God the Father (c. 1760): Art, History and Details

God the Father (c. 1760) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Johann Peter Schwanthaler (Austrian, 1720–1795).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Johann Peter Schwanthaler belonged to a renowned family of sculptors that produced works for religious and domestic settings throughout Bavaria, Austria, and southern Germany for more than 250 years. This imposing image of God the Father would have formed part of a larger group, probably at the top of an altar. The figure displays the characteristic features of Schwanthaler’s style, such as the elongated figural proportions, sharp-edged drapery folds, and the beautifully expressive, anatomically detailed hands.

Object facts

• Title: God the Father
• Date: c. 1760
• Creator attribution: Johann Peter Schwanthaler (Austrian, 1720–1795)
• Culture: Austria, Lambach, 18th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: painted and gilded wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 141.6 x 104.2 x 35.6 cm (55 3/4 x 41 x 14 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1961.30

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review 1961." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 9 (1961): 219-51.
• "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October- December, 1961." The Art Quarterly XXV, no. 2 (Spring 1962): 69-98.
• "Annual Report for 1961." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 6 (1962): 115-45.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.