Peter Fuchs (sculptor)

Peter Dominicus Fuchs (born September 27, 1829 in Cologne ; † July 31, 1898 there ) was a German sculptor who, as a cathedral sculptor, created a large number of sculptures in the neo-Gothic style for Cologne Cathedral .

Live and act

From 1844 to 1849 Peter Fuchs learned the stonemason trade in Cologne's cathedral building . He then went on a hike and worked, among other things, on the new construction of the Nikolaikirche in Hamburg . After his return he worked in the Cologne studio of Vincenz Statz .

From 1851 to 1854 he worked in Speyer with the sculptor Gottfried Renn (1818–1900) and in Frankfurt am Main with Eduard Schmidt von der Launitz (1797–1869) and Eduard Jakob von Steinle .

In 1855 he returned to Cologne and created a number of memorial figures such as the group of the four great prophets (1858) for the Marian column on the Gereonsdriesch based on a design by Vincenz Statz and the life-size statues of Saints Dionysius and Reinhold (1866–1871) for the West face of St. Mauritius .

From 1865 onwards, Fuchs found his life's task in the creation of around 700 sculptures for Cologne Cathedral based on the image program conceived by Sulpiz Boisserée . These can be found on the columns and walls of the south transept (1866–1872), the west towers (1871), the west portal and the north portal (1879–1881) as well as the St. Peter's portal (1881). Plaster models, after which restorations were possible in the 20th century, as well as preliminary drawings for sculptures that were planned but not executed (1879–1880) are kept in the cathedral archive.

Gravesite of the Berger / Fuchs family (February 2019)

Fuchs' style is influenced by the Nazarenes , but also by contemporary German sculpture of the monumental style.

His bronze door panels, cast by Josef Louis, Cologne, on the west portals of Bremen Cathedral (1895–1898) reveal Lorenzo Ghiberti's Paradise portals at the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence and the wooden door of St. Maria in the Capitol as models , but also the influence the Beuron art school .

Peter Fuchs died on July 31, 1898 at the age of 68 and was buried in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne in the grave of the family of his wife Wilhelmine nee Berger (lit. R, between lit. D + E).

Working in public space

Bozi burial site at the Johannisfriedhof in Bielefeld

Aachen : 6 statues on the portal of the Marienkirche

Bad Hönningen , Arenfels Castle

Beetzendorf : Cross in the von der Schulenburg family cemetery

Bielefeld : Bozi Tomb in the Johannisfriedhof (1890)

Door at the Bremen Cathedral

Bremen : Portals at the Bremen Cathedral

Dortmund - Brünninghausen : War memorial for the fallen from 1870/71

Koblenz : Relief above the portal of the St. Kastor Church

Cologne

4 great prophets on the Marian column
Parish Church of St. Mauritius : St. Dionysius and St. Reinhold
Cathedral : reliefs and statues
at the cathedral: Petrusbrunnen ("Drüje Pitter") 1870

Hanover: Statues of Moses and Isaias on the north transept portal of the Christ Church in Hanover (around 1860)

Königswinter : Emperor statues on the south facade of the Drachenburg

Viersen - Dülken : Madonna on the Marian Column (around 1858)

literature

Fuchs, Peter . In: Ulrich Thieme (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 12 : Fiori-Fyt . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1916, p. 551 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Joachim Gaus: To Peter Fuchs (1829–1898). In: Joachim Gaus (Ed.): Art-historical essays. Dedicated to Heinz Ladendorf by his pupils and friends of the Art History Institute of the University of Cologne on June 29, 1969. Art History Institute of the University of Cologne, Cologne 1969, pp. 41–61.
Fuchs, Peter . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 46, Saur, Munich a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-598-22786-8 , p. 67 f. (with list of works and further literature).
Hans Josef Böker: The portal sculptures of the Christ Church in Hanover: additions to the work of the Cologne cathedral sculptors Christian Mohr, Peter Fuchs and Edmund Renard. In: Low German contributions to art history. 24, 1985, pp. 185-200.

Web links

Commons : Peter Fuchs - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Three holy emperors and one king return. Report on the restoration of the statues of the ruler by Fuchs at Cologne Cathedral

Individual evidence

^ Josef Abt, Johann Ralf Beines, Celia Körber-Leupold: Melaten - Cologne graves and history. Greven, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7743-0305-3 , p. 178.
↑ Figure (PDF; 393 kB).
↑ Hans Josef Böker: The portal sculptures of the Christ Church in Hanover: additions to the work of the Cologne cathedral sculptors Christian Mohr, Peter Fuchs and Edmund Renard. In: Low German contributions to art history. 24, 1985, p. 192.

personal data
SURNAME	Fuchs, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Fuchs, Peter Dominicus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	September 27, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne
DATE OF DEATH	July 31, 1898
Place of death	Cologne

[1] Josef Abt, Johann Ralf Beines, Celia Körber-Leupold: Melaten - Cologne graves and history. Greven, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7743-0305-3 , p. 178.

[2] Figure (PDF; 393 kB).

[3] Hans Josef Böker: The portal sculptures of the Christ Church in Hanover: additions to the work of the Cologne cathedral sculptors Christian Mohr, Peter Fuchs and Edmund Renard. In: Low German contributions to art history. 24, 1985, p. 192.