Gabriel Wüger
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gabriel Wüger (2 December 1829 – 1892) was an artist and a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
monk. He was one of the founders of the
Beuron Art School The Beuron art school was founded by a confederation of Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century.''The Revival of Medieval Illumination: Nineteenth-Century Belgium Manuscripts and Illuminations from a European Perspective'' by Thomas C ...
in Germany in the late nineteenth century. Wüger was born Jakob Wüger on 2 December 1829 in
Canton Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part ...
in Switzerland. In 1863 Wüger and two other artists drawn to the Benedictine teaching,
Peter Lenz Peter James Lenz (May 30, 1997 – August 29, 2010) was a nationally ranked American amateur motorcycle racer. Born in Winter Park, Florida, he was a four-time international champion, five-time national champion and in 2009 started competing in ...
and Fridolin Steiner, travelled to Rome to work with the artists of the Nazarene movement. Like the Nazarenes, these artists who were to become known as the “Beuronese” were in search of natural simplicity and clarity with an emphasis on essentials and conscious neglect of accidentals and details. They chose as their guiding principles the use of plain backgrounds and basic colours, a limited use of perspective and a repetition of decoration. Lenz and Wüger thought of forming a monastic community of artists. They believed that in order to make sacred art one should lead a Catholic life in community. In 1868 in Rome, they met
Maurus Wolter Maurus Wolter (4 June 1825, in Bonn – 8 July 1890, in Beuron) was the first abbot of the Benedictine Beuron Archabbey, which he founded with his brother Placidus in 1863. William M. Johnston ''Encyclopedia of Monasticism'' (2000, ), pp. 1440-14 ...
, who had similar artistic aspirations for his young Benedictine monastery at Beuron. Maurus Wolter wanted his monastery to play a role in the revival of Church art just as it was beginning to do in the revival of
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...
(in emulation of Solesmes Abbey). Lenz was attracted to Beuron because of the abbey’s use of Gregorian chant, which he saw as parallel to his own efforts in art and architecture. He approached Princess Katherina von Hohenzollern, who had promised a chapel there to St Maurus (the disciple of St Benedict), and produced an architectural design for the building which was accepted and built. In September 1868 he went to Rome to recruit Wüger to the task of the painting, and the cartoons having been produced they travelled back to Beuron in May 1869 together with Steiner, Wüger's pupil. The work was completed in summer 1871 and dedicated in September. Wüger took on the robes of the Order at Beuron in September 1871 as Brother Gabriel, followed by Steiner as Brother Lukas and Lenz as Brother Desiderius in 1872. The original “Life of the Virgin” series was painted at the Emmaus Abbey in Prague under the direction of Lenz, Wüger, and Steiner between 1880-87. In his apostolic letter ''Archicoenobium Casinense'' in 1913, on the occasion of the consecration of a crypt chapel at the abbey of Monte Cassino decorated in the style of the
Beuron Art School The Beuron art school was founded by a confederation of Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century.''The Revival of Medieval Illumination: Nineteenth-Century Belgium Manuscripts and Illuminations from a European Perspective'' by Thomas C ...
,
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...
likened the artistic efforts of the Benedictines of Beuron to the revival of Gregorian chant by the Benedictines of Solesmes when he wrote, “...together with sacred music, it proves itself to be a powerful aid to the liturgy”. Wüger died at the monastery of
Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...
in 1892.W. Verkade, ''Die Unruh zu Gott'' (Herder & Co., Freiburg im Breisgau 1930 edition), p. 205.


See also

*
Desiderius Lenz Peter Lenz (1832–1928), afterwards Desiderius Lenz, was a German artist who became a Benedictine monk. Together with Gabriel Wüger, he founded the Beuron Art School. Background Peter Lenz was born in 1832 in Haigerloch, Baden-Württemberg. F ...


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wuger, Gabriel 1829 births 1892 deaths People from Thurgau Swiss Benedictines Swiss Christian monks Swiss male painters 19th-century Swiss painters 19th-century Swiss male artists