of the Holy Cross" and painting "Expulsion of the merchants from the temple"
- Strahov Monastery , Monastery Church of the Assumption: Altar painting
- Sedletz monastery , monastery church: Assassination of St. Wenceslas
- Ossegg Monastery , Monastery Church of the Assumption: Altarpieces Martyrdom of St. Sebastian and Martyrdom of St. Mauritius
In galleries
- Wroclaw, National Museum: numerous paintings
- Brzeg , museum: several paintings ( from the Wroclaw National Museum )
- Warsaw , National Museum: mural from the Lobris Castle Chapel ( Luboradz )
- Individual works can also be found in the galleries in Augsburg, Berlin, Graz, Görlitz, Nuremberg and Prague
Grüssau Passion Book
- For the Grüssauer Passionsbuch , Willmann created 32 small-format drawings on the Passion story .
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Willmann, Michael Leopold . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 56th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1888, pp. 194–196 ( digitized version ).
- Colmar Grünhagen : Willmann, Michael Lucas Leopold . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 301.
- Ernst Kloss : Michael Willmann. Life and works of a German baroque painter , Breslau 1934.
- Hugo Weczerka (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical places . Volume: Silesia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 316). Kröner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-520-31601-3 .
- Knaur's Art Guide Czech Republic, ISBN 3-426-26609-1
- Herbert Meinhard Mühlpfordt : Leopold Michael Willmann. In: Königsberg life in the Rococo. Important contemporaries of Kant . Writings from the JG Herder Library Siegerland, Vol. 7, Siegen 1981, pp. 84-94.
- Hubertus Lossow : Michael Willmann 1630–1706 . Würzburg 1994, ISBN 3-87057-179-9 .
- Franz Wagner (ed.): Michael Willmann (1630–1706), studies on his work . Concept: Rüdiger Klessmann and Bożena Steinborn, catalog book for the exhibition in Salzburg and Breslau 1994.
- Joachim Bahlcke , Winfried Eberhard, Miloslav Polívka (eds.): Handbook of historical places. Volume: Bohemia and Moravia (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 329). Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-32901-8 .
- Dehio Handbook of Art Monuments in Poland, Silesia , Munich · Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-422-03109-X .
- Rüdiger Grimkowski: Michael Willmann: Baroque painter in the service of the Catholic denomination; the Grüssauer Josephs cycle , Berlin: Weißensee-Verlag, 2005.
Web links
- Literature by and about Michael Willmann in the catalog of the German National Library
- http://www.webarchiv-server.de/pin/archiv01/3701ob22.htm
- http://www.kulturwerk-schlesien.de/download/kulturspiegel/KS-JanuarMaerz2005.pdf?fCMS=2a91b1031ad29c38ffc84b6498364089 (PDF file; 585 kB)
- http://www.staatsgalerie.de/aus_willmann/bio.php
- http://www.pinakoteka.zascianek.pl/Willmann/Index.htm
- http://staatsgalerie-stuttgart.de/aus_willmann/sandrart.php
Individual evidence
- ^ R. Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon. Wurzburg 2002
- ↑ See niedziela.pl
- ↑ Detlev Arens: Prague - Culture and History of the "Golden City" online, accessed June 7, 2011
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Willmann, Michael |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Willmann, Michael Leopold Lukas (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German baroque painter |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1630 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Koenigsberg |
DATE OF DEATH | August 26, 1706 |
Place of death | Leubus , Silesia |