Ignaz Günther

Gravestone for Ignaz Günther at the Benedictine Abbey Church of St. Marinus and St. Anianus in Rott am Inn

Günther's Maria Immaculata (ca. 1750), now in the Bode Museum in Berlin

Ignaz Günther (born November 22, 1725 in Altmannstein, Germany; died June 27, 1775 in Munich) was a German sculptor and woodcarver within the Bavarian rococo tradition.

He studied under Johann Baptist Straub from 1743 to 1750 and under Paul Egell in Mannheim from 1751 to 1752. In 1753, he worked at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. In 1754, he started his own shop in Munich.

He is best remembered for his work in churches, especially his altars.

[edit] Major Works

Altmannstein—Church of the Holy Cross (1763–1764)
Aschau im Chiemgau—Gallery of Ancestors in Burg Hohenaschau (two wooden statues) (1766)
Benediktbeuern—Church of St. Benedikt (side altars, attributed)
Freising—Neustift Monastery Church (high altar) (1756)
Gmund am Tegernsee—Parish Church of St. Ägidius (gilded wooden relief on north side altar) (1763)
Greisstätt-Altenhohenau—Monastery Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (altars) (1767)
Ingolstadt—Minorite Church (Preysing epitaph) (1770)
Mallersdorf—Mallersdorf Abbey (high altar) (1768–1770)
Munich—Bürgersaalkirche (guardian angels under the organ gallery) (1762)
Munich—Pieces in the Bavarian National Museum, including his Hausmadonna for private devotion
München-Harlaching—Pilgrimage Church of St. Anna (altars) (1763&1764)
Nenningen—Cemetery Chapel (pietà—last known work of Günther) (1774)
Rott am Inn—Benedictine Abbey Church of St. Marinus and St. Anianus) (high altar, side altars, and figures of the Trinity, St. Kunigunde, St. Henry, St. Corbinian, and St. Ulrich) (1761–1762)
Starnberg—St. Joseph's Church (high altar) (1766–1768)
Weyarn—Catholic Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (woodcarving on high altar, including Annunciation, pietà, putti, the carved St. Valerius shrine, and silver-framed tabernacle) (1763–1764)