Sebastian Gutzwiller

Self-portrait, 1838

Sebastian Gutzwiller (French Sébastien Gutzwiller , born November 1, 1798 in Uffheim near Sierentz , † October 20, 1872 in Basel ) was an Alsatian painter.

Life

Youth and wandering years

Sebastian Gutzwiller was born on November 1st, 1798 in Uffheim near Sierentz, the son of Sebastian Gutzwiller, an oil maker, and his wife Catherine Bacher. Nothing is known about his youth and his education, because there are no written sources.

The first known pictures date from 1815: the portraits of his godmother Adelgonde and his godfather Jacques Haaby, Müller in Uffheim. In the following years Gutzwiller went on a wandering journey, according to an obituary in the "Basler Nachrichten" of November 28, 1872 and according to the article by Daniel Burckhardt-Werthemann in the "Swiss Artist Lexicon", which is apparently based on verbal information from two of Gutzwiller's daughters. The young painter is said to have stayed “in Paris at the art academy”, where he learned restoration and further training in portraiture, and then traveled to Rouen , Le Havre and Marseille . In none of these cities has his life or work been proven. There is no dossier on him to be found in the files of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; the municipal and departmental archives do not know of any stay, no work of his is kept in the museums - six years of his life elude any research. So one must assume that he trained as an assistant in private studios, perhaps with teachers at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The production of these years was utility art that disappeared with the clients, "little people".

Marriage and settlement in Basel

Portrait of a Girl with Grapes, 1835.

Sebastian Gutzwiller is back in the files in 1821. He has returned to Alsace and married Caroline Grumler in Mulhouse on March 29th . The first daughter, Charlotte Marguerite, was born on April 23, 1823, apparently in Mulhouse; Caroline follows in 1830. It is not known where and from what the young family lived. Gutzwiller seems to have established relationships with the nearby city of Basel during this period; on April 22, 1833, Gutzwiller settled down “as a painter with H. Lamy”. Karl was born on February 4, 1833, shortly before the family settled in Basel. Little Karl was baptized in Basel Minster, as was Sophie, born in 1834, and Constantia Amalia, born in 1835, called Amalie. In 1837 the youngest daughter Henriette follows; she was baptized in the Leonhardskirche and died in 1844. It is interesting that the Catholic Gutzwiller had at least his children born in Basel reformed baptized. This is not just an adaptation to the new environment; his wife is also of the Reformed denomination.

A few portraits in oil and three lithographs are known from the following years ; they are in the Historisches Museum and the Kunstmuseum Basel . From Gutzwiller's work in the 1930s, however, mainly church images have survived. In Alsace, many churches were expanded, rebuilt or renovated during these years, and on this occasion new altarpieces were added. Gutzwiller received the first commissions for altarpieces known today from the church of his home village Uffheim: a St. Michael for the high altar and an Immaculata for the left side altar . His training or work as a copyist certainly helped him . The result seems to have satisfied the client, and more than ten other orders for altarpieces followed in Alsace, most of them only after he settled in Basel. These assignments provided a sure source of income at a time when his family was growing rapidly.

An oil painting from around 1840, which is in private hands, shows that Gutzwiller has developed from a popular painter of his youth into a solid and respected portraitist. We don't know the names of those portrayed: a young woman with a child and a dog is leaning against a square piano . She directs her bright eyes attentively to the viewer, smiling slightly. She wears festive clothes and gold jewelry - an opportunity for the painter to show his technical skills: silk, fur, frills, gold are captured in their materiality. To the right of the woman, to the left of the viewer, sits an approximately six-year-old child with a finely modeled face in delicate colors. It looks out of the picture without a smile and holds a small dog on its lap. Gutzwiller puts together a harmonious interior in which the individual parts - the piano with the open music book, the stitches on the wall, the ruffled curtain with finely crafted tips, the wallpaper - and the whole thing are arranged to characterize the people depicted. Everything breathes solid bourgeoisie , but also a love of art - in short: Biedermeier order. Perspective inadequacies are overlooked because of the balanced colors and atmosphere of the picture.

