VON MESSERSCHMIDT, SEINEN SCHWEIZER FREUNDEN UND EINEM „HOLZBEIN“

The paper is dedicated to mapping relationships of sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt with Switzerland, based on archival sources (correspondence) in two important institutions at Zurich: in the Zentralbibliothek and in the graphic collection at the Kunsthaus Zurich, uncovering new facts about the life and work of this significant artist. The writers of most of these letters are two artists coming from Zurich: painter and writer on art, J. Rudolf Fussli (1737 – 1806) and landscape painter J. Jacob Meyer (1749 – 1828). Both came as young adepts of art to Vienna to study at Academy of Fine Arts and both subsequently lived for several years in Bratislava (Slovakia). Already in Vienna Fussli and probably also Meyer got to know F. X. Messerschmidt, with whom they established friendly relations, lasting during their Bratislava stay too.