Tobias Pock

Tobias Pock (or Poch, Bock or Pockh) (Konstanz, 1609 - Vienna, 12 June 1683) was an Austrian Baroque painter from Swabian descent, a pioneer of sacral art.

His father worked as a master at the Cathedral of Konstanz, when Tobias Pock was born. Tobias Pock probably was an apprentice painter in Southern Germany. He worked mainly at first in Konstanz. But, after his trip to Italy, he settled around 1640 in Vienna, where he became a leading painter. He painted portraits, history canvases and still lifes, but he is mostly recognized for his many paintings of saints in churches in Vienna, Lower Austria and Steiermark. His style is similar to the contemporary style of Southern Germany (München, Augsburg), but also contains influences from Flanders and Northern Italy.

He left a considerable body of work :
* Stephansdom, Vienna : baroque altar painting "The Stoning of St. Stephen"(1640-47) (his earliest known work).
* Dominican church, Vienna :
**Altar of Saint Dominic : altar painting (1655), depicting the saint adoring the Trinity.
**Chapel of St. Catherine of Alexandria: altar painting
* Schottenkirche, Vienna : paintings for the high altar and the "Apostelaltar" (1651-1655)
* Michaelerkirche, Vienna : high altar painting (1642)
* Maria Himmelfahrt basilica, Sankt Pölten: high altar painting "Assumption" (1658)
* Church of the Teutonic Order, Vienna: high altar painting "Coronation of Virgin Mary, surrounded by the Patron saints of the Teutonic Order Saint Elisabeth of Thüringen and Saint George" (1667)
* Mariazell Basilica : high altar painting
* Decoration of the altar in the Dominikuskapelle at the Imperial Crypt, Vienna
* Cartesian monastery in Kralovo Pole : painting (now substituted by a less valuable picture)
*Svatý Kopeček (Saint Hill) near Olomouc, Basilica Minor, St. Pauline, 1681, Altar of the Chapel of St. Pauline

References

* Turner, J. - Grove Dictionary of Art; MacMillan Publishers Ltd., 1990; ISBN 1-884446-00-0
* Benezit, E. - Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs; Librairie Gründ, Paris, 1976; ISBN 2-7000-0156-7