Baroque furnishings in Austrian churches

While countries like Germany, France and Italy abound in publications on furniture of the 17th and 18th centuries, there is a striking dearth of such publications to be found in Austria. There are, true, some older contributions on furnishings of that period. Those, however, squarely fail to provide a general overview of the national Baroque furniture in its entirety. Hence an appropriate study has been considered a major desideratum by scholars in the field. In order to secure a framework of data of reference, any such study has to be based on an approach reaching out far enough to track and describe religious pieces of carpentry of certifiable date and origin. This approach has been backed by a research project funded by the FWF. Given the staggering amount of furniture still in existence the study was decided to be published in two volumes. Volume one, now ready for print, focuses on pieces of carpentry from forty abbeys and other churches located in Austrias eastern regions. The manuscript falls into three sections: the first provides the basic concepts necessary for the understanding of the study by opening up a historical perspective including the general situation of churches and abbeys after the war of religion and the war against the Ottomans as well as the vigorous pace of construction in Austrias eastern regions since the late 17th century. In this broader context, a focus is placed on the patrons who commissioned the works, the carpenters working for the monasteries themselves and those organized in guilds so as to accurately trace the history of sacred pieces of art largely unknown even to experts. A summary of the development of styles and designs of the furniture is added based on the results gleaned from the prior scrutiny of the several pieces. The catalogue itself makes up the second part of the book. Individual chapters deal with the individual religious sites, first citing relevant information upon which subsequent investigation of the furniture is based so as to be able to establish a chronological framework. The third part of the book contains indices and a comprehensive bibliography. The present volume spans a period from the early 17th century down to the late 18th. First and foremost it was religious pieces of art that were included. The present study also provides the groundwork for a distinction of furniture from the east of the country from pieces from the western and southern provinces allowing for more precise chronological references. Primary sources and critical evaluation of styles have been used to confirm existing attributions of designs to certain artists, while new attributions are submitted for discussion.