Franz Anton Bustelli (April 12, 1723 — April 18 1763) was a Swiss-born German modeller for the
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n Nymphenburg Porcelain Factory from 1754 to his death in 1763. He is widely regarded as the finest modeller of
porcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
in the
RococoRococo is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings...
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".
He was born in
LocarnoLocarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...
in Italian-speaking
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, and died in
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, Bavaria, just after his 40th birthday.
Franz Anton Bustelli (April 12, 1723 — April 18 1763) was a Swiss-born German modeller for the
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n Nymphenburg Porcelain Factory from 1754 to his death in 1763. He is widely regarded as the finest modeller of
porcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
in the
RococoRococo is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings...
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".
He was born in
LocarnoLocarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...
in Italian-speaking
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, and died in
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, Bavaria, just after his 40th birthday. Few details of his life are known, but he trained as a sculptor, probably mostly in wood, and perhaps 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, Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria. The factory moved in 1761 to the grounds of the Elector's
Nymphenburg PalaceThe Nymphenburg Palace , i.e. "Nymph's Castle", is a Baroque palace in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The palace was the main summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria.-History:...
near Munich, where it remains today, but its products are normally referred to as Nymphenburg for the earlier period as well. It was a relatively late entrant to the group of porcelain factories set up in Europe as the secrets of the techniques developed by
Johann Friedrich BöttgerJohann Friedrich Böttger was a Germanalchemist.He was generally acknowledged as the inventor of European porcelain although more recent sources ascribe this to Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus...
for the
MeissenMeissen porcelain is the first European hard-paste porcelain that was developed from 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his untimely death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger, continued his work and brought porcelain to the market, and he has often been credited with the invention...
factory in
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
(established in 1710) gradually leaked out. Bustelli was rapidly promoted to
Modellmeister, or head modeller, and created moulds for about 150 new models for Neudeck and Nymphenburg.
His first figures were small classical gods and putti, followed by a series of street vendors, as well as some larger religious figures, including a
CrucifixionCrucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
, that follow directly from the style of South German woodcarving of the period. In a series of Chinese and Turkish figures, from about 1756 onwards, reflecting the Rococo taste for
chinoiserieChinoiserie, a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences...
and
OrientalismOrientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. An "Orientalist" may be a person engaged in these activities, but it is also the traditional term for any scholar of Oriental studies...
, he reached the height of his powers, seen in the mature figures of the following years. The most famous of his works are a set of eight pairs of male and female single figures whose glances interact, portraying characters in the
Commedia dell'arteCommedia dell'arte is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century, maintained its popularity through the 17th century, and is still performed today. Performances were mostly unscripted, held outside and used few props...
(1759-60).
These were followed by groups of paired lovers and other figures, such as hounds. He was involved in the design of a large dinner service for the Elector, though the elaborate individual paintings, by Joseph Zächenberger, were not completed until after his death.
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
Johann Joachim KaendlerJohann Joachim Kändler was the most important modelleur of the Meissen porcelain manufacture.Kändler was born in Fischbach near Dresden, Germany. After apprenticing at the sculptor Thomae in Dresden, he became assistant of Johann Jakob Kirchner at Meissen porcelain, and succeeded him as...
of Meissen, Bustelli is the outstanding figure of Rococo porcelain, and his best work has a unique grace, energy, drama and often wit. His figures are thoroughly designed in the round, meant to be appreciated from all angles. The bases are unusually thin, and often include scroll-work that integrates elegantly with the figures. Some subjects are drawn from
engravingEngraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
s, and many seem to show the influence of the conventional theatrical gestures of the period.
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
chemistryChemistry is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions...
.
Today many Bustelli designs continue to be produced by Nymphenburg, though not from the original moulds, and using modern stamps. Original figures may fetch over $150,000. The best collections of original pieces are in Munich, in the Bavarian National Museum, where a whole room is devoted to his work, and the Baüml collection in the Marstallmuseum in Nymphenburg Palace; the Baüml family owned the factory between 1888 and 1975. Other museums all over the world have examples.
5196 Bustelli5196 Bustelli is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 30, 1973, by Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory. It is named after Franz Anton Bustelli , a modeller of Rococo porcelain.- External links :*...
(3102 T-2) is a main belt asteroid, discovered in 1973 and named after Bustelli; Böttger and Kaendler of Meissen have the two preceding numbers.
External links
- Large group at the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. Named after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, it was founded in 1852, and has since grown to now cover some and 145 galleries...
- Bustelli page at Nyphenburg Porcelain
- database of figures auctioned by Christie's
Christie's is a leading art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
; the largest group of images online.