!!!Messerschmidt, Franz Xaver

b. Wiesensteig (Germany), Feb. 6, 1736, 
d. Bratislava, Slovakia (then Pressburg), Aug. 19, 1783, 
sculptor. Studied in Munich under his uncle J. B. Straub and in 
Graz under P. J. Straub, 1752 in Vienna under J. C.  
Schletterer and M.  Donner; 1769-1774 professor at the Vienna Academy, 
lived in Bratislava from 1777. At the beginning of the 1770s mental 
disorder, later he created the famous "character heads". According to 
G. R.  Donner M. is the most important Austrian sculptor between 
Baroque and Classicism. His statues, portrait busts and character 
heads combine baroque expressive movement with classical clear forms 
and aggressive characterization with prosaic reproduction

!Works
Statues of Maria Theresia and Franz I. for the Court Gallery in 
the Stallburg (1765/66, in the Austrian Baroque Museum, Vienna); 
facade sculpture of the Savoysche Damenstift, Vienna, 1767; bust of 
van Swieten, 1769; character heads (1770-1783, Austrian Baroque 
Museum, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien).

!Literature
M. Poetzl-Malikova, F. X. M., 1982 (with index 
of works); NDB.



%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Messerschmidt,_Franz_Xaver|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]