Baroque furnishing in Austrian churches

The study of baroque works of Austrian carpentry has been carried out within a fairly limited scope given the fact that to date there is no catalogue containing pieces of reference that would make possible the determination of the exact age as well as the attribution to certain regions. In fact, there is a sad lack of comprehensive studies on pieces of carpentry of certifiable date and origin. Such pieces of furniture are mainly found in ecclesiastical environments. The study to be undertaken is based on previous research funded by the FWF and will bring to the fore relevant ecclesiastical furniture. In recent years, a selection of pieces of carpentry of 40 monasteries and world churches situated in Lower Austria, Vienna, and Upper Austria was established. The results of the subsequent examinations were summed up in an extensive manuscript to be published by Böhlau Verlag in 2015. The first part of the publication expands on the historical development of church furniture and stylistic features of the several items. The second section contains an extensive catalogue on the relevant sets of furniture. Studying the works of carpentry of the remaining Austrian regions now makes perfect sense. A follow-up to the first volume, this projected volume is to discuss selected works of carpentry from another 50 ecclesiastical sites. Apart from efforts to contextualise artefacts as much as possible, the evaluation of documentary evidence hidden away in all kinds of archives has been another main thrust of my studies. In conjunction with this project, such documentation is apt to hugely facilitate the appreciation of a piece of furniture; and, what is even more, provide information on the guilds, the craftsmen, their lives and working conditions. All of this will eventually help us to sharpen our conception of carpenters and their workshops in the baroque era. An approach based on the scope and methods as applied to this study will enable us for the first time to produce a detailed survey of the Austrian stock of baroque furniture and furnishings. Sociological, historical, and economic issues have been addressed wherever possible to comply with the international standards of scientific output on the history of furniture.

The study of baroque works of Austrian carpentry has been carried out within a fairly limited scope given the fact that to date there is no catalogue containing pieces of reference that would make possible the determination of the exact age as well as the attribution to certain regions. In fact, there is a sad lack of comprehensive studies on pieces of carpentry of certifiable date and origin. Such pieces of furniture are mainly found in ecclesiastical environments. The study based on previous research funded by the FWF and will bring to the fore relevant ecclesiastical furniture. In recent years, a selection of pieces of carpentry of 90 Austrian monasteries and world churches was established. The furniture examined includes, above all, choir stalls, confessionals, pews and furnishings of sacristies and treasuries. Results and conclusions gained from the first stage of the project were collected in a book published by Böhlau Verlag in 2017. A second volume is now in preparation and scheduled for publication in 2019 or 2020. The book and the manuscript are each divided into two major sections. The first part of the book contains introductory chapters on the historical development of church furniture, the selection of carpenters by the authorities or patrons, the geographic location of carpentry workshops in Vienna and in the country as well as information on how the works were commissioned; general information on the conditions that proved influential in the making of sacral pieces of furniture is also provided. The introductory section of the second volume introduces readers to the working conditions and conditions of living of carpenters and the Austrian guilds in the early modern age. An extensive chapter also answers questions about planning processes, designs and models, as well as the division of work between carpenters, sculptors and other craftsmen and artists. Apart from efforts to contextualise artefacts as much as possible, the evaluation of documentary evidence hidden away in all kinds of archives has been another main thrust of my studies. In conjunction with this project, such documentation is apt to hugely facilitate the appreciation of a piece of furniture and provides information on economic and social history. All of this will eventually help us to sharpen our conception of carpenters and their workshops in the baroque era. An approach based on the scope and methods as applied to this study will enable us for the first time to produce a detailed survey of the Austrian stock of baroque furniture and furnishings and fulfille an important desideratum of art historical research. Sociological, historical, and economic issues have been addressed wherever possible to comply with the international standards of scientific output on the history of furniture.