Leonhard Kern

Leonhard Kern (born November 22, 1588 at Forchtenberg - died April 4, 1662 in Schwäbisch Hall) is a German sculptor. Leonhard Kern was born November 22, 1588 in the city of Forchtenberg in Hohenlohe. He is the son of the elder Michael Kern, a stonemason and builder. He attended the Gymnasium Öhringen and, from 1603 to 1609 with his older brother Michael Kern the Younger, his apprenticeship as a sculptor in Würzburg. Then he made a study tour in Italy until 1613/14, with a hook in North Africa. He stayed two years in Rome, where he devoted himself intensively to Italian sculpture of the 16th century. In 1613 he goes through and Gornji Grad Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he made the altar of which is his first collegiate dated work. He later returns to the country. In 1614, he married Amalia Zöllner, daughter of a clerk, Forchtenberg. They have at least 14 children, most of whom died at a young age. He first worked in the studio of his brother Michael, then went to Heidelberg to the court of the Elector Palatine Frederick V, for which, in 1617 he made a monumental group in Nuremberg for the City Hall. The involvement of the Palatinate in the Thirty Years War forced him to leave Heidelberg in 1620 and settled in the imperial city of Schwäbisch Hall. He founded his own workshop, where he specialized in the production of small figurines as parts firm with a very thematic vaste. In 1648 he was appointed court sculptor of Brandenburg. Many of his works among the best become the property of considerable art collectors - usually nobles and princes - throughout Europe for their cabinets of art and curiosity. He accumulated a considerable fortune, which allows it to acquire the small castle of Tullau. He died April 4, 1662 in his home town of Schwäbisch Hall.Le work equipment he uses most often is ivory. Besides the religious scenes, mythological and genre are also reflected in his work the horrors of the Thirty Years War, which he could attend Schwäbisch Hall. Son basic work is characterized by the high level of technical mastery and competence in art and creation. In terms of style, it represents the trend in realistic and classic German Baroque sculpture. We consider him one of the Germany's most important sculptors of 17th century.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Kern

One of the most important German sculptors of his time, Leonhard Kern's first sculpting teacher was his brother Michael. From 1609 to 1614, Leonhard traveled through Italy even into northern Africa. After returning to Germany, he spent time in Heidelberg and Nürnberg before settling in Schwäbisch Hall in 1620 and obtaining citizenship there. He first owned a house on the Gelbinger Gasse, later in the Pfargasse there. The success he found producing small figures earned him a considerable fortune. But in the 1640s his financial condition worsened as a result of the Thirty Years' War. In 1640 he was elected a member of the outer council of the town, and in 1648 was named court sculptor of the Brandenburg Prince Electorate. In 1651 he returned and moved to the Schlößchen Tullau near Schwäbisch Hall, which had bought, and where he stayed until 1661.

Leonhard Kern worked most of his small statues in ivory, alabaster, and beechwood. They were purchased and collected mostly by noble and common connoisseurs, the point not so much being the subjects but the virtuosity of the carving and the aesthetic perfection. His chief inspirations were the sculptures of Giovanni Bologna, Adriaen de Vries, Conrat Meit, and the graphic prints of Dürer, Aldegrever, Beham, etc. His students include Johann Jakob Betzoldt and his own nephew Johann Georg Kern.

Only a few of his works were signed with the monogram LK. Many works are assigned to Leonhard Kern on purely stylistic grounds, where sometimes the academic opinion is split.