Assam brothers

The brothers Assam , Cosmas Damian Assam (born in 1686 with Benediktbeuern, deceased in 1739 with Munich) and Egid Quirin Assam (born in 1692 in Tegernsee, deceased in 1750 with Mannheim), are two Sculpteur S, Stuc ateurs, project superintendent painters and German of the late baroque. They worked most of the time together and were active in the south of Germany, mainly in Bavaria, but also in Bohemia with the the Tirol and in Suisse.

Formation

Cosmas Damian Assam and its brother Egid Quirin are two of the nine children of the painter of the Monastère of Benediktbeuern Hans Georg Assam. They make their training near their father. After the death of this last in 1711, they undertake a study trip to Rome. Deeply impressed by the work of Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini and by the Illusionisme of the Italian painters baroques, Cosmas Damian receives in 1713 the first price of the Accademia di San Luca in the presence of the Pape Clément XI. The discovery of the Bernin will influence all the work of his/her brother, Egid Quirin. This last finishes in 1716 its formation near the official sculptor at the court Munich oise Andreas Faistenberger. The contacts with the order Benedictine their make it possible to receive many orders as of their return of Italy.

The two brothers continue the work of their father, Cosmas Damian like painter and Sculpteur, Egid Quirin like Architecte, Stuc ator and Sculpteur. Their complementarity enables them to share the majority of the orders which they receive.

The abbey of Weingarten

The talent of Cosmas Damian Assam in the painting of Fresque S their brings a fame which exceeds quickly the borders of the Bavaria. After a beginning of career in the Haut-Palatinat in 1714, including the two bénédictines abbeys of Ensdorf and Michelfeld, the abbot of Weingarten, imperial abbey of High-Souabe, in the Wurtemberg, request with Cosmas Damian to decorate the ceilings with the church. This considerable work consists of a whole of four large frescos under the cupolas and of thirty-six smaller side paintings. The building site will last two years. It is considered that Cosmas Damian, with this work, operates the turning of the Baroque towards the late Baroque in Germany. Having for topic architecture, the painter makes watch of a very great control of the prospect. An anecdote illustrates the financial comfort which already the young artist enjoys: whereas he works in Weingarten, he carries out the decoration of the small vault Holy-Anne, with Kißleg. Carried out work, Cosmas Damian refuses the 300 Florin S that one proposes to him in payment and the offer with an old people's home for Lépreux pertaining to the vault. Its frescos are then as well remunerated as those of their Italian contemporary Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

The teatrum sacrum

In their first achievements, with Bamberg or Weingarten, the Assam brothers have a preoccupation with a illusionism which will disappear gradually with the profit from a dramatizing from the Sacré (the teatrum sacrum ). The construction and the decoration of the church of the Abbey of Weltenbourg mark the apogee of their glory: the harmonious association of the Painting S, of the Sculpture S, the plays of light, and architecture make a masterpiece of the late baroque of them.

Munich

They settle towards 1727 with Munich. Egid Quirin buys in 1729 and 1730 two houses in Sendlinger Straße, which it wishes to transform into building. After having acquired several grounds contiguous in 1733, it launches out to its expenses in the construction of a church dedicated to Saint Jean Népomucène (Martyr sanctified in 1729). Cosmas Damian buys this year an contiguous ground in order to set up a Prieuré there. The church, inaugurated in 1734, is a common realization of the two brothers. Although Egid Quirin had a particular furnace bridge there and envisaged to be buried there, it was opened with the public.

The frontage, similar to a monumental furnace bridge, is finished only in 1746. Saint-Jean-Népomucéne is represented requesting on the porch and is surrounded by angel in front of a large window, independent source of light in the church. For Frederic Dassas, it is a direct homage to the Roman model of Egid Quirin, Bernin, and in particular with the Église Saint-Andrew of Quirinal, built towards 1660. One finds there the composition in three parts, the oversize Ordre, the monumental pediment and the columns supporting the porch. The reason for the rock could be inspired by other achievements of Bernin, like the Palais Ludovici, the Fontaine of the Four Rivers and the bases of its project for Louvre. If the reference is obvious, the very personal style of Egid Quirin is expressed in the flexibility of the lines and the vegetable profusion of the ornamentation.

Joseph Gregor Wink is regarded as the pupil of Cosmas Damian Assam.

Works

Retable of a side chapel of Schutzengelkirche with Straubing, towards 1710
Frescos with Bamberg, 1714
Church of the Abbey of Weltenbourg, starting from 1716
Kloster Michelfeld, starting from 1717
Church with Rohr, 1718
Church of the abbey of Weingarten, 1719
Frescos with the Abbey of Weltenbourg, 1721
Kloster Aldersbach, 1720
Schleißheim, 1721
Frescos of the vault St - Anna with Kißlegg
Cathedral St Jakob with Innsbruck, 1722-1723
Cathedral of Freising, 1723-1724
Church Einsiedeln, 1724-1726
Heilig-Geist-Kirche in München, 1727
Monastery of Břevnov, 1727
Schloss Bruchsal, 1728 (destroyed)
Dorfen, 1728-1740/49
Church St Anna im Lehel with Munich, 1729
Klosterkirche St Anna Gotteszell, 1729
Church of the Jesuits with Mannheim, 1729-1731
Alteglofsheim, 1730
Monastery of Altenmarkt, 1731
St Emmeram with Ratisbon, 1731-1733
Schlosskapelle with Ettlingen, 1732
Church of Wahlstatt , 1733
St Johann Nepomuk in Munich, 1734
Augustinerkirche in Ratisbon, 1734
Altes Landhaus in Innsbruck, 1734
Damenstiftskirche in Munich, 1735
Furnace bridge of the Sandizell church close to Schrobenhausen, 1735
Maria of Victoria with Ingolstadt, 1736
Abbey of Fürstenfeld with Fürstenfeldbruck, 1741

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