Artworks Catalogue

Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Michael Forstner, 2017)
Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)

Location

Germany, Bavaria, Ettal

Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary (Benediktinerabtei-, Pfarr- und Wallfahrtskirche St. Maria)

Artwork

Side Altar of the Apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Mary in Ettal

Type

Side altar

Critical History

Left side altar of Apostles (Christ shows Thomas his side wound) with the statues of Sts Apostle Paul and Matthew.

Altarpiece by F.G. Hermann, 1762.

The works are testified by Lippert and the bills for these works 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 to 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 mentined also the Munich painter Ignatz Bauer, probably Ignaz Paur (born 1723) working in Augsburg, a student of Matthäus Günther. 2

Components

Carpentry
Completed: ca. 1761 – ca. 1762
Sculpture
Author: Johann Baptist Straub (Wiesensteig ca. 1704 – Munich 1784)
Completed: ca. 1761 – ca. 1762
Polychromy
Author: Ignatz Baur (Paur)
Completed: ca. 1761 – ca. 1762

Images

  1. Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
  2. Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Michael Forstner, 2017)
  3. Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)
  4. Left side altar of the apostles in the Benedictine Abbey, Parish and Pilgrimage Church in Ettal (Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites, photo by Martin Mannewitz, 2018)

Catalogue entry prepared by Martin Mannewitz

Recommended citation: Martin Mannewitz, Side Altar of the Apostles 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

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Johann Caspar Lippert, Kurzgefaßte Nachricht von dem churbaierischen ersten Hofbildhauer Herrn Johannes Straub, in: Augsburgisches monatliches Kunstblatt. Kunstzeitung der kaiserlichen Akademie zu Augsburg, 1772, Nr. 54f
  2. Peter Volk, Johann Baptist Straub 1704–1784, München, Hirmer Verlag, 1984
  3. Franz Sebastian Meidinger, Historische Beschreibung der kurfürstl. Haupt- und Regierungs-Städte in Niederbayern Landshut und Straubing, Landshut, 1787

Notes

1 Johann Caspar Lippert 1772, 57

2 Meidinger 1787, 333