Johann Wilhelm Beyer
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Johann Wilhelm Beyer (27 December 1725 in Gotha, † 23 March 1796 in Hietzing), a German sculptor, porcelain artist, painter and garden designer. Beyer has the largest share in the design of the gardens and statues of
Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace (Austrian German, German: Schloss Schönbrunn ) was the main summer residence of the House of Habsburg, Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning "beautiful spring") ha ...
, which is regarded as his masterpiece.


Youth and studies

Beyer was trained as a garden-engineer early on by his father Johann Nicholas Beyer, who was a gardener in the service of
Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg Charles Eugene (German: ''Carl Eugen''; 11 February 1728 – 24 October 1793) was the Duke of Württemberg, and the eldest son, and successor, of Charles Alexander; his mother was Princess Marie Auguste of Thurn and Taxis. Life Born in Bruss ...
. Between 1748 and 1751, Beyer traveled to Paris where he studied architecture and painting. Later he went to Rome where he tried the study of painting, but turned to sculpture after he participated in excavations of ancient statues.


Model champion in Ludwigsburg

After returning to
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
in 1759 Beyer worked as ducal Württemberg court painter to 1767 and as a model master of porcelain in
Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...
.


Goes to Vienna

After Beyer had left the Duke's service in February 1767, he moved to Vienna. Already in 1768 he was a member of the Imperial Academy. He was hired in 1769 at the court and promoted in 1770 to imperial court painter, statuarius (sculptor) and chamber architect. Beyer's reputation as an artist, however was offset by his egotism. He reportedly undercut his competition, leaving him very unpopular with fellow artists and staff. He married in 1771 the painter Gabriele Bertrand, daughter of the captain of Schönbrunn Palace, and an art teacher of the Archduchess Marie Caroline and
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
, and one of the few female members of the Academy. In 1778 he purchased a house in
Hietzing Hietzing () is the 13th Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna (). It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling. Hietzing is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also contains large areas of the Vi ...
. In 1779 Beyer's two-volume engraving plant in Austria created a stir because the imagery and architecture were foreign to most. He documented the detailed explanations with references to the mythological sources of mythology (
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
,
Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
,
Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
and contemporary encyclopedias). After completing work for Schönbrunn and after the death of his patroness Maria Theresa in 1780, he went back to garden design. In work dating from 1784 he influences German garden and landscape design, pushing for a middle ground between the English and French garden design. Beyers divorced Gabriele Bertrand in 1785. In the same year he wrote the first known written a draft regulation of the river Wien.


Configuration of the Schönbrunn gardens

His most important work was a contract for Maria Theresa issued in May 1773. Within three years, he was expected to produce a number of statues of white marble vases, for an amount of 1,000
florins The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a pu ...
per unit, excluding charges. As can be seen from the calculations, it was priced "per character", for statues of two or three figures was approximately several times charged. After Beyer had received this order, one of his challenges was in the area around
Sterzing Sterzing (; ) is a comune in South Tyrol in northern Italy. It is the main town of the southern Wipptal, and the Eisack River flows through the medieval town. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). Hi ...
to make quality marble which equaled that of
Carrara Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble, marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, ...
. Already in the summer of 1773 Beyer was with a group of 15 sculptors at Sterzing. After his designs the figures were roughly hewn on site to reduce the weight for transportation. The blocks were placed on sleds in winter as far as the Brenner road from where Tyrolean carters it cost to Hall transported. At Schönbrunn he was using the Winter Riding School (now a stable) as a studio. He focused on managing the organizational and design tasks. The price of the statues was the sculptor costing about half, and the remainder was retained for design and cost. Employees were not allowed to sign their work, so they are known simply as Beyers work in the majority of cases. Four groups of figures for the planned four wells of the Great Parterre were started in 1776 (two in Beyer's studio, one at Hagenauer, one of Zauner), but had to be housed elsewhere because of the new MRP 1777: from Beyer's studio in the ruins and in the Obelisk Fountain, the other two wells in the Court of Honour. Beyer's last great design for Schönbrunn were the figures for the 1780 ''Neptune Fountain'', completed shortly before Maria Theresa's death.


See also

*
Sculptures in the Schönbrunn Garden The sculptures in the Schönbrunn Garden at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria were created between 1773 and 1780 under the direction of Johann Wilhelm Beyer, a German artist and garden designer. The Great Parterre of Schönbrunn Garden is line ...
* Gardens of Schönbrunn Palace


References

* Ignaz de Luca: Beyer, Johann Wilhelm. In: The erudite Austria. Band. 1 second 1778th * Constantin von Wurzbach : Beyer (Peyer), Johann Wilhelm In:. Biographical Dictionary of imperial Austria . Volume 1 Publisher L. C. Zamarski, Vienna 1856, at 364 * Josef Dernjač: Johann Christian Wilhelm Beyer. In: Julius Meyer (eds.): artists of the world. Volume 3 Leipzig 1885th * Otto von Falke: Ludwigsburg Porcelain figures of W. Beyer. In: Government Reports from the Royal. Art collections. XXXVII., Issue 6, Berlin 1916th * Annemarie Thünker: Beyer, Johann Christoph Wilhelm In:. New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, London 1955, pp. 205 f ( digitized ). (False death) * Uta Schedler: The Statue of cycles in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace and Nymphenburg. Antique desk for Stitch Books. Studies of art history; 27 Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1985, . * Marion Harder Merkelbach: William Beyer. In: The Artists Dictionary. The visual artists of all times and peoples. Volume 10 Saur, Munich / Leipzig, 1995, , pp. 343–345. * Beatrix Hajós: Schoenbrunn statues. Böhlau, Vienna, Cologne, Weimar 2004, . * Kurdiovsky Richard (ed.): The gardens of Schönbrunn. A walk through one of the most important baroque gardens in Europe. Residence, St. Pölten / Salzburg / Vienna 2005, . * Additional content translated from corresponding German Wikipedia article {{DEFAULTSORT:Beyer, Johann Wilhelm German sculptors German male sculptors 1725 births 1796 deaths People from Gotha (town) Academic staff of State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart