Artworks Catalogue

Location

Germany, Bavaria, Andechs

Benedictine Abbey and Pilgrimage Church of Sts Nicholas, Elisabeth and Mary (Benediktinerabtei- und Wallfahrtskirche St. Nikolaus, Elisabeth und Maria)

Artwork

Left Side Altar of St John the Baptist in the Benedictine Abbey and Pilgrimage Church of Sts Nicholas, Elisabeth and Mary in Andechs

Type

Side altar

Dimensions

Height: 636 cm, width: 256 cm

Inscriptions

1. S. IOHAN. BAPTIST

Critical History

1751–1755, modernization of the church for the 300^th anniversary of the Benedictine Abbey in Andechs.

Left side altar of St John the Baptist by Johann Baptist Straub, before 1755. Older altarpiece showing St Benedict by Elias Greither the Younger of Weilheim.

Construction / Execution

The altar is made of red stucco marble and the sculptures are carved in wood. The frame, vases and details are gilded.

Components

Carpentry

Completed: ca. 1751 – ca. 1755

Sculpture

Author: Johann Baptist Straub (Wiesensteig ca. 1704 – Munich 1784)

Completed: ca. 1751 – ca. 1755

Polychromy

Completed: ca. 1751 – ca. 1755

Conservation-restoration

1880

Approach to the presentation of losses

Repolychroming: total

Treatment Description

The architecture of the side altars was also overpainted. The areas with original gilding were kept. "Johan Georg Huber" was the painter who performed the measurements. The white painting layer on the sculptures of the sidealtars was overpainted white and polished. The areas with original gilding were kept.

1954

Strategy: removing one or several historic repolychromies, removing varnish

Treatment Description

In 1954, Georg Hiltz removed the overpainting of 1880 from the high altar. The original varnish was also removed and replaced by a new varnish with resin and wax. The gilding was cleaned, polished and complemented. The areas with a monochrome white painting layer were again overpainted with a white layer and polished.

Images

1. Left side altar of St John the Baptist in the Benedictine Abbey and Pilgrimage Church of Sts Nicholas, Elisabeth and Mary in Andechs (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
2. Left side altar of St John the Baptist in the Benedictine Abbey and Pilgrimage Church of Sts Nicholas, Elisabeth and Mary in Andechs, detail (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)