Artworks Catalogue

Advanced Search

Location (Toponym) 

Artwork type

Conservation materials

Author

Patron status

Conservation strategy

Artwork materials

Technique

Date

Johann Baptist Straub, Maria Immaculata, Salzburg, Barockmuseum, Inv. RO 2429 (photo Salzburgmuseum)

Location

Austria, Salzburg

Salzburg Museum, Sammlung Rossacher

Artwork

Maria Immaculata

Type

Sculpture

Dimensions

Height: 28,3 cm, width: 10,5 cm, depth: 7,5 cm

Inscriptions

"27" (on the backside of the figure with pencil)

Critical History

The origin of the Maria Immaculata, probably a bozzetto (model) for a larger statue, is unknown. In the 1930ies, it belonged to the cathedral museum of the diocese of Vienna and was attributed to a follower of Giovanni Giuliani.1 Kurt Rossacher acquired the bozzetto for his collection in Salzburg, which is now part of the Salzburg Museum (Barockmuseum, Inv. RO 0541).2 In 1976 Gerhard P. Woeckel confirmed the attribution to Johann Baptist Straub based on stylistic reasons and the relationship with a collection of limewood bozzetti from Vienna he believed to belong to the early period of the artist (Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Inv. 1979-21, 23, 26, 27, 29-32, 34, 36, 37).3

Construction / Execution

The bozzetto is carved from one piece of limewood depicting Mary on the globe with the snake beneath her. The forms are elaborated roughly in a sketchy manner. On the flat backside traces of a hardly readable numbering can be found (ins. 1).

Components

Sculpture: Author: (?) Johann Baptist Straub; Completed: ca. 1720 – ca. 1740; Technique(s): wood carving; Material(s): limewood

Comment

Both hands have been fixed with glue, the fracture lines at the wrists are clearly visible. The head of the snake as well as pieces of the mantle are missing, leaving the sructure of the wood visible. A small hole on the backside was filled up with an amount of brown wood putty.

Images

Johann Baptist Straub, Maria Immaculata, Salzburg, Barockmuseum, Inv. RO 2429 (photo Salzburgmuseum)



Catalogue entry prepared by Nina Stainer and Julia Strobl

Recommended citation: Nina Stainer and Julia Strobl, Maria Immaculata , in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 20/11/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

Fritz Dworschak, Hermann Göhler, Justus Schmidt, Führer durch das Erzbischöfliche Dom- und Diözesanmuseum in Wien, Vienna, Verlag des Erzbischöflichen Dom- und Diözesanmuseums, 1936
Salzburger Barockmuseum. Europäische Kunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts in den Entwürfen der Künstler (Sammlung Rossacher). Schriften des Salzburger Barockmuseums, 1, Kurt Rossacher, Salzburger Barockmuseum (ed.), Salzburg, Verlag des Salzburger Barockmuseums, 1973
Peter Steiner, Johann Baptist Straub (Münchner kunsthistorische Abhandlungen, VI), München und Zürich, Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1974
Gerhard P. Woeckel, 30 unbekannte Bildhauerentwürfe aus der Wiener Zeit Baptist Straubs, in: Mitteilungen der österreichischen Galerie, 19/20, 1975/76, Vienna, 1976, 81–110
Kurt Rossacher, Salzburger Barockmuseum. Sammlung Rossacher. Gesamtkatalog, Salzburg, Eigenverlag des Salzburger Barockmuseums, 1983
Bayerische Rokokoplastik. Vom Entwurf zur Ausführung (exhibition catalogue, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich 1985), Peter Volk (ed.), Munich , Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1985

Notes

1 Fritz Dworschak, 1936, 38, no fig.

2 Kurt Rossacher, 1973, 25; 1983, 432–433.

3 Gerhard P. Woeckel, 1976, 88, fig. 39. According to Peter Steiner and Peter Volk the Stuttgart bozzetti are not identical with the now lost 17 bozzetti E. W. Braun-Troppau found in Vienna in 1930 and were attributed to Straub by A. Feulner and Braun. They definetely vary in number and size. See Peter Steiner, 1974, 24, 33 (note 30) and Peter Volk, 1985, 161–163.