Location
Austria, Styria, Maria Lankowitz
Pilgrimage church Visitation of Virgin Mary (Pfarrkirche Mariä Heimsuchung)
Maria Lankowitz
Artwork
The pulpit of the pilgrimage church Visitation of Virgin Mary in Maria Lankowitz
Type
Pulpit
Critical History
The church was built in 1468 and converted and enlarged in Baroque era.1 In the course of this works, Philipp Jakob Straub created the pulpit (1770), which is situated on the left side of the nave. The three reliefs on the pulpit show three Sermons: St Anthony of Padua talking to the fish (Christs), St Francis of Assisi to the birds and St Francis of Solano speaks to Indian-looking people (he was missionary preacher in Argentina and Peru). On the sounding board there are six dynamic putti surrounding the monogram of Mary, which is located on a pile of clouds in which two winged putto-heads are bedded. In the middle zone, on the left side, there is a putto holding aside a carved curtain. On the right side, we see a putto holding a crucifix in his hands (in place of the common preacher’s arm). According to Horst Schweigert, the pulpit is attributable to Philipp Jakob Straub’s late style.2
Construction / Execution
The pulpit is situated on the left side of the nave and it’s accessible from behind.
Components
- Carpentry
- Completed: 1770
- Technique(s): sawing
- Material(s): wood
- Sculpture
- Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
- Completed: 1770
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): wood
- Polychromy
- Completed: 1770
- Material(s): gold leaf, red bole
Images
- The pulpit of the pilgrimage church Maria Lankowitz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, Dieter Bacher, 2007)
- Relief “St Anthony talks to the fish”, pulpit, Maria Lankowitz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, Dieter Bacher, 2007)
- Relief “St Francis talks to the birds”, pulpit, Maria Lankowitz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, Dieter Bacher, 2007)
- Relief “St Francis of Solano talks to Indian-looking people”, pulpit, Maria Lankowitz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, Dieter Bacher, 2007)
- Decoration of the sounding board, pulpit, Maria Lankowitz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, Dieter Bacher, 2007)
- Putto with crucifix (right), pulpit, Maria Lankowitz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, Dieter Bacher, 2007)
Catalogue entry prepared by Christina Pichler and Dagmar Probst
Recommended citation: Christina Pichler and Dagmar Probst, The pulpit of the pilgrimage church Visitation of Virgin Mary in Maria Lankowitz, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 24/01/2026) URL
