Lüftlmalerei (also spelt ''Lüftelmalerei'') is a form of

mural art A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

that is native to villages and towns of southern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, especially in

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

(

Werdenfelser Land The Werdenfelser Land is a region of Upper Bavaria that extends from Mittenwald in the south to Farchant. It includes parts of the Bavarian Alps. From the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War, the Werdenfelser Land was subject to the Prince-Bi ...

) and in the

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 ...

Style

Lüftlmalerei_Gröbenzeller_Bahnhofsapotheke

The origin of the term is disputed but may have come from the name of the home of façade artist, Franz Seraph Zwinck (1748–1792) of

Oberammergau Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...

, ''Zum Lüftl''. Lüftlmalerei is a popular, folk-oriented variation of ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' from the Baroque and imitates architectural elements. As in 'high architecture' it also embeds pictorial cartouches, mirrors and fields. Its subject matter ranges from the patron saints of houses or house emblems to representations of Biblical stories and the classical motifs of peasant art from everyday rural life to hunting. Banners with mottos are common and the sundial is also a popular element. The paintings are applied to the fresh lime plaster using a fresco technique, whereby the colours silicify with the plaster in a chemical reaction and the paintings are thus able to survive for a long time. Today, other weatherproof painting materials are also used.

Architectural examples

Lindau Rathaus Malerei über dem Portal.JPG, Rathaus portal at Lindau (Bodensee) Mittenwald luftmalerei R0012260.jpg, Mittenwald, detail Mittenwald 2 - 26.05.2006.JPG, Mittenwald, Ballenhausgasse 12, ''Beim Gschdoaga'' Mittenwald - 26.05.2006.JPG, Mittenwald, Obermarkt 45, ''Südtiroler Stubn'' Marktplatz Neubeuern1.jpg, Neubeuern market place, county of Rosenheim Koenig-Otto-Str.1 Kiefersfelden-1.jpg, Kiefersfelden, Bauernhaus Lüftelmalerei Samerberg.jpg, Samerberg, Bauernhaus Zum-husaren-garmisch.jpg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, ''Zum Husaren'' Lueftel.JPG, Berchtesgaden, ''Hirschhaus'' Lüftlmalerei.JPG,

Feldkirchen in Kärnten Feldkirchen in Kärnten ( sl, Trg) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia and the capital of the district of the same name. It consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Fasching'', ''Feldkirchen'', ''Glanhofen'', ''Gradisch'', ''Hoefling'', ''K ...

, painting above the entrance of an old bakery Thuringia BadLiebenstein asv2020-07 img08 Villa Feodora.jpg, Bad Liebenstein, Villa Feodora Prien Stettnerhaus.jpg, The Stettner House in Prien am Chiemsee, village of "Am Gries"

Literature

* Herbert Meider, Franz Stoltefaut: ''Lüftlmalerei an Isar, Partnach, Loisach und Ammer''. Medien-Verlag Schubert, 2003, . * Paul Ernst Rattelmüller: ''Lüftlmalerei in Oberbayern.'' Süddeutscher Verlag, München 1981.

External links

Lüftlmalerei in Mittenwald (with numerous illustrations)
* Julia Ricker
''Bilderbuchdörfer. Die hohe Kunst der Lüftlmalerei in Mittenwald und Oberammergau''.
In: ''Monumente Online'', June 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Luftlmalerei Painting techniques Murals Baroque Culture of Altbayern Tyrolean culture