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Date

Drawing of the high altar of St. George in Bichl

Location

Austria, Salzburg

Salzburg Museum

Artwork

Drawing of the high altar of St George in Bichl

Type

Drawing

Dimensions

Height: 37 cm, width: 23,6 cm

Critical History

The Salzburg Museum purchased the drawing in 2015, the provenance is unknown.1 Based on a second drawing of the same altar in Berlin (J. B. Straub, 1751/52, graphite on paper, 34.1 x 16.8 cm, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kunstbibliothek, HdZ 6847) it can be attributed to Johann Baptist Straub.2 The high altar in the Parish Church of St George in Bichl was commissioned by the Benediktbeuern Monastery and executed by Straub in 1751/52; the receipts have been preserved at the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Munich.3

Construction / Execution

The washed ink drawing on paper has been executed in great detail and corresponds with the completed altarpiece. It carries no inscriptions expect for an indication of measurements on the base of the depicted architecture. Compared with the sketchier Berlin version, which also shows additional technical details such as the layout, the Salzburg drawing is more representative, perhaps intended for presentational purposes.

Components

Drawing: Author: Johann Baptist Straub (Wiesensteig ca. 1704 – Munich 1784); Completed: ca. 1751 – ca. 1752; Patron(s): owner, monastery; Material(s): ink

Comment

The object is in good condition. It shows signs of yellowing, several tears along the edges and a scratch across the dragon's head.

Images

Drawing of the high altar of St. George in Bichl

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Catalogue entry prepared by Nina Stainer and Julia Strobl

Recommended citation: Nina Stainer and Julia Strobl, Drawing of the high altar of St George in Bichl, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 19/10/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

Bavarian State Archives (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv), Munich, Acount books, 1751/1752
Johann Caspar Lippert, Kurzgefaßte Nachricht von dem churbaierischen ersten Hofbildhauer Herrn Johannes Straub, in: Augsburgisches monatliches Kunstblatt. Kunstzeitung der kaiserlichen Akademie zu Augsburg, 1772, Nr. 54f
Adelheid Schlagberger-Simon, Süddeutsche Entwurfszeichnungen zur Dekorationskunst in Residenzen und Kirchen des 18. Jahrhunderts. Katalog zur Ausstellung - Kunstbibliothek Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz (ed.), Berlin, 1976
Peter Volk, Johann Baptist Straub 1704–1784, München, Hirmer Verlag, 1984
Bayerische Rokokoplastik. Vom Entwurf zur Ausführung (exhibition catalogue, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich 1985), Peter Volk (ed.), Munich , Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1985

Notes

1 The drawing has got no inventarisation number.

2 Peter Volk, 1984, 185-186, fig. 122; Adelheid Schlagberger-Simon, 1976, 39, cat. 71, fig. 36; Peter Volk, 1985, 167, fig. 202.

3 Receipts in the account books of the construction period, Munich, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Kl. Lit. Benediktbeuern Nr. 224, fol. 1r, 28v, 30v; Nr. 225, fol. 94v, 98v, 124r; Lippert 1772, p. 62: "59) Für das Kloster Benedictbaiern einen Altar mit dem Heiligen Georgius zu Pferd, samt der übrigen Verzierung."