ABSTRACT
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt had the misfortune of coming into his own as a professional sculptor at a time when the understanding of the artist's role in society underwent profound transformation. The entire early modern era witnessed a broad shift in perceptions of the artist: a traditional view of artistry as craft, the skillful making of intelligently designed things, slowly ceded to one in which art became linked to profound individual vision, highly developed intellect, and inspiration. Within German-speaking Europe, the Viennese setting in which Messerschmidt lived lagged even further behind its more progressive northern counterparts in the development of a socially applicable art theory. Messerschmidt's academic failure took place after nearly a century of institutional confusion and occasionally chaos at the Vienna Academy. Messerschmidt also fulfilled several commissions for the imperial rulers themselves, including the noteworthy full-sized tin sculptures of the Emperor and Empress completed in 1765.
