Location
Austria, Carinthia, St. Paul im Lavanttal
Collegiate and parish church St. Paul im Lavanttal (Stifts- und Pfarrkirche St. Paul im Lavanttal)
Artwork
The founder’s altar in the north transept of the collegiate and parish church in St. Paul im Lavanttal
Type
Side altar
Critical History
The sculptural decoration of Philipp Jakob Straub in the collegiate and parish church St Paul im Lavanttal shows in a remarkable way that the artist also worked successfully in Carinthia.
Until the restoration in 1936, the founder’s altar was situated in the north side apse, which it covered.1 It is attributed to Philipp Jakob Straub.2 The middle group shows the donators Siegfried and Engelbert of Spanheim with their wives. They are surrounding a globe, above which they hold the monastery’s plan in their hands. They are flanked by two standing archbishops Hartwig of Magdeburg and Thiemo of Salzburg. The latter is comparable to the sculpture of St Aegydius of the altar of St John of Nepomuk in the parish church of the Holy Blood in Graz, while the former reminds of the depiction of Margrave Leopold on the same altar (but they are not that expressive and dynamic).
Above, there is the depiction of the Holy Trinity, with a very stiff appearance of Christ, who seems to float in a standing manner. In the uppermost zone there is Archangel Michael with his sword of flames and a scale. He is flanked by the sculptures of Pope Urban II and St Benedict with his regula. The sculptural decoration is completed by various putti.
Construction / Execution
Altar and sculptures are made of carved and painted wood.
Components
- Carpentry
- Completed: 1750 – 1775
- Patron(s): Siegfried of Spanheim, noble; Engelbert of Spanheim, noble
- Technique(s): sawing
- Material(s): wood
- Sculpture
- Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
- Completed: 1750 – 1775
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): wood
- Polychromy
- Completed: 1750 – 1775
- Technique(s): oil gilding
- Material(s): bole, gold leaf, silver leaf
Images
- Side Altar (Stifter- or Dreifaltigkeitsaltar) in the collegiate and parish church of St. Paul im Lavanttal (photo by department of art conversation of the diocese of Carinthia /R. Schiestl, 2018)
- Donators Siegfried of Spanheim, Earl Engelbert I. of Spanheim, Hadwiga and Richardis (photo by department of art conversation of the diocese of Carinthia/R. Schiestl, 2018)
- Archbishop Hartwig of Magdeburg (photo by department of art conversation of the diocese of Carinthia/R. Schiestl, 2018)
- Archbishop Thiemo of Salzburg (photo by department of art conversation of the diocese of Carinthia/R. Schiestl, 2018)
Catalogue entry prepared by Christina Pichler and Rosmarie Schiestl
Recommended citation: Christina Pichler and Rosmarie Schiestl, The founder’s altar in the north transept of the collegiate and parish church in St. Paul im Lavanttal, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 14/11/2025) URL
