Franz Joseph Spiegler (5 April 1691 – 15 April 1757) was a German

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. He is best known for his

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es, which decorate many of the churches and monasteries 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 ...

. The frescoes in the

Zwiefalten Abbey Zwiefalten Abbey (german: Kloster Zwiefalten, Abtei Zwiefalten or after 1750, ) is a former Benedictine monastery situated at Zwiefalten near Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. History The monastery was founded in 1089 at the time of ...

are considered his masterpiece.''Germany: A Phaidon Cultural Guide.'' Oxford: Phaidon, 1985. pp. 775–776. .

Life and work

Spiegler was born the

Free Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

Wangen im Allgäu Wangen im Allgäu ( Low Alemannic: ''Wãnge'') is a historic city in southeast Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies north-east of Lake Constance in the Westallgäu. It is the second-largest city (Population: 26,927 in 2020) in the Ravensburg dist ...

, the son of a district court attorney. After the death of his father in 1692, his mother married the painter Adam Joseph Dollmann, a member of an old patrician family in Wangen. This was Spiegler's introduction to the arts. Around 1710 Spiegler began training as a painter in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

under the tutelage of his great-uncle, the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

Johann Kaspar Sing. During the course of his studies, Spiegler also became acquainted with the

historical painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

in vogue with the

Dutch painters Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People ...

of the time. From 1723 to 1725 Spiegler painted frescoes in the

Ottobeuren Abbey Ottobeuren is a Benedictine abbey, located in Ottobeuren, near Memmingen in the Bavarian Allgäu, Germany. For part of its history Ottobeuren Abbey was one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire and, as such, was a vi ...

that show the strong influence of the Italian painter

Jacopo Amigoni Jacopo Amigoni (ca. 1685 – September 1752), also named Giacomo Amiconi, was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period, who began his career in Venice, but traveled and was prolific throughout Europe, where his sumptuous portraits ...

(1682–1752). Later he also created frescoes and

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

s for numerous monasteries, churches, and castles in the regions of

Upper Swabia Upper Swabia (german: Oberschwaben or ) is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.'' 19. Auflage. Band 16, 1991, p. 72. The name refers to the area between the Sw ...

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

, the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

, and the

Upper Rhine The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the sc ...

. In 1757 Spiegler died in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

Major works

Baden-Württemberg

Altheim, Biberach Altheim () is a municipality in the Biberach district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located between Riedlingen and Langenenslingen. History Altheim and the neighboring settlements of , , and Riedlingen became possessions of the House of ...

(near

Riedlingen Riedlingen () is a town in the district (''Kreis'') of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of Germany. It is one of the destinations of the Upper Swabian Baroque Route. Riedlingen has approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

)—Parish Church of St. Martin (1747) (frescoes and three oil paintings) *

Bad Säckingen Bad Säckingen ( High Alemannic: ''Bad Säckinge'') is a rural town in the administrative district of Waldshut in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is famous as the "Trumpeteer's City" because of the book ''Der Trompeter von Säckin ...

—Covent Church of St. Fridolin (1753–1754) (frescoes) *

Bonndorf Bonndorf is a town in the Waldshut (district), Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the southern Black Forest, 14 km southeast of Titisee-Neustadt. It comprises the villages Boll, Brunnadern, Dillendorf, Ebne ...

— Schloss Bonndorf (1726) (fresco) * Gossenzugen—Chapel (ca. 1749) (frescoes) *

—Augustinian Church of the Holy Trinity (Dreifaltigkeitskirche) (1740) (frescoes) *

Mainau Mainau also referred to as Mav(e)no(w), Maienowe (in 1242), Maienow (in 1357), Maienau, Mainowe (in 1394) and Mainaw (in 1580) is an island in Lake Constance (on the Southern shore of the Überlinger See near the city of Konstanz, Baden-Wür ...

—Castle chapel (1737–1738) (frescoes) *

Merdingen Merdingen is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Merdingen's main industry are vineyards. Jan Ullrich Jan Ullrich (; born 2 December 1973) is a German former professional road bicycl ...

