Degler, Hans (attr.)

Description:

1564 - 1635
H. ca. 135 cm
Weilheim, early 17th century. St. Joseph and Christ Child. Frontally oriented group of figures of St. Joseph with a stick, with his left hand he holds protectively the arm of the child standing in front of him. Both are dressed in simple robes with cloaks. Hardwood, hollowed on the back and closed with a later coniferous closure board. Original gold and silver polychromy, the silver polychromy overlaid with red and green lacquer typical of the period. Minor retouches. The incarnate parts overpainted. Traces of older restorations and worm treatment. On a later, square plinth. The stick replaced.
Ferdinand III Mülhens Collection, Cologne
The St. Joseph and Child sculpure was on loan to the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne for a long time. Formerly attributed to Jörg Zürn. Illustrated in Claus Zoege von Manteuffel, Zürn, Die Bildhauerfamilie Zürn 1606-1666, WU 68, there attributed to Jakob Bendel.
We are grateful to Dr. Albrecht Miller, Ottobrunn, who has been familiar with the St. Joseph group for decades, for the latest attribution.
Hans Degler was born in Munich (?) in 1564 as the son of the eponymous Weilheim woodcarver. At first he worked in the workshop of his father-in-law Adam Krumpper, which he took over after his death. His workshop trained renowned sculptors, among them Hans Jakob Zürn. Among Deglers main works are the monumental altars in the Augsburg collegiate church of St. Ulrich and Afra (1603/04). The group of St. Joseph and Child shows the somewhat stern-looking, creased folds on the robes typical of Degler, the broad faces with the large, slightly almond-shaped eyes, the slightly open mouth and the dimples in the cheeks that are conspicuous in the child Jesus. Also characteristic are the strongly accentuated curly hairstyles, as found on the figures of the St. Ulrich and Afra altar but also on individual figures such as the Madonna on the high altar of the Aldersbach monastery church or the Madonna with the Grape in the Bürgersaal church in Munich. The strict posture of the figures still shows clear Renaissance influences; in Degler's later works, the expression becomes more animated and shows the transition to the High Baroque.