A pair of monumental atlases made of marbled sandstone from the Main-Franconia region. Formerly part of the gate portal of the house ‘Zu den zwei Bären’ (At the Two Bears) at Töngesgasse 40 in Frankfurt. The portal was demolished in 1896, after the entire building complex had been slowly demolished from 1874 onwards. A vivid description of this process can be found in the manuscript of Carl Theodor Reiffenstein (1820-1893, landscape painter and Frankfurt chronicler, see ‘Sammlung Frankfurter Ansichten’), who described the portal as early as 1853: ‘4 May 1853: A stately house, above whose entrance gate, richly surrounded with stonework, two bears of very good workmanship can be found, symbolising the name of the house." (See: Photograph from around 1896). 

The district around Töngesgasse suffered severe damage in the Great Christian Fire of 1719: ‘Between Liebfrauenberg and Fahrgasse, and between Schnurgasse and Töngesgasse, 400 houses burnt down within 15 hours 00 houses burnt down, causing an estimated 800,000 fl. damage.’ Furthermore: ’The part of the city affected by the damage had to be completely rebuilt from the ground up [...]. The buildings constructed at that time are unadorned and in the most sober style. Only a few houses in Töngesgasse (such as the Engelthaler Hof), but in particular a larger number in Schnurgasse, show a richer design in the style of the late 18th century, with some rather pretty details and latticework.’

Two sculptors who definitely worked on the buildings in the rebuilt quarter were Johann Georg Schön (1680-1740) and Cornelius Andreas Donett (also Donnet, 1682 - 1748). Schmidt describes the former as an artist who ‘deserves’ to be seen in more than just the two buildings mentioned. These were the corner house of Schnur- and Kornblumen-Gasse and a man in armour on the corner of Fahr- and Tönges-Gasse.

This narrows the field of candidates down to Donett: ‘Until 1748, the sculptor Donnet was active here, and he created the work on the “King of England” and the statue of Charles VII on the “Roman Emperor”. The work on the King of England consists, among other things, of two atlantes next to the entrance gate, which can be compared stylistically with the atlantes from the house ‘Zu den zwei Bären’.

Other works by Donett on the newly created sculpture and spolia wall of the Historisches Museum in Frankfurt also allow for comparison, in particular the statues of Minerva and Pluto. What they all have in common is a certain ‘Rubenesqueness’, for which Donett had already been praised by Schmidt in 1790. He continues: ‘Donett, honoured with applause, and the only one among many, gave Frankfurt a picture in memory of this, the original of which is generally owed here so much good.’

Right Atlas: 132 x 68 x 52 cm
Left Atlas: 130 x 85 x 52 cm

Provenance: Private Collection Frankfurt, Germany

Lit.:

Franz Rittweger: Das alte Frankfurt am Main, Petersberg 2019, p. 61. und p. 89. 

Architekten und Ingenieur Verein (Hg.): Frankfurt und seine Bauten, Frankfurt 1886, p. 84-86.

H.A. Schmidt (1733-1799): Artistisches Magazin: Enthaltend Das Leben und die Verzeichnisse der Werke hiesiger und anderer Künstler: Nebst Einem Anhang von allem Was in öffentlichen und Privat-Gebäuden der Stadt Frankfurt Merkwürdiges von Kunst-Sachen, Naturalien-Sammlungen, Bibliotheken und Münz-Cabineten zu sehen ist […]. o.O. 1790, p. 309-311 and p. 320-322.

Onlineauftritt des Historischen Museum Frankfurt - die Skulpturengalerie am Museumsplatz (URL:https://historisches-museum-frankfurt.de/architektur/skulpturengalerie).[Stand: 01.10.2024]

Reiffenstein Manuskript Sammlung (URL: https://reiffenstein-sammlung-frankfurt.de [Stand: 01.10.2024]