—Parish Church of St. Remigius (1739–1741) (frescoes and altar paintings) * Mochental—Castle chapel (1734) (fresco) *

St. Peter im Schwarzwald ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

—

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 ...

(1727; 1739) (frescoes) * Salem— Cistercian Abbey Church (1730) (ceiling frescoes in the transepts and the organ loft) *

Stühlingen Stühlingen is a town in the Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the border with Switzerland, with a border crossing to the village of Oberwiesen in Schleitheim municipality, 15 km northwest of Schaffhausen to ...

—Monastery Church of Maria Loreto (1740–1741) (four side altar paintings and upper galleries) *

Untersulmetingen Untersulmetingen is a village which is part of the municipality of Laupheim, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Geography Besides the village itself, the hamlets Westerflach and Niederkirch belong to its administration. Most of Untersu ...

—Chapel in Schloss Untersulmetingen (frescoes and oil paintings) * Weingarten— Benedictine Monastery Church of St. Martin of Tours and St. Oswald (1783) (oil painting on side altar) *

Zwiefalten Zwiefalten is a municipality in the district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany located halfway between Stuttgart and Lake Constance. The former Zwiefalten Abbey dominates the town. The former monastery is considered one of the finest exa ...

— Zwiefalten Münster (1728–1729; 1747–1753) (frescoes)

Bavaria

Hergatz Hergatz is a municipality in the district of Lindau in Bavaria in Germany. The contemporary town was formed from the former municipalities of Wohmbrechts and Maria-Thann in the course of the municipal reform at the end of the 1970s. Geography Her ...

—Parish Church of Maria Thann (1722–1723) (frescoes) *

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...

—Cathedral "Unserer Lieben Frau" (1736) (fresco) *

Ottobeuren Ottobeuren ( Swabian: ''Ottobeire'', Medieval Latin: ''Ottobura'') is a market town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany, located 11 km southeast of Memmingen near the A7. It is famous for Ottobeuren Abbey, situated next to the Basilica. The ...

— Benedictine Monastery Church of the Holy Trinity and monastery buildings (1723–1725) (frescoes in the corridors and stairways and in the secret archives of the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

, the ceiling fresco of

Comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

and

Tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

in the theater)

Switzerland

* Muri— Benedictine Abbey of St. Martin of Tours (1746) (five oil paintings for the high altar and side altar paintings)

Gallery

File:Kloster St. Peter auf dem Schwarzwald-Kirche-innen.JPG, Interior of

File:Zwiefalten_Muenster.jpg, Interior of the

File:KlosterkircheMuriInnen.jpg, Interior of

Muri Abbey Muri Abbey (german: Kloster Muri) is a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zürich, Switzerland. It is currently established as Muri-Gries in Sout ...

, showing high altar painted by Spiegler

References

Bibliography

* Bruno Bushart. ''Franz Joseph Spiegler. Versuch einer Positionsbestimmung''. In: Eduard Hindelang (Ed.). ''Franz Anton Maulbertsch und sein schwäbischer Umkreis''. Sigmaringen: Museum Langenargen, 1996. . pp. 87–114. * Raimund Kolb. ''Franz Joseph Spiegler, 1691-1757. „Barocke Vision über dem See“. Erzähltes Lebensbild und wissenschaftliche Monographie''. Bergatreute: Eppe, 1991. . * Peter Stoll: ''The Monasteranenagh miracle (1579): an Irish legend in a south German abbey church''. In: Thomas O'Connor, Mary Ann Lyons (ed.): ''The Ulster earls and baroque Europe : Refashioning Irish identities, 1600 - 1800''. Dublin : Four Courts Press, 2010. . pp. 262 – 277. (About one of Spiegler's frescoes in Zwiefalten.)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiegler, Franz Joseph 1691 births 1757 deaths People from Wangen im Allgäu 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters Baroque painters Fresco painters