The Asam Brothers were sculptors, workers in stucco, painters, and architects, who worked mostly together and in southern Germany. They are among the most important representatives of the German late Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

.

Life

Cosmas Damian Asam

Cosmas Damian Asam

Cosmas Damian Asam was a German painter and architect during the late Baroque period. Born in Benediktbeuern, he moved to Rome in 1711 to study at the Accademia di San Luca with Carlo Maratta. There, he could see the fresco Ascensione di Cristo by Melozzo da Forlì in Santi Apostoli Church...

 and his brother Egid Quirin Asam

Egid Quirin Asam

Egid Quirin Asam was a German plasterer and sculptor active during the period of the Late Baroque....

 were two of the nine children of Hans Georg Asam, the resident painter in Benediktbeuern Abbey

Benediktbeuern Abbey

Benediktbeuern Abbey is a monastery of the Salesians of Don Bosco, originally a monastery of the Benedictine Order, in Benediktbeuern in Bavaria, near the Kochelsee, 64 km south-south-west of Munich...

. Both were apprentices under their father. After the death of his father in 1711, Cosmas Damian traveled to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, sponsored by the abbot of Tegernsee

Tegernsee Abbey

Tegernsee Abbey or the Imperial Abbey of Tegernsee is a former Benedictine monastery in the town and district of Tegernsee in Bavaria. Both the abbey and the town that grew up around are named after the Tegernsee, the lake on the shores of which they are located...

, in order to receive further education there. Presumably his brother accompanied him on this trip.

The works of Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini made a profound impression on Cosmas Damian, and in 1713 he received the first prize of the Accademia di San Luca

Accademia di San Luca

The Accademia di San Luca, was founded in 1577 as an association of artists in Rome, under the directorship of Federico Zuccari, with the purpose of elevating the work of "artists", which included painters, sculptors and architects, above that of mere craftsmen. Other founders included Girolamo...

 in the presence of the Pope. In 1716 Egid Quirin finished his training under the Munich court sculptor Andreas Faistenberger. After their return from Italy, the brothers received many commissions, thanks to their close ties to the Order of St. Benedict.

Both brothers followed in their father’s footsteps in their tendencies and training. Cosmas Damian worked as a painter and sculptor; Egid Quirin, as architect, stucco-worker, and sculptor. As their specialties complemented each other well for architectural assignments, they worked together on nearly all their commissions.

In particular, Cosmas Damian’s great talent for fresco painting quickly made a name for the brothers outside of the Upper Palatinate

Upper Palatinate

The Upper Palatinate is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of Bavaria.- History :The region took its name first in the early 16th century, because it was by the Treaty of Pavia one of the main portions of the territory of the Wittelsbach Elector...

. His frescoes were valued as highly as those of his Italian contemporary, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...

.

While the frescoes and stucco-works executed by the brothers in Bamberg

Bamberg

Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...

 were still strongly characterized by a certain illusionism, they achieved in later works, such as those in Weingarten Abbey

Weingarten Abbey

Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on the Martinsberg in Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg .-First foundation:...

, a uniform interplay of individual elements that provided a stage-like setting for the Baroque church service. With the construction and organization of the influential church in Weltenburg Abbey

Weltenburg Abbey

Weltenburg Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Weltenburg in Kelheim on the Danube in Bavaria, Germany.-First foundation:...

, they assured their fame. According to the criteria of the late Baroque period, they succeeded in bringing together painting, sculpture, light, space, and architecture into a unified total work of art.

While their architectural commissions ranged from Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 to the Tyrol

Tyrol (state)

Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...

 and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, from around 1727 both brothers resided in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

. Their best known building is the Church of St. John Nepomuk, popularly known as the Asamkirche

Asamkirche (München)

St. Johann Nepomuk, better known as the Asam Church is a church in Munich, southern Germany, built from 1733 to 1746 by the brothers Egid Quirin Asam and Cosmas Damian Asam as their private church. Due to resistance of the citizens, the brothers were forced to make the church accessible to the...

, in Munich, next to which they lived. This late work, wedged into an exceedingly small space and built without commission, served as a private chapel for the Asam brothers.