Current Exhibits

The horn of the alpine ibex was processed from the second half of the 17th century on. The material was said to have healing properties. Local craftsmen not only created objects for daily use, such as the ibex bowl at the Mining and Gothic Museum, but, among other items, rings for people suffering from gout.

However, the mass processing of horn led to the drastic decline of the eastern alpine ibex at the beginning of the 18th century. In the Zillertal valley for instance, the last mention of ibexes in a written document was in 1706.

It was not until the mid-18th century that the number of ibexes in Salzburg’s mountains started to rise again. In documents from same time we find evidence of horn carvers, such as Lorentz Härmler - the “ibex horn carver of the meadows” - or the sculptors Leopold Ehegasser and Joseph Glarer, being based in Salzburg.

The first sculpture of St. Anne with the Virgin and Child on display in the Mining and Gothic Museum in Leogang is on private loan and comes from the workshop of Michael Zeynsler from Biberach an der Riss in Swabia.

The figure was created around 1520 in lime wood. It was probably part of the decorative, carved superstructure of a small winged altarpiece. This can be seen by the rounded finish and the fact that no gold was used.

A series of ‘Anna Selbdritt´ works by Michael Zeynsler - who is thought to have been employed under master craftsman Hans Herlin in Memmingen before his time in Biberach - have survived. Since the folds in St. Anne’s mantle here were not yet fashioned in the ‘parallel fold’ style, this depiction can be categorised as one of the master craftsman’s early works.

The Beautiful Madonna from Leogang was probably created in 1400 in Salzburg and is in lime sandstone. She is in the style of the Beautiful Madonna from Pilsen from around 1375 and firmly rooted in the later tradition of the Southern German ‘Parler’ workshops. This term comes from Peter Parler, a medieval German sculptor and important cathedral architect who mainly worked in Prague.

Of all the Salzburg Beautiful Madonnas, the Madonna from Leogang is closest in style to the Madonna in Front of the Fir (TXTL1) in Altenmarkt in Pongau, first documented in 1392.

The Beautiful Madonna from Leogang stands in a distinctive S-pose upon the plinth. She is wearing a robe with a V-neck and inset. The robe reveals the point of her right shoe and its rich folds spill on to the plinth. Over it hangs the formerly gold-plated mantle with a blue lining, with cascading folds on either side.

Mary’s right hand, which probably once held a sceptre, and the right leg of the Infant Jesus create these symmetrical cascades of blue folds. The mantle creates a main fold in front of the body.

At chest height, the formerly white, ruffled hem of the Virgin’s veil is being bunched up in both hands of the Infant Jesus. The eyes of both figures are almond-shaped with thinly drawn brows. Mary is gazing upon the Infant Jesus with a gentle smile. In this way the artist goes beyond the religious theme and expresses perfectly the intimate relationship between mother and child.

It is possible that the Beautiful Madonna from Leogang once wore a taller crown - like that of the Madonna from Altenmarkt - on her thin circlet. The extremely realistic representation, how Mary’s hand is pressing into the body of the Infant Jesus, almost causes you to forget that this is a stone statue and not the soft skin of a child.

Whereas standing Madonnas were the focus of 14th century Marian devotion in Pinzgau, in Zell am See and Maria Alm enthroned Madonnas were venerated.