TILGNER, Victor Oskar - b. 1844 Pressburg, d. 1896 Wien - WGA

TILGNER, Victor Oskar

(b. 1844 Pressburg, d. 1896 Wien)

Austrian sculptor. He was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava), but the family moved to Vienna when he was a child. His talent was recognized early by the sculptor Franz Schönthaler (1821-1904), who became his first teacher. Then, at the Academy of Fine Arts, he studied under Franz Bauer (1798-1872) and Josef Gasser (1816-1900). Later, he was attracted to engraving and worked with the medalist Joseph Daniel Böhm (1794-1865).

He belonged to the circle of artists around Count Karol Lanckoroñski. During the World Exhibition of 1873, he met the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Gustave Deloye, who strongly influenced his work and introduced him to the Baroque Revival style. The following year, he took a trip to Italy with Hans Makart, whose “realistic academicism” also influenced Tilgner’s style.

For the last twenty years of his life, he had a large studio in what was originally a greenhouse at the Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna. He was a successful portraitist, modelling busts of many members of Vienna’s social elite. He was, however, passionately interested in monumental sculpture, and was responsible for the designs for the sculptural programmes adorning many of the most important public buildings on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, including the Burgtheater and the Naturhistorisches Museum. Most famously, he created the monument to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Burggarten.

Despite a long-standing heart condition and recurring chest pain, he spent a strenuous day working on his Mozart monument, to get it ready on schedule. He died of a heart attack the next morning. Often considered to be his greatest work, the monument was unveiled a few days after his death. The bulk of his estate was bequeathed to his hometown and is now on display at the Bratislava City Gallery.

Gladiator and Defeated Slave
Gladiator and Defeated Slave by

Gladiator and Defeated Slave

This plaster group is clearly inspired by one of Jean-L�on G�r�me’s paintings, his Pollice Verso of 1872, in which a triumphant Gladiator treads his sandal into the neck of his defeated opponent, his sword held outstretched, whilst he turns towards the crowd for bloodthirsty instruction (Phoenix Art Museum).

Mozart Monument
Mozart Monument by

Mozart Monument

The most important monument in the Burggarten of the Hofburg in Vienna is the marble statue of Mozart with a music stand on a large marble pedestal. The pedestal has two sections, the upper sections with Mozart’s name and dates, with bronze and marble musical instruments; and on the lower section a relief with scenes from Don Giovanni, ‘The Invitation” and ‘The Stone Guest’ respectively. On the sides are theatre masks and putti with music instruments.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 38 minutes):

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony in C Major (Jupiter-Symphony) K 551

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