Location
Germany, Bavaria, Ettal
Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary (Benediktinerabtei-, Pfarr- und Wallfahrtskirche St. Maria)
Artwork
Left Side Altar of St Catherine in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal
Type
Side altar
Critical History
Left side altar of St Catherine with the statues of Sts Agatha and Barbara.
The altarpiece "Decapitation of St Catherine" by Martin Knoller, 1763
The work is testified by Lippert and the bills have been preserved (Munich, archives of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Pfarrsachen Ettal).1
On 30 November 1761, the third and last contract was signed for the four "smaller" side altars. For this, 1200 fl and 50 fl "Recompens" were promised to Straub. For each altar, without the lower main postaments, he had to create and set up "2 Statuen, dan 3 ganzen Englen yber 3 Schuech hoch und 9 bis 10 Englkopf in Bildhauerarbeit und was immer in dieselbe einschlaget, zierlich und in solcher Vollkommenheit, wie das Modell zeiget". Furthermore he had top produce "die Ramen zu denen heiligen Leibern, iedoch mit Ausschluß deren Sarchen nach dem Model". It was also Straub's task to do the "Kistlerarbeit" and purchase the wood. Two altars had to be ready the following spring, the other two in autumn. On 30. November 1762, Straub received the final payment. Meidinger also mentioned the Munich painter Ignatz Bauer, probably Ignaz Paur (born 1723) working in Augsburg, a student of Matthäus Günther. 2
Components
- Carpentry
- Completed: 1761 – 1762
- Sculpture
- Author: Johann Baptist Straub (Wiesensteig ca. 1704 – Munich 1784)
- Completed: 1761 – 1762
- Polychromy
- Author: Ignatz Baur (Paur)
- Completed: 1761 – 1762
Images
- Left side altar of St Catherine in the Benedictine Abbey-, Parish- and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
- Left side altar of St Catherine in the Benedictine Abbey-, Parish- and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
- Left side altar of St Catherine in the Benedictine Abbey-, Parish- and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
- Left side altar of St Catherine in the Benedictine Abbey-, Parish- and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
Catalogue entry prepared by Martin Mannewitz
Recommended citation: Martin Mannewitz, Left Side Altar of St Catherine in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 25/10/2025) URL
