St Sebastian
Adam Lenckhardt (1610–1661)
after 1642
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The son of the sculptor Nikolaus Lenckhardt, Adam, learned his craft with his father before travelling to Italy in 1632. Many of his works, both before and after that trip, are inspired by Italian prototypes, above all but not exclusively in the baroque manner. By 1638, Lenckhardt was in Vienna, and from 1642 he was court sculptor to Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein. A specialist in the carving of ivory, both in the round and in the form of reliefs, the small scale of his productions should not blind us to their extraordinary artistic distinction.
Archival records prove that Lenckhardt was extremely active in the service of Prince Karl Eusebius, and document his execution of no fewer than eleven ivory vessels for his patron from 1647 to 1655, of which there is now no trace. There are also references to his practice of making wax and wooden models prior to the final versions of his works in more expensive materials. Nevertheless, this stunning figure of the plague saint, Sebastian, hanging from a tree made of ebony, is one of two works by him in the collection (SK 1493). Here too the source of inspiration seems to be Italian, since the dangling and writhing saint bears a striking resemblance to one of Raphael’s most admired inventions. The figure in question is a male nude in his fresco of the 'Fire in the Borgo' in the Stanza dell’Incendio in the sequence of rooms known as the Raphael Stanze in the Vatican, which Lenckhardt could have been familiar with both in the original but equally through a print. The correspondence is not pedantically exact, but they both share the same sense of tormented energy and writhing motion.
- Material/technique
- ivory
- Measurements
- 43.4 × 19.5 × 19.5 cm incl. base; 36.7 cm without base
- Acquisition
- acquired in 1684 by Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Adam Lenckhardt
- Inventory number
- SK 306
- Provenance
- Acquired in 1684 by Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein
- Place of origin
- Vienna
- Iconography
- St. Sebastian
Eike Schmidt, Beauty bound and power unleashed: Jacobus Agnesius and the Quest for Expression in Baroque Ivory Sculpture, Maggie Nimkin (Fotograf), 1. Bd., New York 2011, S. 29–32, S. 34–35 , S. 41 (als Jacobus Agnesius)
Unbekannt, Inventarium, über all Ihro Fürstl. Gnaden Fürsten von Lichtenstein, in der Quardarob sich Befündenten Mobilien, so unter verrechnung dess Ferdinant romani Quardarobs Bestehen, ms 352 1678, S. fol. 102
Victor Fleischer, Fürst Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein als Bauherr und Kunstsammler (1611–1684), Wien 1910, S. 266
Edmund Wilhelm Braun, Der Wiener Elfenbeinschnitzer Adam Lenckhardt, in: Kunst und Kunsthandwerk 16 1913, S. 319, Abb. 6
Adolf Kronfeld, Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien, 3. Aufl., Wien 1931, S. XIX
W. Born, A newly discovered masterpiece of Adam Lenckhardt, in: Apollo 23, Nr. 133 1936, S. 41f., Abb. 6
Ch. Theuerkauff, Der Elfenbeinbildhauer Adam Lenckhardt, in: Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, Bd. 10 1965, S. 27, 49f., 70, Abb. 21
Oskar Sandner, Ausst.-Kat. Meisterwerke der Plastik aus Privatsammlungen im Bodenseegebiet, Bregenz 1967, S. 52, Kat. 71
Gustav Wilhelm, Die Fürsten von Liechtenstein und ihre Beziehungen zu Kunst und Wissenschaft, in: Liechtensteinische Kunstgesellschaft, Vaduz 1977, Bd. 1/1976, S. 9–180, S. 57
Eugen von Philippovich, Elfenbein. Ein Handbuch für Sammler und Liebhaber (Bibliothek für Kunst- und Antiquitätenfreunde, 17), 2., neubearb. und stark erweiterte Aufl., München 1982, S. 215/19
Mareike Bückling, Meisterwerke der Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Skulpturen – Kunsthandwerk – Waffen, Bern 1996, S. 78-79 u. 293, Kat. 23
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Le Collezioni, München 2004, Abb. S. 19
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Vienna. The Collections, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, Abb. S. 19
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Die Sammlungen, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, Abb. S. 19
Herbert Haupt, Fürst Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein 1611–1684. Erbe und Bewahrer in schwerer Zeit, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2007, S. 131, Abb. 139
