Artworks Catalogue

Ehrenhausen, Our Lady of Sorrows, high altar, ca. 1753-1754 (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
Ehrenhausen, high altar, figures by Philipp Jakob Straub, ca. 1753-1754 (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
Ehrenhausen, high altar, left angel with the sponge of vinegar (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
Ehrenhausen, high altar, left angel in devotion (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
Ehrenhausen, high altar, right angel in devotion (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
Ehrenhausen, high altar, right angel with the lance (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)

Location

Austria, Styria, Ehrenhausen

Parish and Pilgrimage Church Our Lady of Sorrows ((Pfarr- und Wallfahrtskirche Schmerzhafte Mutter Maria))

Ehrenhausen

Artwork

The high altar of the Parish Church Our Lady of Sorrows in Ehrenhausen

Type

High altar

Dimensions

Height: 1100 cm, width: 665 cm, depth: 270 cm

Inscriptions

  1. "1863" (on the globe in the attic)

Critical History

The ground stone of the new parish church of Ehrenhausen was layed in April 1751 under the patronage of the noble family Eggenberg-Leslie and in 1753 the building must have been finished for the greater part.1 The payments in 1752 and 1753 well documented in the parish archives comfirm this state of the construction progress.2 So far, no evidence has been found in the archives to identify the architect. Numerous attributions based on stylistic similarities were suggested by different researchers, for example Joseph Hueber, Johann Georg Stengg, both from Graz, or Johann Fuchs and Josef Hoffer from Maribor.3 The consecration of the parish and pilgrimage church Our Lady of Sorrows was held on July 5, 1754, a date also confirmed by the chronogramme on the pedestal of the Pietà on the façade above the main entrance.4 The high altar, the pulpit and two side altars were attributed to Philipp Jakob Straub due to stilistic reasons by Andorfer in 1938; Schweigert attributes the side altars and the tabernacle with angels of the high altar to Veit Königer, but agrees with the assumed authorship of Philipp Jakob Straub regarding the style of the monumental figures on the high altar, the pulpit and the decoration of the church façade; he dates the high altar between 1752/53 and around 1755.5 New research in the parish archives, now in the archive of the diocese Graz-Seckau, could not confirm any payment to the sculptor, only to his younger brother Joseph Straub from Maribor, probably for the decoration of the façade.6

Construction / Execution

In the central niche of the wooden altar architecture consisting of high columns and pilasters, a small gothic Pietà is situated on a pedestal surrounded by four monumental angels of approximately 210 cm height. The two angels with arma Christi (the stick with the sponge of vinegar and the lance) on the far left and far right side are each placed on independent pedestals. The rest of the construction is fixed on the rear wall of the presbytery. Godfather and the Holy Spirit in the attic are flanked by two kneeling angels.

Components

Carpentry
Completed: ca. 1753 – ca. 1754
Technique(s): sawing
Material(s): wood
Sculpture
Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
Completed: ca. 1753 – ca. 1754
Patron(s): Maria Charlotte of Eggenberg , noble; Maria Theresia Josepha of Eggenberg, noble; Cajetan Count Leslie , noble
Technique(s): wood carving
Material(s): limewood
Sculpture
Pietà
Completed: ca. 1420
Technique(s): casting
Material(s): stone
Polychromy
Author: Franz Rahmer
Completed: ca. 1766 – ca. 1770
Polychromy
First Repolychromy
Author: Bauer
Completed: 1863 – 1864
Patron(s): multiple, parishioners

Comment

Long after the consecration of the church, in 1766, parish priest Franz Xaver Herrender (Hörrender) noted that the five altars were still lacking polychromy and gilding.7 Several payments to gilders are documented for 1770.8 A second gilding by a gilder named Bauer (1512 fl.) was undertaken in 1863 under parish priest Franz Kleinoschegg (compare ins. I.). A donation of 2100 fl. by Maria Hammer, a farmer's wife, made the restauration works possible.9

Images

  1. Ehrenhausen, Our Lady of Sorrows, high altar, ca. 1753-1754 (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
  2. Ehrenhausen, high altar, figures by Philipp Jakob Straub, ca. 1753-1754 (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
  3. Ehrenhausen, high altar, left angel with the sponge of vinegar (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
  4. Ehrenhausen, high altar, left angel in devotion (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
  5. Ehrenhausen, high altar, right angel in devotion (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)
  6. Ehrenhausen, high altar, right angel with the lance (photo by Julia Strobl, 2018)

Catalogue entry prepared by Julia Strobl

Recommended citation: Julia Strobl, The high altar of the Parish Church Our Lady of Sorrows in Ehrenhausen, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 14/11/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Archive of the Diocese Graz-Seckau, Graz, Parish Ehrenhausen, Kirchen-Raittung (account books of the parish Ehrenhausen), 1750-1772
  2. Styrian Provincial Archive, Steirisches Landesarchiv, Graz, StLA, A. Ehrenhausen, Herrschaft und Markt K. 16, H. 54 (old: L.A. Ehrenhausen Sch. 10 H 45)
  3. Eduard Andorfer, Straub Philipp Jakob, in: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, 32, Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker (ed.), Leipzig, 1938, 168
  4. Günther Brucher, Die Entwicklung der barocken Kirchenfassaden in der Steiermark (2. Teil), in: Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch der Universität Graz, 6, 1971, 85–88
  5. Horst Schweigert, Philipp Jakob Straub 1706 – 1774. Ein Grazer Barockbildhauer. Eine Broschüre zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im Grazer Stadtmuseum, Graz, 1992
  6. Horst Schweigert, Ehrenhausen, Diözese Graz-Seckau, Bezirk Leibnitz, Steiermark (Christliche Kunststätten Österreichs, 294), Salzburg, 1996
  7. Horst Schweigert, 259. Philipp Jakob Straub (1706–1774) zugeschrieben. Engel mit dem Essigschwamm, in: Geschichte der bildenden Kunst in Österreich, 4. Barock, Hellmut Lorenz, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien (ed.), Munich, London, New York, Prestel Verlag, 1999, 542
  8. Metoda Kemperl, Josef Hoffer: Ein neuer Name unter den steirischen Architekten des 18. Jahrhunderts, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege LVI, 2002, H2-3, 2002, 261-271
  9. Matej Klemenčič, Die Bildhauer Straub in der österreichischen und slowenischen Steiermark, in: Bayern und Slowenien im Zeitalter des Barock. Architektur. Skulptur. Malerei. Zweites slowenisch-bayerisches kunstgeschichtliches Kolloquium, Janez Höfler, Frank Büttner (ed.), Regensburg, Schnell & Steiner, 2006, 105–113
  10. Peter Stauder, Ehrenhausen. Altes. Neues. Interessantes (Festschrift zum 750-Jahr-Jubiläum), Marktgemeinde Ehrenhausen (ed.), Ehrenhausen, 2010
  11. Dubravka Botica, V. 2. 2. Ehrenhausen, crkva Žalosne Majke Božje, in: Barokne četverolisne crkve u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj. Prilog istraživanju tipologije sakralne arhitekture 18. stoljeća, Zagreb, Školska Knjiga, 2015, 180-181

Notes

1 StLA, A. Ehrenhausen, Herrschaft und Markt K.16, H. 54, History of the parish church of Ehrenhausen 1748­–1860: "Vermög im Archiv vorgefundener pro memoria ist dem 17ten April 752 der erste Grundstein zur Kirche gelegt worden [...] Der Bau der Kirche wurde dan den 5ten Juny 754 vollendet." Horst Schweigert, 1992, 7, 10.

2 Archive of the Diocese Graz-Seckau, Parish Ehrenhausen, account books 1750, 1752–1758, 1769, 1770 (Research by Valentina Pavlič and Julia Strobl).

3 Günther Brucher, 1971, 85–88; Horst Schweigert, 1999, 542; Hellmut Lorenz, 1999, 291-292; Metoda Kemperl, 2002, 262; Matej Klemenčič, 2006, 110; Dubravka Botica, 2015, 180-181.

4 Horst Schweigert, 1996, 3–5

5 Eduard Andorfer, 1938; Horst Schweigert, 1992, 8, 10; Horst Schweigert, 1996, 8

6 Archive of the Diocese Graz-Seckau, Parish Ehrenhausen, Kirchen Raittung (account book 1758): "Inhalt No.3 Hrn. Joseph Straub bildhauer Meister zu Mahrburg 70 fl." The amount was probably granted for works executed before the premature death of Joseph in 1756.

7 StLA, A. Ehrenhausen, Herrschaft und Markt K.16, H. 54; Kirchen und Bruderschaft – Satzungs – Extract de Anno 765: [...] das neue Kirchengebäu Ano 752 ohne aller Mühen (!) seinen Anfang genohmen, und inwendig zwar mit 5 neuen Altären, jedoch ohne Fassung, ohne Pflaster u. ohne Thurmuhr, [...].

8 StLA, A. Ehrenhausen, Herrschaft und Markt K.16, H. 54, church account 1770, fol. 3v "2. Hrn Krich vergoldtern in Gräz laut conto zub 52 fl.", fol 4r: "Herr Franz Rahmer vergoldern in Graz über[...] zu fassung eines seiten Altärl acordirter masse dazubezahlt 20 fl. / Item dem Hern Ramer an denen 160 accordirten quanto zur fassung der kanzl a conto bezahlt 60 fl."

9 Peter Stauder, 2010, 336–337

The TrArS project is dedicated to the study and presentation of artworks created by members of the Straub family in 18th century Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. This website is being updated regularly and reflects the current state of the ongoing research.

Project Management Office

Ksenija Škarić, project manager
Croatian Conservation Institute

Creative Europe