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Wiesensteig, St Cyriacus, The Glory of St John of Nepomuk, 1739 (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

Wiesensteig, St Cyriacus, The Glory of St John of Nepomuk, 1739, rear (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

Inscription by Johann Baptist Straub on the inner side of the pedestal (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

Rear of the sculptural group, detail with the missing wing of the angel (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

Rear of the sculptural group, detail with added cloud (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

Joseph Streiter, The Glory of St Aloysius Gonzaga, ca. 1780, Museum im Storchen, Göppingen (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

Location

Germany, Baden-Württemberg, Wiesensteig

Parish and former Collegiate Church of St Cyriacus (Pfarr- und ehem. Kollegiatskirche St. Cyriakus)

Artwork

The Glory of St John of Nepomuk in the Parish Church of St Cyriacus of Wiesensteig

Type

Sculptural group

Dimensions

Height: 100 cm, width: 45 cm, depth: 20 cm

Inscriptions

Johannes straub Hat dises/bild gemacht anno 1739./den 4 Januarij (on the inner side of the pedestal); Engl. transl.: Johannes straub made this / image in the year 1739 / on the 4th of January)

Critical History

The sculptural group is situated on the predella of the altar of St Joseph, on the right side of the nave. It is signed and dated with graphite pencil on the inner side of the pedestal by Johann Baptist Straub (1739, ins.1).1 According to the parish chronicles, in 1775 the elderly sculptor was commissioned with a new interior for the Collegiate Church of St Cyriacus in his hometown Wiesensteig.2 He designed the side altars, which were mainly executed by his assistant Joseph Streiter by 1780. It is obvious that in 1775 Straub reused the St John of Nepomuk group – an earlier artwork – for the new setting. Probably the group with pedestal was a bozzetto (a study) for a monument or a fountain. Its original location and ownership are unknown. After Straub's sketches, Streiter carved a matching group for the opposite side altar, on the left side of the nave.3 The gilding and polychromy were added by Kandl of Ludwigsburg.4According to Peter Volk, the composition of the Glory of St John of Nepomuk is very close to Straub's groups on the canopies of the pulpits in Laxenburg (1730–1734) and Dießen (1736–1739).5

Construction / Execution

The finely carved sculptural group is mounted on a pedestal made of softwood. The sculptor explicitly elaborated the front and rear of the figures. On the rear, the circumferential profiles of the pedestal have been chipped off to adapt it to the new location on the predella of the altar. The now visible front is gilded, the rear painted yellow.6 There is a gap on the right side of the figural group, right under St John. It marks the former position of a now missing element, probably a second angel. It was replaced by a cloud later on. Visible woodworm perforations (non-active) may explain the losses. Also lost are one wing of the angel (the tongue and groove joint are still visible), most fingers of St John's left hand, except the thumb, and one middle finger of the right hand.

Components

Sculpture: Author: Johann Baptist Straub (Wiesensteig ca. 1704 – Munich 1784); Completed: 1739; Technique(s): sawing, wood carving; Material(s): wood
Polychromy: Polychromy; Completed: ca. 1775 – ca. 1780; Technique(s): oil gilding; Material(s): gold leaf

Images

Wiesensteig, St Cyriacus, The Glory of St John of Nepomuk, 1739 (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)
Wiesensteig, St Cyriacus, The Glory of St John of Nepomuk, 1739, rear (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)
Inscription by Johann Baptist Straub on the inner side of the pedestal (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)
Rear of the sculptural group, detail with the missing wing of the angel (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)
Rear of the sculptural group, detail with added cloud (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)
Joseph Streiter, The Glory of St Aloysius Gonzaga, ca. 1780, Museum im Storchen, Göppingen (photo Julia Strobl, 2018)

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Catalogue entry prepared by Rupert Karbacher, Andreas Müller, Judith Schekulin and Julia Strobl

Recommended citation: Rupert Karbacher, Andreas Müller, Judith Schekulin and Julia Strobl, The Glory of St John of Nepomuk in the Parish Church of St Cyriacus of Wiesensteig, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 29/01/2020) URL

