Thomas Schwanthaler

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Thomas Schwanthaler (* 1634 in Ried im Innkreis , then Duchy of Bavaria , now Austria ; † 1707 there ; actually Thomas Schwabenthaler ) was a Bavarian-Austrian baroque sculptor . He was one of the best known members of the Schwanthaler family of sculptors .

Life

Thomas Schwanthaler, baptized on June 5, 1634, is the eldest son of the sculptor Hans Schwabenthaler and his wife Katharina, who came from the area around Altötting and settled in Ried in 1632/33. Due to the early death of his father, he took over his father's workshop at the age of 22.

The Good Shepherd in the Ungenach parish church from the "Schwanthaler workshop"
The life-size group “Adoration of St. three kings ”, part of the high altar of the parish church of Gmunden .

On August 16, 1660 he married the Ried-based bookbinder's daughter Eva Vorburger. When the couple's first child was baptized on August 8, 1661, the father was already named Schwanthaler in the baptismal register. In 1667 he and his family were granted the right to practice sculpture. In 1679 he acquired a letter of arms from Count Palatine Ferdinand Wilhelm Metzger von Meggenburg and from then on officially called himself Schwanthaler.

Schwanthaler is considered to be the most important carver of the second half of the 17th century in what is now Upper Austria . His artistic work spanned a period of almost 50 years. He was considered a "genius, bon vivant and rogue". His artistic activity was inspired by virtuoso skill, sensitivity and spirituality and thus created figures of the highest grace and grace. The most moving example of this kind is the holy Scholastica on the double altar in the parish church of St. Wolfgang.

Schwanthaler fathered 15 children in two marriages. His son Bonaventura took part as a leader in the Bavarian popular uprising in 1705/06 .

On February 13, 1707 Thomas Schwanthaler was buried in Ried. In the Ried parish book of the dead it says: “Sepultus est (buried) is the distinguished and artful Mr. Thomas Schwanthaler, sculptor here” .

Works

literature

  • Bruno Thomas : The Mount of Olives from Ried. An unknown masterpiece of the baroque period. Academic joint publishing house, Salzburg 1949.
  • The Schwanthaler family of sculptors. 1633-1848. From baroque to classicism. Exhibition by the Province of Upper Austria, Augustinian Canons' Monastery at Reichersberg am Inn, May 3 to October 13, 1974. Upper Austrian State Publishing House, Linz 1974.
  • Brigitte Heinzl: The sculptor Thomas Schwanthaler. (1634-1707). Moserbauer, Ried im Innkreis 2007, ISBN 978-3-902121-80-6 .
  • Lothar Schultes : On the artistic origin and effect of Thomas Schwanthaler. In: The Bundschuh. 10, 2007, ZDB -ID 2001456-9 , pp. 19-36
  • Peter Volk :  Schwanthaler, Thomas. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 792 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Thomas Schwanthaler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Schwanthaler, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schwabenthaler, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bavarian wood carver
DATE OF BIRTH baptized June 5, 1634
PLACE OF BIRTH Ried im Innkreis
DATE OF DEATH buried February 13, 1707
Place of death Ried im Innkreis