The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Christ at the Column

1756

Johann Baptist Hagenauer

(Austrian, 1732–1810)
Austria
gilt bronze
Overall: 19.6 x 10.2 x 11.3 cm (7 11/16 x 4 x 4 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1953.286
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

With the energy of the imbalanced composition, Hagenauer emphasizes this heightened moment of the Passion of Christ.

Description

Considered to be one of the masterpieces of his youth, Hagenauer cast this bronze while a student at the Vienna Academy, where he studied between 1754 and 1759. The authorship and date is verified by an inscription found at the base of the stake: IOANNES HAGENAUER SALISBURGENSIS INVENIT ED FECIT 1756. This signature appears on several of Hagenauer's early works.
  • 1913-52
    Emil Delmar [1876-1959], Budapest, Hungary, sold to R. Stora and Company
    1952-53
    (R. Stora and Company, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1953-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hans Friedeberger, "Die Jahrhundertausstellung deutscher Kunst 1650-1800, Darmstadt 1914, Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, VIII (1913) 305, figure 25.
    Biermann, Georg. Deutsches Barock und Rokoko. Leipzig: E.E. Schwabach, 1914. p. 656 no.1126, repr; listed p. LXXVI.
    Georg Sobotka, "Johann Baptist Hagenauer," Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Institutes, Wien, XIV (1920) 4-6, figures 3, 34
    Tietze-Conrat, E. Österreichische barockplastik. Wien: A. Schroll & Co., g. m. b. h, 1920. p. 31, pl. 87
    "Hagenauer," Thieme-Becker, vol. XV, (1922) 466
    Planiscig, Leo. Die Bronzeplastiken: Statuetten, Reliefs, Geräte und Plaketten : Katalog mit den Abb. sämtlicher Stücke. 1924 cat. no. 378.
    Stix, Alfred. Exposition d'art autrichien: mai-juin, 1937. Paris: Braun, 1937. p. 21, plate 21, cat. no.104
    Kunstmuseum Bern. Kunst und Kunstgewerbe: Sonderausstellung 1939/40. [Bern]: Kunstmuseum, 1940. #13, listed and repr.
    Feulner, Adolf, and Theodor Müller. Geschichte der deutschen Plastik. München: F. Bruckmann, 1953. vol. II, 593-94, figure 487
    W. M. Milliken, "'Christ at the Column' by Hagenauer," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, XLI (March 1954), Cleveland, Ohio p.48, 53, p. 49 repr.
    Edward A. Maser, "A Monument for a Patron of Mozart," University of Kansas. The Register of the Museum of Art (January 1956) 67, n. 7
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 256 archive.org
    William Mathewson Milliken, The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958 p. 44, repr.
    Edward A. Maser, "German and Austrian Rococo in American Collections," Connoisseur, CXLV (March 1960) p. 133-4, figure 5
    Jennifer Montagu, Bronzes, Pleasures and Treasures (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1963) p. 105, figure 113
    Eberhard Hempel, Baroque Art and Architecture in Central Europe, trans. Elisabeth Hempel and Marguerite Kay, Pelican History of Art (Harmondsworth/Baltimore: Penguin, 1965) p. 295
    Jewett Art Center, Baroque Sculpture and the Decorative Arts: A Loan Exhibition (Wellesley, MA,: Wellesley College, 1965) no. 31
    Baroque Sculpture and the Decorative Arts, Wellesley: Wellesley College Jewish Arts Center, March 1965 fig. 31
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 149 archive.org
    Hans R. Weihrauch, Europäische Bronzestatuetten, (Braunschweig: Klinckhardt and Biermann, 1967) p. 442, figure 525
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 149 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 165 archive.org
    Ditner, David Charles. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century European Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art, PhD. Dissertation (Ohio, Case Western Reserve University, 1985) p. 362
    Krapf, Michael, Sabine Grabner, Georg Raphael Donner. 1693-1741, (Wien, Austria: Osterreichische Galerie, 1993) pp. 525-527, cat. #146, p. 527, repr.
    Galavics, Geza. Budapesti Torteneti Muzeum. Baroque Art in Central-Europe (Budapest: Budapesti Torteneti Muzeum, 1993) mentioned p. 412
    Brucher, Gunter, Die Kunst des Barock in Österreich, (Salzburg: Residenz, 1994) p. 189
    Rózsavölgyi, Andrea. "20 Years in Emigration. Emil Delmar and His Collection" In Hungary in context: studies on art and architecture, edited by Anna Tüskés, Áron Tóth, Miklós Székely, pp. 239-251. Budapest: CentrArt, 2013. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 247-248
  • Georg Raphael Donner. Osterreichische Galeri, Vienna, Austria (organizer) (May 1-August 1, 1993).
    Oberlin, OH, Allen Memorial Art Museum, October 29- December 15, 1991: "Art in the Age of Mozart,"
    Central Europe: 1600-1800. John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL (organizer) (January 27-February 27, 1972).
    Baroque Sculpture. Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (organizer) (March 7-27, 1965).
    The Age of Excellence: Rococo and It's Effect. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (April 25-June 14, 1959).
    Baltimore, MD, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Age of Elegance: Rococo and its Effect, April 25 to June 14, 1959. no. 285 in catalog; repr. p. 74.
    Kansas City, MO, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, The Century of Mozart, Jan. 15 to Mar. 4, 1956. cat. no.51.
    Lawrence, Kansas, University of Kansas Museum of Art, German and Austrian Sculpture of the Eighteenth Century, October 15 to November 30, 1955. cat. no.5.
    Bern, Switzerland, Kunstmuseum, Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, Sonderausstellung, Privat-sammlung <Dr. E. Delmar>,"1939-40, cat. no. 13, pl. 13.
    Paris, France, Musée du Jeu de Paume, 1937, Exposition d'Art Autrichien, 1937, cat. no. 104, illus. pl. 21.
    Zurich, Austria, Kunsthaus, Osterreichische Kunst, 1937, no. 129.
    Vienna, Schönbrunn, Maria-Theresia Ausstellung, 1930, p. 156, no. 8, illus. (date incorrectly cited as "1786").
    Darmstadt, Germany, Deutsches Barock und Rokoko, 1914, vol. I, p. L, vol. II, pl. 1126.
  • {{cite web|title=Christ at the Column|url=false|author=Johann Baptist Hagenauer|year=1756|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.286