The altarpiece of the St. Martin church in Olten

Gutzwiller had made a certain name for himself in Basel. Obviously it has now also been noticed outside of Alsace and the Basel region. We know the Munzinger family portrait from Olten from 1841 . A little later he was commissioned to carry out the altarpiece designed by Martin Disteli in the town church of St. Martin.

The story of this altarpiece is rather confused and not without tragedy. It was presented in detail in the 1999 Oltner Neujahrsblätter. - Sebastian Gutzwiller is “only” the performer of this work, but his name is mentioned early on in this context. The sources are unique, as no work by Gutzwiller is known to date whose history has been written down. The concrete information about his work is a by-product of the good sources of Disteli.

A citizen of Olten had bequeathed an amount in her will for a main altar painting, a St. Martin , in the town church of St. Martin in 1842 . An altar commission was set up; she wanted to give the order to the famous fellow citizen Martin Disteli and asked him to submit a sketch. Disteli was delighted with the request and was proud to have received such an important order from his hometown. He had previously painted altarpieces for the church in the neighboring parish of Kappel without giving up his inexorable anti-clerical stance. The request was particularly welcome because he was in dire financial straits because of his radical publications. Disteli did not present the desired sketch of Saint Martin, but a Descent from the Cross - he had already painted such a picture for Kappel. This started a dispute between the artist and the authority, which culminated in 1843 when the authority publicly announced the altarpiece.

According to Dietschi [1920], Sebastian Gutzwiller was among the artists who applied for the commission. He added a copper engraving of Cornelius' "Last Judgment" from 1840 in the Ludwigskirche in Munich and offered to make a copy on site. Unfortunately the sources Dietschi used can no longer be found; if we are to believe him, two facts are interesting: Gutzwiller suggests a copy, one based on the latest, famous Nazarene fresco in Munich; he shows that he is following the developments in art. And: Gutzwiller brings up the subject of the “Last Judgment”, a subject that was never mentioned before, but which was finally realized.

Thanks to the perseverance of a commissioner and friend of Distelis, the contract went to Disteli. On March 12, 1843, the “project of a contract” between the Olten community and Disteli was presented to the extraordinary community meeting; the contract was approved. In our context, Art. IX is interesting: «For this art work the community pays Mr. Disteli [...] a sum of Fr. 2800.-. This sum also includes the fee that Mr. Disteli to Mr. Gutzwyler [sic] in Basel, which he asked to call in at his own offer to help with coloring. " [Olten Art Museum]. The passage is linguistically cumbersome and incorrectly formulated. But the meaning is clear: Disteli has undertaken to bring in the painter Gutzwyler or Gutzwiller as a «help in coloring». What is certain is that craftsmanship quality and timely completion were guaranteed.

Disteli was able to submit the draft; everyone liked him. The execution was delayed again due to new arguments between the artist and the authorities, this time over money issues. This rift was settled in autumn, but the execution of the picture had to be postponed to spring. Disteli died in March 1844 at the age of 42. Shortly afterwards, the "existing main drawing" was hung up in the church. “In the meantime, the painter Gutzwyler in Basel, who has recently applied for the execution, has been invited to look at the hanging drawing in order to negotiate with the commission. The same then appeared on the 20th of this year, examined the drawing and declared himself ready to paint it in. "

The picture painted by Sebastian Gutzwiller differs in a few details from Disteli's designs. It seems less independent and ingenious than the design, but conventional and academic, genre-like in details. Gutzwiller increases the number of saints and blessed to the left and right of Christ , he lets putti float, he inserts a praying Madonna between Christ and John and marks the transition between heaven and earth with a second angel. He dresses the naked and half-naked. The treatment of the faces is interesting: the rescued have Nazarene-loving faces, the damned look distinctly individualized.

The Olten Last Judgment is one of the more important church paintings in Switzerland of this time. Disteli's virtuoso, powerful design and Gutzwiller's Nazarene understanding of church painting, but also his technical experience in oil painting, have combined to form an impressive work.

