Attributed to Franz Ignaz Günther (1725 – 1775)

While sculpted angels and cherub heads are a common feature in German Baroque religious buildings, few examples display such a high standard of craftsmanship as those created by Ignaz Günther, a leading sculptor active in Bavaria during the second half of the 18th century.

Ignaz Günther was an innovative and prolific artist whose distinctive style exerted a considerable influence throughout Germany. He began his career under his father, the cabinetmaker Johann Georg Günther. In 1743, Ignaz moved to Munich to join the workshop of Johann Baptist Straub (1704–1784), before embarking on his journeyman’s travels, which took him to Salzburg, Mannheim and Moravia. In 1753, he settled in Munich and, the following year, became a court sculptor (hofbefreiter) under Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, thereby freeing himself from all guild regulations.

These cherubs, which adorn the altarpieces, pulpits and vaults, evoke the celestial realm and act as divine messengers. They are either bearers of the attributes of the holy figures or mere spectators, their heads turned towards the main scene. Although they are secondary elements of the sculpted decoration, Günther endows each cherub with an expression—whether joyful or dramatic—as well as distinctive attributes.

Our winged maiden, whose hair is delicately held in place by a blue ribbon, bears a resemblance to several examples held at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Pl.O.2518 and Pl.O.2719), as well as at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich (inv. 85/266 and 85/267). Carved during the artist’s final decades, between 1760 and 1775, they feature similar hairstyles with locks in high relief, facial features characterised by bulbous noses and plump cheeks, as well as individually carved feathers with a naturalistic intent.

RELATED LITERATURE

P. Volk, Ignaz Günther: Vollendung des Rokoko, Regensburg, 1991, pp. 168-169; P. Volk, Rokokoplastik in Altbayern, Bayrish-Schwaben und im Allgäu, Munich, 1981; Mit leib und seele, Münchner Rokoko von Asam bus Günther, exh. cat. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 12 December 2014 – 12 April 2015, pp. 302-303, cat. 81.