Artworks Catalogue

Location

Austria, Styria, Graz

Cathedral St Aegydius (Dom Hl Ägydius)

Innere Stadt

Artwork

The relief Christ on the Cross on top of the communion-cup cabinet in the vestry of the Cathedral of Graz

Type

Relief

Critical History

It is documentary mentioned that Philipp Jakob Straub created carvings for the Cathedral of Graz between 1745 and 1747.1 One of this works is a rectangular relief which depicts Christ on the Cross, who is surrounded by a crowd. It’s a very detailed work; every person shows its individual physiognomy and its own body language. Beside Christ there are two cloudscapes that show the typical formation typical for Straub’s oeuvre. Bedded on it, there are winged putto-heads. The artful draped loincloth flutters on Christ’s right side.

Construction / Execution

The relief is made of carved wood and it is gilded. It is surrounded by a brown, wooden frame (ebony?). It is located on one of the communion-cup cabinets in the vestry, whose decoration was also made by Straub.

Components

Sculpture

Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)

Completed: 1745 – 1747

Technique(s): wood carving

Material(s): wood

Polychromy

Completed: 1745 – 1747

Comment

Kohlbach was the first to recognise, that Straub can be regarded as the most often mentioned sculptor of the cathedral. He also created the lost “Geroldtsche Leuchter (= candelabra)”, model figures to lost silver statuettes, four sconces, two candelabra, six ornaments for the high altar as well as a new finger of Genoese marble for the sculpture of St Joachim (1746 for 1 fl 42 kr).2 Furthermore, a carved clockcase, which now can be found in the organ’s parapet, was made by the artist in 1745 and carvings for two communion-cup cabinets in the vestry.3

Images

1. Relief Christ on the Cross on the communion-cup cabinet in the vestry, Cathedral Graz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, 2014)
2. Relief, detail, vestry, Cathedral Graz (photo by Diocesan Museum Graz, 2014)