Joseph Knabl (17 July 1819 – 3 November 1881) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

sculptor who specialized in religious statuary.

Early years and studies

Knabl was born at Fliess,

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, to a peasant family. He tended cattle as a boy, but showed an early aptitude for wood-carving. He was apprenticed to Franz Renn, an

Imst Imst (; Southern Bavarian: ''Imscht'') is a town in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of above sea level. With a current population (2013) of 9,552, Im ...

woodcarver, after which he studied ancient German wood-carving at Munich under J. Otto Entres. Later he worked in the studio of Anselm Sickinger. In 1859 he entered the art institute of Mayer.

Career

After completing his formal studies Knabl toured extensively through Middle Europe and became intimately acquainted with the finest examples of ecclesiastical sculpture. He then began producing similar works. In 1859, he became a professor at the polytechnical school of the Verein für Hebung des Gewerbes. In 1863 he was made professor of ecclesiastical sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, in recognition of his principal work in the

Munich Frauenkirche , native_name = , native_name_lang = , image = Frauenkirche Munich - View from Peterskirche Tower2.jpg , pushpin map = , pushpin label position = , pushpin map alt = , pushpin mapsize ...

, ''The Coronation of the Virgin.'' That work depicts the Virgin Mary in larger-than-life size at the center of the high altar, surrounded by 6 worshipping angels. She is being crowned by the Holy Trinity, while forms of saints and angels appear in the framework. Because of the nature of his sculptures, Knabl is considered a Romantic artist. His sculptures are strongly evocative of German Middle Ages output. His work at the Mayer Institute, where he not only produced numerous drawings and sketches, but also trained capable scholars, furthered the diffusion of a cultivated taste in religious art. Most of his works are in Bavaria (Munich, Haidhausen, Passau, Eichstadt, Velden), but there are also some in Stuttgart, Mergentheim, and in other places. The subjects are: "Christ and the Apostles", "Christ on the Cross", several single statues of the Madonna (one for Lord Acton), the Madonna in a group, St. Anne (much admired at the Munich Exposition of 1858 on account of its artistic draping). A group of St. Afra (Augsburg) was the first of the artist's works to attract attention. Knabl was married. His son

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(1850–1904) was a successful landscape and

genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

Notes

References

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External links

* This source states that Knabl was born in 1821. {{DEFAULTSORT:Knabl, Joseph Austrian sculptors Austrian male sculptors 1819 births 1881 deaths Academy of Fine Arts, Munich faculty 19th-century sculptors