- Museum number
- 1810,0113.1
- Description
-
Rectangular terracotta reduction of a sandstone monument of 1751 by Johann August Nahl (1710-95) in the church at Hindelbank, near Berne, Switzerland, commissioned by Pastor Georg Langhans in memory of his wife Maria Magdalena Langhans who died on Easter eve in childbrith at the age of twenty-eight. The tomb is shown opening up at the Resurrection as the mother and child beneath come to life. The upper surface is modelled with a cartouche to right of a skull and crossbones below a star in relief, and to left with a cartouche of a star surmounted by a crescent and a cross. Above the mother's head is a crown and beyond her feet a skull and a bone. At the lower end of the upper surface at either side is a leafy scroll in relief, terminating in a simgle scroll. A scroll in high relief extends either side of the baby's head as it rises up, placing its arm and hand above the central opening. The reverse is uneven, showing that the figures were inserted.
- Production date
- 1751 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 446 millimetres
-
Weight: 5422 grammes
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Width: 247 millimetres
-
Depth: 60 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- There are other examples of the terracotta in Spiez Castle, Swiss National Museum in Zurich, Yverdon and St. Gallen Museums, Switzerland. Some of these are reputed to be signed 'Sonnenschein', attributed to Johann Valentin Sonnenschein (1749-1828). A terracotta is in the Sevres Museum, inv. R 7870 MNC 16856, on loan from the Louvre Museum.
The popular tourist souvenir was copied at Niderviller, and there are examples at the Musee des arts decoratif, Paris. Several examples in porcelain were made at Nyon (Switzerland), modelled by Sonnenschein. One example, formerly at Chateau Ferney-Voltaire, was sold at Christie's, London, 18 May 1999, Lot 126, and subsequently with Dragesco-Cramoisan, Paris, and currently on loan to the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Another sold at Hotel Drouot to E & H Manners, London and is now in the Valsecchi Collection, at Palazzo Butera, Palermo, Sicily.
The tomb of Maria Langhans soon attracted visitors to the town of Hindelbank. It was admired by Goethe and Wieland, and was also known by artists. For an engraving and a long descriptive note, which gives the lengthy inscription on the monument (not on the terracotta), see Prints and Drawings Dept. (1917,1208.182 and 183) 'Tombeau de Madame Langhans' a Basle chez Chr: de Mechel (photocopy on file for OA 10766).
The monument is now in the Erlach family chapel, see Axel Christoph Gampp, 'Das Grabmal de Maria Magdalena Langhans von Johann August Nahl von 1751', "Art et Architecture en Suisse", 1995/1, pp. 72-5, and Babette Stadie-Lindner, 'Zimmerkenotaphe', doctoral dissertation, Freie Universitat Berlin, 1991, pp 171-5 and 315-21.
For further notes (as yet unpublished) on the status of this object, see file. AD 22/11/02
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2015 - 2016, Dec - Mar, Seoul Arts Centre, 'Human Image'
- Condition
- Reverse extensively firecracked with plaster infill in places.
Cleaned in 2012 for photography. NB existing digital image is not true to colour - the group is much redder.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1810,0113.1
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: OA.10766
