Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer (6 March 1696 (baptized) – 2 January 1770) was an important

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

stuccoist and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, active in southern Germany and Switzerland. J. A. Feuchtmayer was born in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, a member of the famous

Feuchtmayer The Feuchtmayers (also spelled Feuchtmayr, Feichtmair, and Feichtmayr) were a German family of artists from the Baroque Wessobrunner School. The best-known members of the family were the brothers Franz Joseph, Johann Michael (the Elder), and Michae ...

family of the

Wessobrunner School The Wessobrunner School is the name for a group of Baroque stucco-workers that, beginning at the end of the 17th century, developed in the Benedictine Wessobrunn Abbey in Bavaria, Germany. The names of more than 600 stucco-workers who emerged f ...

. He was the son of

Franz Joseph Feuchtmayer Franz Joseph Feuchtmayer (9 March 1660 (baptized) – 25 December 1718) was a member of the German Feuchtmayer family of Baroque artists of the Wessobrunner School. Feuchtmayer was born in Wessobrunn Abbey. A sculptor and stuccoist, he ( ...

(1660–1718); the nephew of

Johann Michael Feuchtmayer Johann Michael Feuchtmayer (the Younger) (sometimes spelled Johann Michael Feuchtmayr or Feichtmayr) (1709 – June 4, 1772) was a German stuccoworker and sculptor of the late Baroque period. He collaborated with the architects Johann Michael Fis ...

(the Elder) and Michael Feuchtmayer (b. 1667); the first cousin of

Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer (the Elder) (1698–1763) was a German Baroque stucco plasterer of the Wessobrunner School. Feuchtmayer was born in Wessobrunn, Bavaria. A member of the famous Feuchtmayer family, he was the son of Michael Feuchtmay ...

(the Elder) (1705–1764) and

(the Younger) (1709–1772); and the

first cousin once removed Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

(the Younger) (b. 1735). Joseph Anton began studying sculpture in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

in 1715 and did work in Weingarten starting in 1718. After the death of his father Franz Joseph, he took over his father's workshop in Mimmenhausen. At the same time, he became the "house sculptor" of the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

in Salem, delivering for them his first commission, the organ case for the Salemer Münster. Feuchtmayer was influenced by (among others) the Italian stuccoist

Diego Francesco Carlone Diego Francesco Carlone (1674 – 25 June 1750) was an Italian sculptor. He was born in Scaria into a family of artists. His father owned a workshop where Carlone learned the sculpting trade and eventually inherited the business. The work ...

, with whom he worked in Weingarten. From him, he learned the production techniques for creating the stucco figures with highly polished surfaces that would make Feuchtmayer famous. Alongside such notable artists as Johann Joseph Christian and

Franz Joseph Spiegler Franz Joseph Spiegler (5 April 1691 – 15 April 1757) was a German Baroque painter. He is best known for his frescoes, which decorate many of the churches and monasteries along the Upper Swabian Baroque Route. The frescoes in the Zwiefalten ...

, Feuchtmayer worked for the most part on the Baroque monastic churches along the

Upper Swabian Baroque Route The Upper Swabian Baroque Route (''Oberschwäbische Barockstraße'') is a tourist theme route through Upper Swabia, following the themes of "nature, culture, baroque". The route has a length of about 500 km (approximately 310 miles). It was ...

. His most well-known work is the

putto A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...

on the ''Bernhardsaltar'' in Birnau called the "Honigschlecker" ("honey eater"), a reference St. Bernard's rhetorical gift.''Germany: A Phaidon Cultural Guide''. Oxford: Phaidon, 1985. p. 710. . Feuchtmayer's house and workshop in Mimmenhausen, near Salem, Bodensee, where he died, are now
museum
dedicated to the life and work of the artist.

Major works

Beuron Beuron (Swabian: ''Beira'') is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Beuron is known for the Beuron Archabbey and the Beuron Art School for religious art. Geography Beuron is divided into subdistricts ( ...

— Benedictine Abbey of St. Martin and St. Maria (high altar) * Meersburg—Chapel in the Neues Schloss (stucco) * St. Peter im Schwarzwald—

St. Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest St Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest or St. Peter's Abbey, Schwarzwald (german: Kloster St. Peter auf dem Schwarzwald) is a former Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Peter im Schwarzwald, in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Bad ...

(sculptures on pillars, Apostle figures on altars) * Salem— Cistercian Abbey Church (four confessionals, organ case) *

Uhldingen-Mühlhofen Uhldingen-Mühlhofen is a town at the northern shore of Lake Constance, Germany between Überlingen and Meersburg. The town is a popular holiday destination and home to the Pfahlbauten open-air museum in Unteruhldingen and the Birnau basilica. ...

— Cistercian Priory of Birnau (window frames, ''Maria Immaculata'', stucco, statue, altars, pulpit, altar figures, stations of the cross) *

Überlingen Überlingen is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second largest city in the Bodenseekreis (district), and a centr ...

—Franziskanerkirche (high altar) * Weingarten— Benedictine Monastery of St. Martin of Tours and St. Oswald (choir stalls) * Wurznach—Catholic Parish Church of St. Verena (figures on high altar) *Zeil, near Leutkirch im Allgäu—Catholic Parish Church of Mariä Himmelfahrt (high altar)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feuchtmayer, Joseph Anton 1696 births 1770 deaths German sculptors German male sculptors German Baroque sculptors Swiss Baroque sculptors Artists from Linz Catholic sculptors