Das Churfürstliche St. Elisabeth oder Herzogs- und St. Josephs Spittal in München

Title

Das Churfürstliche St. Elisabeth oder Herzogs- und St. Josephs Spittal in München

Description

View of the duke spital in Munich

ca. 1710

Artist

Wening (1645-1718)

Michael Wening was a Bavarian engraver who is known for his many depictions of important places in the Bavaria of his day, including cityscapes and views of stately homes, castles and monasteries. The work has great historical value. Michael Wening was born on 11 July 1645 in Nuremberg, Bavaria. Wening left Nuremberg in the spring of 1668, and is first mentioned in Munich in December 1669, where he applied for work at the court as an engraver. At this time he converted from the Protestant to the Catholic church, perhaps because it was very hard for non-Catholics to find work in Munich. He married Anna Maria Mörl on 27 January 1671, and was given a permanent residence permit for Munich. In 1672 Wening was working part-time at the court as a quartermaster, arranging receptions and travel, and increasingly being called an engraver in court orders. By 1675 he was being called "court engraver". In the years that followed Wening undertook small commissions for a number of clients. He founded a publishing company in the late 1670s and for ten years issued an illustrated calendar. In 1680 Wening made a copper engraving of the fireworks display for the 18th birthday of Max Emanuel, the Elector of Bavaria. He now began to receive regular orders, particularly for engravings to illustrate the Elector's war victories. He made numerous scenes of battles in the wars against the Ottoman Empire, which was trying to expand into Europe. These have considerable historical value. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) Bavaria was occupied by the Austrians, a disaster for Wening as court engraver of the exiled Wittelsbachs, while the general economic difficulties meant that Wening got few private commissions. Despite this, Wening continued to undertake his most significant work at his own cost. In his last years he lived in extreme poverty.

Historical Description

Munich- Munchen, the name of the city is derived from the Old/Middle High German term Munichen, meaning "by the monks". It derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who ran a monastery at the place that was later to become the Old Town of Munich; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat of arms. Munich was first mentioned in 1158. From 1255 the city was seat of the Bavarian Dukes. Black and gold — the colours of the Holy Roman Empire — have been the city's official colours since the time of Ludwig the Bavarian, when it was an imperial residence. Following a final reunification of the Wittelsbachian Duchy of Bavaria, previously divided and sub-divided for more than 200 years, the town became the country's sole capital in 1506. Catholic Munich was a cultural stronghold of the Counter-Reformation and a political point of divergence during the resulting Thirty Years' War, but remained physically untouched despite an occupation by the Protestant Swedes; as the townsfolk would rather open the gates of their town than risk siege and almost inevitable destruction. Like wide parts of the Holy Roman Empire, the area recovered slowly economically. Having evolved from a duchy's capital into that of an electorate (1623), and later a sovereign kingdom (1806), Munich has been a centre of arts, culture and science since the early 19th century.