ABSTRACT
Two bronze groups in Augsburg, Saint Michael and Lucifer on the facade of the Zeughaus and the Crucifixion in the basilica of St. Ulrich and Afra (1603–07), count among the best-known works by Hans Reichle (c. 1570–1642), the Bavarian sculptor who was trained in Florence (c. 1588–94) with Giambologna (1529–1608). Reichle worked mostly in terracotta, which was very uncommon in a geographical area such as Tyrol, where wooden sculpture played the leading role. The impressive forty-four figures of terracotta (each 150 cm high) representing a genealogical cycle of the Austrian Habsburgs (1596–1601) were commissioned by Bishop Andrea of Austria for the niches of the courtyard of his palace in Bressanone. This chapter discusses this commission in light of the context and function for which the terracotta cycle was conceived. The documents related to this commission shed new light on the process of making the statues, their materiality, and polychromy. Finally, by examining the Habsburg terracottas and their patronage, the contribution addresses the broader – but not yet studied, issue of the practice of terracotta sculpture in Tyrol.
