German Baroque

If you have ever traveled to Vienna or Munich, you may have seen some of the incredibly ornate churches in those cities.  The Catholic regions of the German-speaking world embraced the Baroque style of art and architecture in the 1600s and 1700s with a passion.

Our tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art continues with a small gallery devoted to the Baroque religious art from Austria and southern Germany.

This wooden statue of a kneeling saint is from Bavaria and dates from around 1760.  It was probably part of a group of figures kneeling in adoration of Christ or of the Virgen.

Usually saints are easily identified by some symbol known as an attribute.  For example, St. Peter is often shown holding the keys to heaven.  In this case the missing attribute might have once been in his outstretched hand.

This image of "God the Father" comes from Austria and also dates from around 1760.  It was probably placed at the top of an altar.

The sculpture was made by Johann Peter Schwanthaler, a member of a famous family of sculptors who made church and domestic statues for over 250 years.

This sculpture of "Mourning Mary" was made between 1710 and 1740 and possibly comes from Vienna, Austria.  There are still traces of paint on the stone.  It was probably part of a Crucifixion group.

"St. George Slaying the Dragon" comes from southern Germany or Austria and dates back to the late 1600s.

This altarpiece of wood covered in gold leaf was made around 1735 by the workshop of the German sculptor Joseph Mattias Goetz.   The central image is of Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus.  Around it are round niches which would have held relics of saints.

A cross carved from rock crystal is affixed to the central image, and it supposedly contains a fragment from the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

It was once said that if all the supposed fragments of the Cross were gathered from churches across Europe, there would be enough timber to fill a ship. 

This crucifix from an Austrian porcelain factory dates from around 1730.  The base and the body of Jesus are of white porcelain, the cross is of ebonized wood, and it is embellished with gilded bronze.

Finally this statue of St, Sebastian is from Germany and dates from the early 1600s.

Sebastian was a Christian martyr who was condemned to death by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.  He was bound to a tree and shot with arrows.  In this statue the tree is an actual branch.

On our next visit to the museum, we will see works from a European country where religious art was not the predominant genre.