Jávor Anna - Lubomír Slavícek szerk.: Késő barokk impressziók, Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724-1796) és Josef Winterhalder (1743-1807) (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai)

Tomas Vales: Ifj. Josef Winterhalder (1743-1807), Maulbertsch legkiválóbb freskófestő tanítványa. Fejezetek egy készülő monográfiából - A vég vagy a kezdet?

Tomas Vales Josef Winterhaider the Younger (1743-1807) Maulbertsch' most outstanding student Chapters of a monograph The monographic study can be read in German in the catalogue of the exhibition of Museum Langenargen held in 2009 (Josef Winterhalder [1743 Vöhrenbach - 1807 Znojmo] Maulbertsch's bester Schüler). The Hungarian edition contains a selection of four chapters of the excellent work. Arrival in Moravia and studies The Winterhalder family originating from Vorenbach in the Schwarzwald had several generations of artists. The three sons of wood-carver and sculptor Adam Winterhalder (c. 1652-1737) were trained in their father's workshop. The two younger also studied at Vienna's Academy of Art. Anton (1699-1737), the elder son settled as a sculptor in Olomouc/Olmiitz probably in 1740 and worked in the next years with his brother Josef Winterhalder the elder ( 1702-1769). After his academic studies the youngest son, Johann Michael (1706-1759) was involved in the sculptural work of the Premonstratensian monastery of Hradisko /Hradisch near Olomouc as the assistant of Josef in the 1730s. Johann Michael returned to Vöhrenbach and got married in February 1734. He had six children, four girls and two boys. The elder boy Josef was born on 25 January 1743 and at the early age of nine he was sent to his sculptor uncle in Moravia, with another two of the siblings. His less-known brother Anton (1745-1817) returned after their father's death and took over the running of the sculptural workshop in Vöhrenbach. Josef Winterhalder the Elder was a highly prestigious, versatile sculptor with important artistic relations. His nephew's first teacher of painting was Josef Stern (1716— 1775). Probably his uncle arranged it for him to get into Maulbertsch' Vienna studio, too. He presumably worked there from 1763 to 1768 when the young Winterhalder's name appears in the account books of the Dominican monastery of Znojmo/Znaim. His first drawn sketches were made Maulbertsch' after signed devotional picture series of 1763. These went into the church of Orlat (Orlát/ Ortenbach) in Transylvania in the 18th century. The motives returned in Winterhalder's own works including the oil paintings of the Minorite monastery in Vienna. As Maulbertsch's assistant, he worked on several of the master's paintings, most of them extinct now; e.g. János Erdőd/s summer mansion in Bratislava (Pozsony/ Pressburg), the St. Jacob parish church in Schwechat (1764) and the church of Kirch berg am Wagram (1764). An important joint undertaking was the painted decoration of the provost church of the Holy Cross order at Hradistë u Znojma / Pöltenberg in 1766. Literature dates the decoration of the imperial mansion at Halbturn/ Féltoronv in Burgenland to 1765. The surviving correspondence between Maulbertsch and the provost of Hradistë reveals that the artist was still working in Halbturn in early 1766 and could only begin in Hradistë after April. Apart from the fresco of the dome, the central piece of the St. Hyppolytus high altar was also Maulbertsch's work, while the paintings for the two side altars are Winterhalder's "first" two authentic altarpieces which he also mentions in his autobiography. The small oil sketches on paper connected to the fresco are most recently attributed by Monika Dachs to Josef Winterhalder, probably with justification. A newly recovered source, a Maulbertsch letter, also reveals that partial sketches were also made on the spot and paper sketches were often used during wall painting.