Tönnies Mahler

Tönnies Mahler (also Master Tonio ) (* around 1615 in Leer (East Friesland) ; † around 1663 ibid) was a German carpenter , picture carver and panel painter who created altarpieces and pulpits for churches in East Friesland in the 17th century .

Life

Tönnies probably came from a family of craftsmen. He lived in Leer all his life. He was married four times; Marriages are recorded for 1653, 1658 and 1659.

plant

Tönnies created a total of eight altarpieces and eleven pulpits in the early Baroque style, but still stood in the tradition of the late Renaissance . There is also a wooden baptismal font and a carved attachment for a Gothic font. His sphere of activity was concentrated in the area around Leer, where Mahler produced items of furniture mainly for Lutheran churches. But occasionally he was also active in Edewecht and Bad Zwischenahn. In the case of various works, the origin is not certain and an attribution exists due to similar elements. While the first two pulpits in Veenhusen and Holtgaste are still without pictures, the evangelists are then shown as standard , often with their symbols , under a round arch between corner pillars. Characteristic of Tönnies is his preference for angel heads when designing the pulpits. For the altar retables , Tönnies used the shape of the three-part winged altar with a predella (evangelists with their attributes), a central image (last supper) and a crowning top. In Hesel and Potshausen there are openwork carvings on the sides.

List of works

year	plant	place	church	Remarks	image
1641	pulpit	Veenhusen	Veenhuser Church	Compared to later works still without images
1642	altar			The dated fragment has been preserved in the Westrhauderfehn Shipping Museum
1644	pulpit	Holtgaste	Liudgeri Church	compared to later works still without images; with inlays, pillars and angel heads
1644	Attachment of the baptismal font	Holtgaste	Liudgeri Church	Attribution
1647	Altarpiece	Potshausen	St. Martin Church
1650	pulpit	Neuburg (Detern)	Neuburg Church
1652	pulpit	Edewecht	Saint Nikolai Church	Tönnies received 100 Reichstaler for this.
1652	pulpit	Nortmoor	St. George's Church (Nortmoor)	Corner pillars, carved evangelists with their symbols under round arches, coats of arms under a cornice
1653	pulpit	Bad Zwischenahn	St. John's Church	Painted in 1715. The carved pulpit shows the five Christian virtues : faith, hope, love, justice and obedience. In between there are figures of seven apostles . Four scenes from the Christmas story are depicted in the main fields of the pulpit : Annunciation to Mary , birth of Jesus , circumcision in the temple and adoration of the kings ( sage from the east ).
1654	Altarpiece	Strackholt	Barbara Church	Attribution
1654	pulpit	Bagband	Bagbander Church	Attribution; Evangelists between corner pillars
1654	pulpit	Hesel	Liudgerikirche	Attribution; Corner pillars and evangelist reliefs in arched fields
1655	pulpit	Hollen	Christ Church	Pulpit with four evangelists and their symbols; in the 19th century the stairs and the pulpit support were renewed
1656	baptism	Edewecht	Saint Nikolai Church
1658	pulpit	Amdorf (Detern)	Amdorfer Church
1659	Altarpiece	Collinghorst	Trinity Church	Attribution
1660	pulpit	Filsum	St. Paul Church	with reliefs of the four evangelists, in between apostles in round arches as herms and fittings
around 1660	Altarpieces	Filsum	St. Paul Church	Altar pictures in a late Gothic carved altar
1662	Altarpiece	Hesel	Liudgerikirche	with side and crowning openwork carving
1662	Baptismal font cover	Hesel	Liudgerikirche	not received
1663	Altarpiece	Rhaude	Rhauder Church	Attribution; served as a template for the altarpiece of St. Laurentius and St. Vincenz (Backemoor)
1667	Altarpiece	Remels	St. Martin Church	Attribution. On its wings it shows the announcement of the birth by the Archangel Gabriel, the Christmas event in Bethlehem, the circumcision of Jesus in the temple and the adoration of the three wise men. In the center is a depiction of the Last Supper. The back of the wings are painted with pictures of the suffering and death of the Lord.

literature

• Gottfried Kiesow : Architecture Guide East Friesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz , Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 .
• Monika van Lengen: Islands of calm: Churches in East Friesland . Leer 1996, ISBN 3-7963-0335-8 .

Web links

• Tönnies Mahler in the Biographical Lexicon for East Frisia (PDF file)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Tönnies Mahler in the Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland , viewed February 17, 2012.
2. ↑ Gottfried Kiesow: Architectural Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, pp. 182, 247.
3. ↑ Claudia Annette Meier: The pulpit of Toennies Mahler from 1641 in Veenhusen. In: Community festival on August 23, 1992. Moormerland-Veenhusen 1992.
4. ↑ archiv-heinze.de , viewed February 17, 2012.
5. ^ Pulpit in Bad Zwischenahn ( Memento from May 26, 2003 in the Internet Archive ).