Christian Jank (15 July 1833 – 25 November 1888) was a German scenic painter and

stage design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trai ...

er. Jank was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

n capital. Here he originally worked as a scenic painter. Among other things he was involved in the scenery for

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's opera ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...

''. His work piqued the interest of Ludwig II, who commissioned him to create concepts for his architectural projects inspired by Wagner. Jank's historistic drafts were the basis for

Neuschwanstein Castle Neuschwanstein Castle (german: Schloss Neuschwanstein, , Southern Bavarian: ''Schloss Neischwanstoa'') is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. T ...

, which was built starting in 1869 by

Eduard Riedel Eduard Riedel (February 1, 1813 – August 24, 1885) was a German architect and Bavarian government building officer. Among other things he is known for his contribution to the construction of Neuschwanstein Castle. Biography Riedel was born in ...

and later

Georg von Dollmann Georg von Dollmann (1830–1895) was a German architect and Bavarian government building officer. Georg von Dollmann was born on 21 October 1830 in Ansbach as ''Georg Carl Heinrich Dollmann''. The son of a government officer, he attended the Gymn ...

. Jank was also involved in the interior of

Linderhof Palace Linderhof Palace (german: Schloss Linderhof) is a Schloss in Germany, in southwest Bavaria near the village of Ettal. It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed. D ...

. His concepts for Falkenstein Castle could not be realized, as the project was abandoned after the king's death in 1886. Jank himself died in Munich on 25 November 1888.

Image gallery

File:Neuschwanstein-projet.jpg, Concept for Neuschwanstein Castle (c.1883) File:Schloss Falkenstein Planung Gemälde Historismus Ludwig.jpg, Concept for Falkenstein Castle (c.1883)

References

19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 1833 births 1888 deaths 19th-century German architects {{Germany-architect-stub