The Epitaphs of St. Stephen´s, Vienna (Austria)

The aim of this project is to furnish a detailed study and description of the epitaphs in the Wiener Stephansdom (St. Stephen`s, Vienna). It will comprise the still existing sculpted epitaphs dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries, but also those works which have vanished in the course of time, yet are documented in the so called Codex Gartenschmid (Széchényibibliothek Budapest, fol. germ. 1529). Analysing all of these will establish a solid basis for a comprehensive inventory. Here the plan is a monographic presentation of the epitaphs in chronological order in the form of catalogue entries completed by essays on various topics showing the relations of those works of art within art historical (local as well as international), historical, sociological, theological and other contexts. The focus will be on artists and styles and this is bound to furnish answers to major research issues such as the dating of works and attribution to artists or workshops. Questions of influence, provenance of particular motives and the ways they may have been passed on, of graphical models, of materials and original colouring will have to be discussed alongside those of principals, historical, religious and political contexts and backgrounds. Research on iconographical and iconological matters will complement this together with general considerations on images in sepulchral sculpture, the changing perception of death in particular epochs, reliefs and related issues. The project will bring considerable advances in all the issues mentioned above. The application of methods will be adapted to the nature of the objects. Together with the classical approach of stylistic analysis, material analysis as well as iconographical and iconological methods will be made use of, but always with the eventual aim of gradually unveiling the essence of those epitaphs as works of art and parts of a larger whole. This will reveal the workings of intellectual and social history in the true sense of the word, as findings will relate to the fields of history of art, the development of cities and regions, but equally religious and cultural changes and will have their impacts on other fields of scientific research. The project will furthermore be conducted in close co-operation with the Arbeitsgruppe Inschriften (Project Team for Inscriptions) of the Forschungsstelle für Geschichte des Mittelalters at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The main results of the project concern artists, stylistic trends, dating, and the attributions to artists and workshop groups. Questions of influence, of the origin of individual motifs and the manner in which they were mediated, questions of graphic models, of material and colour, just as much as those of patrons and historical, as well as religious-political, contexts were thoroughly analyzed. Hand in hand with this went investigations into iconography and iconology. The viewing and assessment of historical photos in the Cathedral Archive ("Domarchiv") of St. Stephen`s, in the Photo Collection of the Institute for Art History of Vienna University ("Institut für Kunstgeschichte"), and in the Image Archive of the Austrian National Library ("Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek"), made possible reconstruction attempts of destroyed or vanished monuments. Together with cooperating partner Dr. Renate Kohn, a reconstruction of the historical location of the monuments was carried out on the basis of the evidence of written sources and photographs. In the course of the intensive and detailed analysis of the Renaissance epitaphs, particularly of the works of the early 16th century, three large core areas were investigated with corresponding success and results: . 1. For the sculptors who made the epitaphs for St. Stephen`s indirect renaissance reception via Augsburg, Nuremberg or humanist circles was decisive, whereas other works in Vienna were made under direct Italian influence or made by non-local (Augsburg) masters. 2. In the context of questions of attribution - more specifically, in the context of everything that had previously been brought together under the name of Michael Tichter and workshop - it was possible to establish a new order and above all to outline more precisely the artistic profile of Michael Tichter himself. Essentially it can be proposed, on the one hand, that in the works previously most closely associated with Michael Tichter - in the balustrade figures on the tomb of Friedrich III in St. Stephen`s - his role must be rethought; and that, on the other, it is precisely in those works that were less willingly associated with him - namely the epitaph for Johannes Kaltenmarkter, signed and dated `M.T. 1517` - that he becomes tangible as an artistic personality. 3. It has been possible to identify certain new aspects relating to the (Vienna) humanists` conceptions of memoria. In connection with Conrad Celtis and his epitaph in St. Stephen`s it can be demonstrated and documented with corresponding sources that this important humanist`s conception of life after death, whilst metaphysical, was by no means restricted to living on through his writings and all that was left behind.