Balthasar Permoser

Balthasar Permoser ( born August 13, 1651 chamber at Traunstein, † February 20, 1732 in Dresden ) was one of the most important sculptor of the Baroque.

Life and work

Balthasar Permoser birthplace chamber, as village now part of the Upper Bavarian town of Traunstein, belonged to Salzburgian parish Otting.

Permoser was trained as a sculptor in Salzburg and was a pupil of Wolf Weißkirchner and Giovanni Battista Foggini. As models Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini and Pierre Puget apply. 1670 is Permoser detected in Vienna, from 1675 to 1689 was followed by a prolonged stay in Italy, would shape the artist decisive and sustainable. Most of this time stayed on Permoser in Florence.

1689, Salzburg was appointed court sculptor to Dresden and created under Augustus the Strong numerous works. His diverse activities in Dresden, especially for the Saxon court, but was interrupted by repeated trips to Italy (1697/1698 and 1725), Salzburg, Vienna and Berlin.

Permoser is the most important and influential mediator of form ideas of the Italian Baroque sculpture to Germany. Among the main works is especially the sculptural decoration for the Dresden Zwinger (from 1711). From Permoser comes the overall concept for the design and numerous figures of wood, stone and ivory. Particularly noteworthy is the apotheosis of Prince Eugen in Vienna.

Balthasar Permoser found his final resting place in the old Catholic cemetery at the Friedrich Strasse in Dresden. The main road through his birthplace is, in his memory today Balthasar Permoser Street.

Nymphenbad in the Dresden Zwinger

Mohr with emerald stage in the Green Vault in Dresden

Model of a statue of St. Magdalena

Marsyas, Metropolitan Museum, New York