Franz Anton Bustelli
Franz Anton Bustelli (12 April 1723 – 18 April 1763) was a Swiss-born German modeller for the Bavarian Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory from 1754 to his death in 1763. He is widely regarded as the finest modeller of porcelain in the Rococo style: "if the art of European porcelain finds its most perfect expression in the rococo style, so the style finds its most perfect expression in the work of Bustelli".[2]
Bustelli was born in Locarno in Italian-speaking Switzerland, and died in Munich, Bavaria, just after his 40th birthday. Few details of his life are known, but he trained as a sculptor, probably mostly in wood,[3] in Italy. He spoke and wrote German fluently, and may have grown up in Bavaria.
Nymphenburg
Bustelli joined the Neudeck factory in Munich in 1754, the year after it was established by the local ruler,
His first figures were small classical gods and
Bustelli produced models that were made into moulds, and after Nymphenburg introduced painted figures in 1756, he executed or designed the paint scheme for a finished model to be followed by the factory's painters. Models were produced in both polychrome and plain white examples, with the latter more numerous, and the colouring often varying considerably between examples (see picture above). With the older, and far more prolific, modeller
He was not very highly paid, and his possessions at his death included furniture and personal effects, some of his own figures, 228 engravings, and 31 books on chemistry[2]
Today many Bustelli designs continue to be produced by Nymphenburg, though not from the original moulds, and using modern stamps. Other museums all over the world have examples.
Notes
- ^ Example in white Archived 7 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine from Swansea, and a different colour scheme Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine from Christie's
- ^ a b "Rococo Retrospective". Time. 30 August 1963. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008.
- ^ Campbell, Grove
- ^ "Sigmund Graf von Haimhausen, Gründungspräsident der Kurbayerischen Akademie". Bayerische Nationalmuseum. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
- ^ Three putti as classical deities Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Christie's
- ^ Cheese-seller Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine from Christie's
- ^ Bowing Oriental Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine from Christie's
- ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art Columbine
- ^ Campbell, Grove
- ^ Nymphenburg "Electoral Court Service"; 2 original plates at bottom Archived 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Savage, 156
- ^ Bustelli page at Archived 26 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Nymphenburg Porcelain
- ^ "Christie's Lot". Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
- ^ "another". Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
- ^ Iovine, Julie V. (25 May 2000). "18th-Century Rococo a Rave in Techno-Today". The New York Times.
- ^ Munich Tourist office with visiting details
- ^ Nymphenburg Porcelain history.
- ^ Lutz D. Schmadel, Dictionary of Minor Planet Names International Astronomical Union, 2003, s.v. "Bustelli".
References
- Gordon Campbell, The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, Volume 1, "Bustelli, Franz-Anton (p. 163), Oxford University Press US, 2006, ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3
- George Savage, Porcelain Through the Ages, Penguin, (2nd edn.) 1963
- See German article for extensive bibliography of works in German
External links
- Large group at the Victoria and Albert Museum
- Database of figures auctioned by Christie's; the largest group of images online.