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Ferdinand Hundt

Ferdinand Hundt, sometimes known as Ferdinand Hund, (born July 2, 1703 in Ebersbach in Altshausen, † February 28, 1758 in Bruchsal) was a German carpenter. He was one of the most outstanding artistic carpenters and ornamental carvers of the German Rococo. His works in the audience chamber of the Würzburg Residence are regarded as style-defining and unequaled.

Life

Ferdinand Hundt was born on 2 July 1703 in Ebersbach near Altshausen. His father worked there as a carpenter and probably gave his son Ferdinand his first education. Nothing specific is known about Ferdinand Hundt's apprenticeship and years of travel, but a connection to Vienna has to be taken into consideration. Acccording to the file of records of Würzburg Residence, he was documented in 1735 as the art carpenter of the court. In 1736, he had at least nine journeymen under his surveillance and that same year he obtained his master`s degree in Würzburg. Ferdinand Hundt made excellent casting models for the gilded pewter ornaments of the wall decoration for the second episcopal dwelling and the parade rooms of the residence based on the designs of Johann Rudolf Byss (1660-1738). The ornamental rates on the Schönborn chapel's main portal in Würzburg are probably his work as well. As the second episcopal residence of the Würzburg Residence fell victim to the changing taste of the times, only few items remained. From this time, one fire screen, now in the hall of mirrors of the Würzburg Residence, and another elaborately designed fire screen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art have been preserved, both of which are attributed to Fedinand Hundt. The interior design of the Würzburg Residence's audience chamber are considered to be the main work in the artistic creations of Ferdinand Hundt around 1740. The ornamental carving of this room is considered to be one of the most beautiful creations originating from the German Rococo. Sedlmeier/Pfister also describe Ferdinand Hundt as a creative ornamentist "whose inclination to the wild, 'dripping' liquid rocaille, tending towards the turbulent, rotating, wave-like, yet palmette-like, but already quite asymmetrically radiant is quite 'novel' within the Würzburg art circle in 1740".

Above all, Ferdinand Hundt is regarded as a highly qualified ornamental carver, which is also the most suitable term for his outstanding way of working. Another new language of forms, developed by Ferdinand Hundt himself and completely new to the audience chamber of the Würzburg Residence as of 1740, is the freely moving Rocaille, more or less as an increase of a naturalistic variety of forms. In Hundt's work, this variety appears lively and almost effervescent, changing from one motif into another, like the process of a living, ever-changing metamorphosis. This creative achievement in design and execution by Ferdinand Hundt has been worked out by Dr. Verena Friedrich with regard to the Würzburg Residence as the consistent style change from Regence to Rococo with the free Rocaille ornament. Apparently starting in the Venetian room, this process culminates in the furnishing of the audience chamber. . Ferdinand Hundt is the first Rococo artist working in the Würzburg Residence, followed by the plasterer Antonio Bossi. As a characteristic of the ornamental style developed by Ferdinand Hundt, Friedrich notes that one can almost "believe in a difference in the material used, so soft and supple, yet asymmetrical and completely independent in its form, are the rocailles on the corners of the Lambris frames in Würzburg. It almost seems as if Ferdinand Hundt had made the models for his carving figures out of a plastic material, in clay, wax, or perhaps in stucco." At the same time, Ferdinand Hundt integrates the familiar vegetal forms, as well as other ornaments from the Regence, into the new style. "The structural and therefore most radical change, however, is the reversal of the relationship between ornament motif and frame". As a result, the ornament no longer simply decorates the body of frames, consoles or panels, but forms them themselves. The outstanding attachment to the fireplace mirror in the audience chamber of Würzburg exemplifies the same: it is made entirely of ornament and freely moving rocaille shapes. The sheer variety of merging motifs testifies to the great creative potential of this extraordinary artist. In his later years, his works never once again showed the filigree and imposing character of the audience chamber which seems to be overflowing with ideas. The supraportas, the trumeaus with mirrors on the window side of the Würzburg Residence's audience chamber and above all the mirror on top of the fireplace, which yet again outshines the previously mentioned, fortunately survived the war bombardment of 1945 undamaged. They are testimonies to an extraordinary, unrivaled artistic ingenuity and craftsmanship quality. Prior to his transfer to Bruchsal in the service of Prince Bishop of Hutten in November 1751, which was mediated by Balthasar Neumann, Hundt was then active for Seehof Castle in Memmelsdorf near Bamberg at the latest from the beginning of 1750. There, he entered the service of the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, Johann Philipp Anton von and zu Franckenstein (1746-53). Ferdinand Hundt manufactured a number of pieces of equipment for Schloss Seehof within the Corps de Logis, which are among the most outstanding of carving furniture of the German Rococo. These include the frames of the fireplace mirror and the supraportas in the White Hall, the Four-Seasons console tables, the console table with hunting emblems, a white-golden night commode, the frames of the supraportas in the bedroom and audience chamber and the famous trelliswork set. The ornamentation on the trelliswork set corresponds essentially to that of the fireplace mirror and support frames in the White Hall of Schloss Seehof. The Four-Seasons console tables in their expressive style and in their structure of flowing ornament correspond to the fireplace mirror frame from the audience chamber of the Würzburg Residence. All these jewellery furniture and console tables were probably made around 1750 by Ferdinand Hundt for Schloss Seehof. As a hunting lodge, Schloss Seehof can be compared to the Würzburg Residence or Schloss Bruchsal by its artistic value. Probably through the mediation of Balthasar Neumann, Ferdinand Hundt then came to Schloss Bruchsal in the services of the Speyer prince-bishop Franz Christoph von Hutten and is therefore cited for the first time as "court carpenter". That time, Bruchsal Castle was home to a number of outstanding artists who, in the service of Balthasar Neumann, had already proven themselves in Würzburg and had now been commissioned to furnish the festival rooms and parade rooms. The plasterer Johann Michael Feuchtmayer (1709-1772), the fresco painter Johann Zick (1702-1762), his son Januarius Zick (1730-1797), and finally the painter Johann Nikolaus Treu (1734-1786) have to be mentioned in this context, since it was them who helped develop Schloss Bruchsal into a jewel of the Baroque.

During this time, Ferdinand Hundt was responsible for the wall-fixed equipment, door panels, numerous mirror frames on the trumeaus and probably also several console tables in the Corps de Logis. The equipment of all these living quarters of Schloss Bruchsal has been almost completely lost due to bomb attacks and fire at the end of the Second World War, as only few of them had been outsourced. Fortunately, around four hundred very good photographs have survived from the main premises.