Angel

Permission to purchase “two putti” from the Hallwang presbytery was granted by the Federal Monuments Authority on 16 March 1928. This is noted in the 1927 inventory book: “Probably by sculptor Meinrad Guggenbichler of Mondsee. … Comparison with the putti on the top of the side altars in Irrsdorf, dated 1689 (…) makes the probability evident.”
In 1692, Guggenbichler delivered to Hallwang a high altar to which the angels are assumed to have belonged. Ramharter stated in 1999: “The two putti in the Residenzgalerie are similar in structure to the figures from Mondsee, though not approaching the quality of these, so that they may well have come from the workshop.”
From the mid-17th century, altar putti were increasingly liberated from their rigidity. The work of Thomas Schwanthaler inspired the trend towards making them more buoyant, dynamic and childlike.

Ducke Astrid: Meinrad Guggenbichler workshop, Angel, in: Ducke Astrid, Habersatter Thomas (Hrsg./Edi.): von | from 0 auf | to 100. Residenzgalerie Salzburg 1923-2023. Salzburg 2023, S./p. 308-309