FRANZ XAVER MESSERSCHMIDT MONOGRAPH AND CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ Belvedere Catalogues Raisonnés, Volume 4 2015 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt Second Head of the Beaked, 1777 1781 Alabaster © Belvedere, Vienna FRANZ XAVER MESSERSCHMIDT MONOGRAPH AND CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, a native Swabian, is one of the most fascinating artists of the age of the Enlightenment and ranks among the leading sculptors of the eighteenth century in Central Europe. He successfully worked in Vienna for the imperial dynasty at the time of Maria Theresa. Messerschmidt was one of the first artists of his period to break with the traditional principles of stately Baroque portraiture in favour of a classicist style. Around 1770 a personal crisis brought about a radical turn in his career and life, which led to the creation of what is now his most famous group of works a series of head studies known as the Character Heads. No other sculptor of his epoch was capable of depicting human feelings and passions in such mercilessly realistic snapshots and with such biting mockery. With these extraordinary works, which were to he violated contemporary conventions and the fundamental rules of academism. The Belvedere is now presenting the new and comprehensive publication Franz Xaver Messerschmidt Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné. The author, Maria Pötzl-Malikova, is a recognised specialist for Baroque sculpture. Ever since the focus of her scholarly work has been on Franz Xaver Messerschmidt personal life and career. Having also devoted her dissertation to this outstanding artist, she published a monograph about his work in 1982. Over time, a number of publications on the vre ensued, while perspectives, which encouraged Maria Pötzl-Malikova to publish an updated version of her monograph of works, is commentaries and lists of relevant literature and exhibitions. Moreover, the volume also comprises a seminal contribution on the genesis of the Character Heads and the disease pattern behind them. edition of catalogues raisonnés at the Belvedere we have successfully implemented a long-term concept for the documentation of the oeuvres of important Austrian artists. This not only facilitates scientific exploration and art historical analysis, but also contributes to their increased appreciation and repositioning within an in says Agnes Husslein-Arco, Director of the Belvedere. Messerschmidt intensively worked on these altogether sixty-nine heads, to which the artist Portreen (portraits) and most of which exhibit extreme grimaces. The spectrum ranges from naturalistic heads harking back to the style of antiquity to exaggerated and expressive mimics displaying states of mind that are difficult to grasp and seem to suggest extreme exertion. Preserving as many as sixteen original heads, the Belvedere owns the largest collection of this group of works worldwide. They are complemented by a substantial number of plaster casts of the altogether fifty-four heads that have survived. output is unjustly reduced to the Character Heads, whose genesis is occasionally surrounded by speculative myths. These heads, which remained in the oeuvre. He made a sensational start with the two gilded bronze busts of the imperial couple Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I Stephen of Lorraine, both of which are now preserved at the Belvedere. Messerschmidt s early works, which besides the above-mentioned statues of the imperial couple comprise the reliefs of Joseph II and his wife and the gilded bronze bust of Gerard van Swieten, meet all the requirements of stately Baroque portraiture while betraying their roots in the Viennese tradition. These depictions of members of the imperial family hold an important position in Austrian art history. Another patronage he received from the princely Liechtenstein family: from the future Duchess Maria Teresa of Savoy, the artist received such substantial commissions as the monumental Virgin Immaculate and the Elisaeus Fountain created portraits of celebrated contemporary personalities, including the historian Martin Georg Kovachich, the writer and art theorist Franz Christoph von Scheyb, and the physician Gerard van Swieten. Starting in the early 1770s, the soft sweep and pathos of the Baroque gave way to cool rigour and relentless precision. With his aggressive art of characterisation, Messerschmidt paved the way for truth in the rendering of the human figure. This complete rupture with artistic tradition failure at the Academy, and the loss of his patrons drove Messerschmidt into isolation. Biography – Franz Xaver Messerschmidt Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was born into modest circumstances in Wiesensteig, a town between Ulm and Stuttgart, on 6 February 1736. His father was a master whittawer, while his mother came from a family of carvers and cabinetm the mother and her children moved to her brother, the Bavarian court sculptor Johann Baptist Straub in Munich, where Messerschmidt started out as an apprentice. Around 1752 he continued his Philipp Jakob Straub, who was also a sculptor 1755 he enrolled at the Vienna Academy. The portraitist Martin van Meytens became his patron and provided him with the post of a stucco chiseller at the Imperial Arsenal. Around 1760, Messerschmidt successfully managed to establish himself as an independent artist. He received important commissions from the imperial family, which primarily included the life-sized statues of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen (both of which are now on display at the Belvedere) and of Field Marshal Prince Joseph Wenzel I of Liechtenstein and Duchess Maria Teresa Felicitas of Savoy (née Liechtenstein). In 1765 the artist embarked on a study trip to Rome of several months. Most of his subsequent works betray the knowledge of antique sculpture he had acquired in Italy. On 30 January 1769 he was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts as a member, and on 10 September that year he was appointed substitute professor. Around 1771 he began working on the Character Heads. After the death of the sculptor Jakob Schletterer, Messerschmidt was successor as a professor in 1774, although the post had been promised to him earlier. His hostile attitude and occasional mental confusion were given as reasons for his exclusion. In 1775 his possessions were sold, and he finally left Vienna. He went back to his native town of Wiesensteig via Munich and increasingly devoted himself to the work on his heads. In 1777 he moved to Bratislava, where he lived with his younger brother, Johann, who was also a sculptor. In l Zuckermandel. Besides his heads, Messerschmidt also produced portrait busts and, above all, alabaster medallions, which he sold. Messerschmidt died in 1783, presumably on 19 August. The cause of his death seems to have been pneumonia. His brother Johann inherited his possessions and also became the owner of the Character Heads. They were purchased in 1793 by the traiteur Franz Strunz, who exhibited them and had a catalogue produced. This was when their The Belvedere Catalogues Raisonnés For many years now, the scholarly review of the oeuvres of Austrian artists has been an important focal point of the Belvedere among its central tasks as a museum. Without such a of works, a comprehensive analysis of how his or her art historical significance has developed over time would be impossible. In order to be able to fulfil this task in the best possible way, Director Agnes Husslein-Arco has established the Institute for the Compilation of Catalogues Raisonnés at the Belvedere Research Centre. By engaging both in-house experts and independent specialists, the Institute systematically attends to the mapping of the entire careers of central exponents of Austrian art, from the Baroque to the present. Currently, twelve catalogues raisonnés are being compiled simultaneously, which will appear in the years to come. This scientific revision and documentation of the oeuvres of important Austrian artists constitutes a new benchmark in the exploration of Austrian art history. The following catalogue raisonnés have appeared to date: Josef Danhauser The Biedermeier Period in Pictures (Sabine Grabner, vol. 1), Carry Hauser Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné (Cornelia Cabuk, vol. 2), and Hans Makart Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings (Gerbert Frodl, vol. 3). The Catalogue Raisonné series is generously supported by the Dorotheum. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA Franz Xaver Messerschmidt Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné Belvedere Catalogues Raisonnés, vol. 4 Edited by: Agnes Husslein-Arco Author: Maria Pötzl-Malikova With the participation of: Georg Lechner Preliminary work carried out with the aid of: Christina Bachl-Hofmann, Beate Drescher, and Stefan Üner Graphic design: Matias S. Pils Publisher: Bibliothek der Provinz German and English in one volume Hardcover, 24 x 31 cm, 432 ISBN: 978-3-902805-73-7 A PDF of the catalogue raisonné is available for download at the following link: www.belvedere.at/presse (Password: pr2015) Contact for information and inquiries: Belvedere & Winter Palace Press Department T +43 (01) 795 57-177 M [email protected] .