Carved Praying Monk

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Buxheim Charterhouse formerly of the Carthusians. The church St. Anna, which is part of the complex, contains absolutely wonderful baroque choir stalls, carved from 1687 to 1691 by Ignaz Waibl. Apparently he carved all of the figures himself, which is quite a feat seeing how much work he had to do and how well he did the work

Here is a sample of his work:

Carved Praying Monk

As an ironic footnote, despite all of Waibl’s talent, he died impoverished, receiving support from the Carthusians. I do not know if he actively tried to get work elsewhere or if he was content to live a simple life in Buxheim. But it certainly did not help that, even though he clearly was one of the most gifted wood carvers of his time, no-one ever got to see his work because the Carthusians never let outsiders into the charterhouse.