Sources and Bibliography

Archive of the Parish Wiesensteig, Johann Philipp von Göttler, Chronik der Pfarrei Wiesensteig (Chronicle of the parish Wiesensteig), 1811
Carola Giedion-Welcker, Bayrische Rokokoplastik. J. B. Straub und seine Stellung in Landschaft und Zeit, Munich, Recht, 1922
Rüdiger Klessmann, Zum Spätwerk des Johann Baptist Straub und zur Ausstattung der Stiftskirche in Wiesensteig, in: Festschrift für Peter Metz, Ursula Schlegel, Claus Zoege von Manteuffel (ed.), Berlin, De Gruyter, 1965, 379–387
Peter Steiner, Johann Baptist Straub (Münchner kunsthistorische Abhandlungen, VI), München und Zürich, Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1974
Eva Zimmermann, Hl. Johann von Nepomuk (cat. B 72), in: Barock in Baden-Württemberg. Vom Ende d. Dreißigjährigen Krieges bis zur Französischen Revolution (exhibition catalogue, Karlsruhe, Schloss Bruchsal, 1981), vol. 2. catalogue, Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg (ed.), Karlsruhe, C. F. Müller, 1981, 233–234
Peter Volk, Rokokoplastik in Altbayern, Bayrisch-Schwaben und Allgäu, Munich, Hirmerverlag, 1981
Peter Volk, Johann Baptist Straub (1704–1784), in: Hofbildhauer Johann Baptist Straub 1704–1784. Franz Xaver Messerschmidt 1736–1783. Bildhauer aus Wiesensteig (Veröffentlichungen des Kreisarchivs Göppingen, 10), Walter Ziegler (ed.), Weißenkorn, Anton Konrad Verlag, 1984, 188f.
Peter Volk, Johann Baptist Straub 1704–1784, München, Hirmer Verlag, 1984
Dagmar Zimdars et al., Dehio-Handbuch. Baden-Württemberg I. Die Regierungsbezirke Stuttgart und Karlsruhe, Berlin, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1993

Notes

1 The inscription was mentioned by Carola Giedion-Welcker, 1922, 21. Volk was the first to publish a depiction, Peter Volk, 1981, 27, fig. 20; Peter Volk, Bildhauer aus Wiesensteig, 1984, 26. - It is probably the only artwork signed and dated by the sculptor. The inscription on the Mater Dolorosa in St. Wolfgang, Dorfen from 1777 is not an authograph of Straub as recently discovered by R. Karbacher, BLfD. Rüdiger Klessmann, 1965, 379; Peter Steiner, 1974, 110; Peter Volk 1984, 10.

2 Göttler, Chronicle, 1811 (cit. Peter Volk, 1984, 205): "Überhaupts genügt das Langhaus der Kirche vom möglichst besten Geschmack, und ward die Renovation um's Jahr 1775 angefangen. Der kurfürstlich bayerische Hofbildhauer Johann Straub in München, ein gebohrner Wiesenstaiger, lieferte den herrlichen Christus am Kreuzaltar und leitete altershalber bloß durch eingesandte Zeichnungen die übrige Bildhauer-Arbeit, welche sein bester Geselle, Josef Streiter von Schwatz in Tyrol, verfertigte. Die Altar Blätter der drey Altäre Trium Regum, S. Michaelis et S. Josephi sind von Christian Winckler Pictor aulicus Monachii 1780 oder 85. Die Plafonds mahlte Hueber von Weisenhorn. Fasmaler und Vergolder war Kandl von Ludwigsburg, Stuccator Sauer von Stuttgart."

3 The group was replaced by a statue of St. Cyriacus. The statue of St. Aloysius was kept in the parish. An inventory from 1975 mentions a sculpture: "Himmelfahrt des hl. Aloysius mit Putte und Engel", height without pedestal 60 cm (Information by courtesy of Christine Bozler-Kießling, Kunstinventarisierung, Diözesanmuseum Rottenburg). Until 1984 it was in Wiesensteig, Peter Volk, 1984, 25, fig. 20. Then transferred to the restoration department (Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Baden-Württemberg) and finally to the Museum im Storchen, Göppingen.

4 Göttler, Chronicles, 1811, op. cit.

5 Peter Volk, Bildhauer aus Wiesensteig, 1984, 28.

6 Eva Zimmermann, 1981, 233–234.