Anton Josef Reiss, also Reià(30 October 1835 â 1 February 1900) was a German sculptor. Based in Düsseldorf, he focused on sacred art for churches, including a marble Pietàfor St. Gereon in Cologne in a style close to the Nazarene movement.
Born in Düsseldorf, Reiss was the third child of Carl Peter Josef ReiÃÂ, who worked then as a coachman, and Sophie Henriette Fink. His sisters were Luise and Christine. He received his training as a sculptor from Julius Bayerle (1826âÂÂ1873), who later established the first studio for sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under the direction of Wilhelm von Schadow. Before that, Reiss had attended the elementary class of Joseph Wintergerst at the Kunstakademie in 1851. He also attended Karl Ferdinand Sohn's antiquities class from 1854 to 1855 and received lessons in anatomy and proportions from Heinrich Mücke. Josef Reiss was a member of the Malkasten artists group, and had his studio in the mid-1870s at KlosterstraÃÂe 88, where he took in his widowed mother. In the early 1880s, Reiss built a home for himself on the corner plot of KurfürstenstraÃÂe 28 at KlosterstraÃÂe 128. The owner of the neighbouring house was, among others, Gustav Rutz's family.
He devoted his work entirely to the church, in a style similar to the Nazarene movement. For his marble Pietàfor St. Gereon in Cologne, he looked at Italian models, including Michelangelo's Pietàin St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. He created a new Calvary next to Düsseldorf's , replacing a late-Gothic group sculpture of seven figures which had fallen into disrepair.
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