The Basel "Family Concert"

Sebastian Gutzwiller: Basel Family Concert, 1849

The “Family Concert” from 1849, which is often depicted, is a high point in Gutzwiller's work. It is probably Gutzwiller's best-known work, at least in Switzerland; it is considered to be “the epitome of the Basel living room idyll of the late Biedermeier period” [von Roda 1989]. It is not known exactly whether a particular family is portrayed as making music. A frequently held assumption sees Gutzwiller's own family in the people shown. However, the number, age and sex of the people speak against this: In 1849 the Gutzwiller family would have consisted of four daughters and one son; the two youngest were 13 and 14 years old. The popularity of this picture is fueled, among other things, by this uncertainty as to who the represented family is. But it is also very attractive in its simple, almost naive composition and its warm colors; it shows a manageable, peaceful world. In addition, because of its attention to detail, it is a source of images on social and cultural-historical issues.

Restoration work in old age

According to the two oldest biographical reports, Gutzwiller learned to restore in Paris. According to an undated newspaper report by E. Maior, in 1842 Gutzwiller restored the organ wings from the Basel Minster painted by Hans Holbein the Younger ; in this article Gutzwiller's work is referred to as "gross", yes "heartless". This is the first restoration order that has been documented for Basel; more followed from 1849 on behalf of the art association. The receipts received only contain summary information such as B. 36 "Varnished, cleaned and partly restored pictures", "Retouche", "Reparation". An invoice for “restoration of Holbein's painting” for CHF 20.00 is the last evidence of Gutzwiller's restoration work (December 24, 1870).

A portrait from 1858 is Gutzwiller's last work that has survived: The portrait of Sophie Singeisen, geb. 1842, identified on the portrait as a 16-year-old; the picture must have been made around 1858 (Hist. Museum Basel).

Sebastian Gutzwiller died on October 20, 1872 in his apartment at Hammerstrasse 24, according to another source in the hospital. Two days later he is buried in the Theodorsfriedhof. On October 30, the seven heirs - wife, son, married daughter with her husband and three unmarried daughters - agreed not to take an inventory . Since they all obviously lived together harmoniously in the house of their son-in-law Effinger at Hammerstrasse 24, it was superfluous.

Appreciation

Gutzwiller was a solid craftsman, some of whom have survived works that are highly valued: a few portraits from the Basel museums, the family concert, the Last Judgment in Olten.

Based on the works that have been preserved, three focal points can be identified in his work: portrait and genre painting, which is definitely documented from 1815 to 1858, i.e. from early adolescence to later adulthood, and church painting, for which we have reliable proof between 1831 and 1845 and finally the restoration activity, with documents from 1842 to 1870. If we can accept these focal points as representative in terms of time, it was also based on demand: Before the invention of photography , portrait painting was a sought-after skill, even in rural areas or petty bourgeois classes; after 1860 the demand decreased. Church painting played a major role in the 1930s when church building activity was very lively in Alsace. And in the 1940s there was a general increase in interest in old art, one consequence of which was the restoration orders from the art association.

In portrait painting in his middle years, people valued his sense of interiors, his love of detail, and his craftsmanship in the areas of materiality and color. Church painting is conventional, with the exception of the Olten Last Judgment, which individualizes the medieval image idea. However, as mentioned above, the design comes from Martin Disteli.

Little is known about the restoration work. Gutzwiller's technical skills in handling material are undisputed, and his attention to detail should have guaranteed clean, restrained work.

swell

• Kunstmuseum Olten, Disteli Archive, C 1, C 24
• State Archives Basel-Stadt
• City Archives Olten, Altar Commission St. Martin

literature

• Verena Bider: Le peintre alsacien Sébastien Gutzwiller et son activité en Suisse. In: Annuaire de la Société d'histoire du Sundgau, 2000, pp. 31-46.
• Biographical lexicon of Swiss art. Ed .: Swiss Institute for Art Research Zurich; Lausanne. Zurich, 1998. ISBN 3-85823-673-X
• Daniel Burckhardt: Gutzwiller, Sebastian. In: Schweizerisches Künstler-Lexikon, Vol. 1, 1905
• Hugo Dietschi: The ceiling and wall paintings in the city church Olten, especially the choir painting by M. Disteli. Olten, 1920
• Burkhard von Roda: living rooms from the Biedermeier period. Pictures on the history of the civil institution in and around Basel 1809-1849. In: Art and Antiques, 1989; 1