The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Kneeling Angel

Kneeling Angel

c. 1760
(German, 1725–1775)
Overall: 83.5 x 39 x 23.5 cm (32 7/8 x 15 3/8 x 9 1/4 in.)

Description

This angel, and another now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, were probably originally placed on either side of a tabernacle—a structure designed to hold the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist—on an altar in a Christian church or private chapel. The angels would originally have had wings, and the now plain surface of the sculpture would have been painted or gilded. Ignaz Günther was among the most sought-after carvers of religious sculpture in southern Germany. His virtuoso skill is particularly evident here in the angel’s pious expression and elegantly formed hands and feet.
  • art market, Munich, 1950s
    Kurt Rossacher (Salzburg, Austria), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 150 archive.org
    Gerhard Woeckel, "Unbekannte Religiöse Bildwerke und Handzeichnungen Ignaz Günthers." Alte und Moderne Kunst 86 (Mai-Juni 1966): 20-26. Reproduced: p. 26
    "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, January--March, 1966." The Art Quarterly XXIX, no. 2 (Summer 1966): 165-186. Reproduced: p. 180
    Lee, Sherman E. "Golden Anniversary Acquisitions: September 10 through October 16." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 7 (1966): 181-284. Referenced: cat. no. 10, p. 277; Reproduced: p. 222 www.jstor.org
    Wolfgang Stechow, "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." ARTnews (September 1966): 30-64. Mentioned: p. 44; reproduced: p. 31
    Burton, Richard. “Fifty Years of the Cleveland, Some Golden Anniversary Acquisitions.” Connoisseur 163 (October 1966): 128–35. Reproduced: p. 133
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 150 archive.org
    Woeckel, Gerhard P. Ignaz Günther: die Handzeichnungen des kurfürstlich bayerischen Hofbildhauers Franz Ignaz Günther (1725-1775). Weissenhorn, Germany: A. Konrad, 1975. Reproduced: p. 529
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 166 archive.org
    Ditner, David Charles. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century European Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Dissertation, Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University,1986. Reproduced: p. 351
  • Loan exchange. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (September 1, 2010-April 1, 2014).
    Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).
  • {{cite web|title=Kneeling Angel|url=false|author=Ignaz Günther|year=c. 1760|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.18