Max von Widnmann was born in Eichstätt, the youngest of three sons of Franz Amand Widnmann, who held the positions of court, town and regional physician, and his wife Maximiliana née Pöckhel, who also served as a town and local physician. After attending the gymnasium in Eichstätt, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1825. There he studied with Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler among others. His teachers made it possible for him to go to Rome from 1836 to 1839, and there he befriended and studied with Bertel Thorvaldsen, who was already a well-known sculptor.[1][2] He was also a friend of the Cologne architect Sulpiz Boisserée, whose art collection was acquired by Ludwig I for the Alte Pinakothek in 1827.
After returning from Rome, Widnmann became an independent artist in Munich, where Ludwig I soon began to commission works from him, including portrait busts for the Walhalla memorial near Regensburg. Ferdinand von Miller cast many of his sculptures in bronze.[3]
In 1849, Widnmann became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts,[2][4] succeeding Schwanthaler. His increasing recognition brought him many commissions from outside Bavaria. In 1849 he was made a member of the Order of St. Michael.[2] In 1887, the Prince Regent, Luitpold of Bavaria, personally ennobled him as a Knight of the Bavarian Crown.
Widnmann's statues projected an air of dignity that appealed to his contemporaries and brought him many commissions; however, his smaller works, such as the busts, have been regarded as more artistically successful.[4][5] Some of his work was destroyed in the bombing of Munich during World War II.
^ abcdefghij"Widnmann, Max", Friedrich Mueller, Die Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker oder, Leben und Werke der berühmtesten Baumeister, Bildhauer, Maler, Kupferstecher, etc., Volume 3, Stuttgart: Ebner & Seubert, 1864, OCLC680290293, p. 865(in German)
^"Giesskunst", J.A. Romberg and Friedrich Faber, Conversations-Lexicon für bildende Kunst, volume 3, Leipzig: Romberg, 1850, OCLC1443119, p. 74(in German)
^ abWilhelm Lübke, tr. F.E. Bunnett, History of Sculpture: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Time, London: Smith, Elder, 1872, OCLC2274613, Volume 2, p. 465.
Siegmund Freiherr von Pölnitz. "Max von Widnmann. Das Leben eines Künstlers unter König Ludwig I". Sammelblatt des Historischen Vereins Eichstätt 55 (1940) 3–19, 56/57 (1941/42) (in German)
Edwart Mager. "Max von Widnmann. Ein vergessener Eichstätter Künstler". Historische Blätter für Stadt und Landkreis Eichstätt 27.2 (1978) (in German)
Media related to Max von Widnmann at Wikimedia Commons
