GERHARD, Hubert

The Augustus fountain was erected by the city to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the establishment of the city by Emperor Augustus. The four rivers of the city are represented by the statues of four river gods around the basin of the fountain.

Gerhard participated in the program of decoration for the Jesuit college church of St Michael in Munich. The most beautiful piece is the group of St Michael Slaying the Devil, which greets the worshipper on the lower level of the fa�ade.

Giambologna’s innovative style and great success attracted many artists to Florence to join his large workshop. Two sculptors born in the Low Countries - Hubert Gerhard and Adriaen de Vries absorbed his manner and transformed it into distinctive idioms that they carried back to northern Europe. Both mastered the medium of bronze, working often at a large scale but also producing statuettes. This Tarquinius and Lucretia intersects with aspects of each sculptor’s style, and over the years its attribution has shifted back and forth between them.

Unusual for either artist is the large number of casts that exist of this group. At least ten are known, significant differences distinguish them.

Originally it was a garden statue, beside a pool. Between 1615 and 1943 it decorated the cupola of the Hofgarten Pavillion in Munich raised on a base decorated by four putti. The goddess wears a helmet adorned with ears of grain, symbolizing agriculture, and her shoulders are covered with the skin of an Alpine deer. At her feet is a pitcher connoting the abundance of mountain streams and a small cask symbolizing the riches of the salt mines.

In Munich, Hubert Gerhard ensured the transition from Mannerism to Baroque until 1620. Gerhard, the religious creator of St Michael, was more Mannerist in his secular decorations. He cast the fountains for the Residenz, and the massive Tellus Bavarica, the personification of Bavaria, bearing the symbols of abundance. With her distant look, small breasts and ample stomach, she personifies opulence with a mysterious tranquillity.

Augsburg was a long way behind Nuremberg until the Fuggers renewed their patronage of the arts around 1580. Their castle of Kirschheim was ornamented with an altar by Vittoria and especially by the works of Hubert Gerhard. They comprised a mantelpiece, bronze ornaments for the fountain of Mars and Venus, and a dense bronze on a base bordered by fantastic terms (1590). Gerhard returns to the composition of Vincenzo de’ Rossi’s seated couple, emphasizing the sensual play of intertwined limbs, the slow rhythm of knotted curves and expressive passion.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria