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Johann Baptist Straub (baptized 1 June 1704 – 15 July 1784) was a GermanRococosculptor.[1]
Straub was born inWiesensteig, into a family of sculptors. His father Johann George Straub and his brothersPhilipp Jakob, Joseph, and Johann Georg Straub were also sculptors, as was his nephewFranz Xaver Messerschmidt. J. B. Straub studied in Munich with the court sculptor Gabriel Luidl and then went to Vienna, where he worked from 1726 to 1734.
In 1734 Straub returned to Munich. In 1737 he was appointed byElectorKarl Albrecht from Bavaria as the court sculptor. In the same year Straub married a daughter of the court engraver, Franz Xaver Späth.
Straub worked primarily inUpper Bavarian churches and monasteries, frequently alongside some of the greatest Baroque artists of the day: the architectJohann Michael Fischer, the painterJohann Baptist Zimmermann, theAsam Brothers, theTyrolian painterJohann Jacob Zeiller, and thestuccoistsFranz Xaver andJohann Michael Feuchtmayer, among others. Usually Straub's figures are carved in simple white, with very little gold trim.
Important works by Straub are in theResidenz in Munich as well as inSchloss Nymphenburg. His best-known church works are the altars of the monastic churches ofAndechs andSchäftlarn as well asSt. Michael's Church inBerg am Laim, a borough of Munich.
Straub died inMunich, where his workshop was the most important of its day. The most famous artist to study there wasIgnaz Günther.
