Klauber

Klauber refers to a family of engravers and publishers based in Augsburg, a major European center of print production in the eighteenth century. The name was used particularly for the business established by brothers Joseph Sebastian Klauber and Johann Baptist Klauber, who worked with the painter and engraver Gottfried Bernhard Göz. The partnership had formed a Catholic fine-art publishing operation by 1737. Göz later separated from the brothers and established an independent business in 1742, while the Klauber name continued to identify a productive engraving and publishing workshop. The Klauber enterprise specialized in copperplate prints, especially religious imagery and devotional series. Joseph Sebastian and Johann Baptist served as court engravers to the Electors of Trier and produced large quantities of images of saints in an organized, workshop-oriented manner. Their output reflects the eighteenth-century market for affordable religious prints, catechetical material, biblical illustration, and reproductions of paintings. A notable project was a picture Bible consisting of 100 engravings, issued in 1757. The brothers also produced the plates for a Life of Saint Augustine series in 1758, based on drawings by Johann Anwander. Their work demonstrates how print publishers transformed original drawings and paintings into widely distributable devotional objects. The Klauber name was not limited to the two founding brothers. Their wider family included Joachim Klauber, who became a priest and monk at Scheyern Abbey, and Franz Xaver Klauber, the son of Johann Baptist, who trained as an engraver and spent considerable time studying in Rome. The most prominent later member was Ignaz Sebastian Klauber, born in Augsburg in 1753. He first trained under his father, continued his education in Rome, and then studied in Paris with Johann Georg Wille. His Paris career brought admission to the Paris Academy and appointment as Graveur du Roi. The French Revolution prompted his return to Augsburg and subsequent move to Nuremberg. In 1796 he relocated to Saint Petersburg, where he became an engraver to the imperial court and director of the Academy of Engravers. He probably died in Saint Petersburg in 1817. The family’s activity illustrates the movement of artistic skills and publishing models across European courts and cities. Augsburg supplied the commercial and technical base; Rome and Paris provided training and artistic networks; and Saint Petersburg offered an important court and institutional market. The Klauber brothers’ business remained a recognizable trade mark through the end of the eighteenth century and may have persisted beyond it, although the available reference material does not establish a precise closing date or a later corporate successor. The name is therefore best understood as a historical engraving and fine-art publishing imprint rather than a modern operating consumer brand.

The Klauber family emerged as an important engraving and publishing household in Augsburg during the eighteenth century. Augsburg had a long-established reputation for commercial printmaking, and the family operated within a cultural economy that connected religious institutions, artists, publishers, courts, and collectors. By 1737, Joseph Sebastian Klauber and Johann Baptist Klauber had established a Catholic fine-art publishing business together with Gottfried Bernhard Göz. The partnership combined engraving, design, and publishing functions, allowing religious and artistic imagery to be reproduced and distributed in print form. Göz left the partnership in 1742 to create an independent enterprise. The Klauber brothers nevertheless continued under their own name, and the Klauber Brothers imprint became associated with a substantial body of devotional and reproductive engraving. Joseph Sebastian had trained first with Melchior Rein and then with Antonín Birkhardt in Prague. Johann Baptist also worked as an engraver, and both brothers held the designation of court engravers to the Electors of Trier. Their production included images of saints made in a comparatively systematic, workshop-based manner, reflecting the demand for repeated editions and accessible religious pictures. In 1757, the brothers issued a picture Bible comprising 100 engravings. The following year they produced a Life of Saint Augustine series based on drawings by Johann Anwander. These projects show the breadth of the workshop’s publishing activity: it could assemble large illustrated cycles, interpret artists’ drawings, and package religious subjects for a broad devotional audience. The firm also worked in the context of Catholic educational publishing. Later scholarship has examined Klauber engravings made for the catechism of Petrus Canisius, further associating the name with Counter-Reformation and post-Reformation Catholic instruction. The family’s artistic network extended beyond the founding generation. Joachim Klauber, one of the brothers, entered the religious life and became a priest and monk at Scheyern Abbey. Franz Xaver Klauber, Johann Baptist’s son, continued the family profession and studied in Rome. Ignaz Sebastian Klauber, born in Augsburg in 1753, became the most renowned member of the family. He began his education with his father, then traveled to Rome and Paris. In Paris he studied with Johann Georg Wille, was admitted to the Paris Academy, and received the title Graveur du Roi. Political upheaval during the French Revolution brought him back to Augsburg; he later moved to Nuremberg and in 1796 settled in Saint Petersburg. In Russia, Ignaz Sebastian entered imperial service as a court engraver and became director of the Academy of Engravers. His career illustrates the international mobility of eighteenth-century printmakers and the prestige that technically accomplished engravers could attain at European courts. His later work included reproductions and other print projects connected with international publishing; a Dutch edition of accounts of James Cook’s voyages, for example, included copies of earlier engravings made by Ignaz Sebastian Klauber. The Klauber Brothers name remained a trade mark through the end of the eighteenth century and possibly longer. The surviving reference material does not provide evidence of a modern successor, a formal dissolution date, or continuous operation into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Accordingly, Klauber is treated as a historical family imprint and workshop rather than an active contemporary company.

• 1817

  Death of Ignaz Sebastian Klauber

  [1]Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org

  Ignaz Sebastian Klauber died in Saint Petersburg, probably on 25 May 1817.

• 1796

  Ignaz Sebastian Klauber relocates to Saint Petersburg

  [1]Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org

  After periods in Augsburg, Nuremberg, Rome, and Paris, Ignaz Sebastian Klauber moved to Saint Petersburg and entered the Russian court and academy system.

• 1758

  Life of Saint Augustine series issued

  [1]Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org

  The brothers published a Life of Saint Augustine series based on drawings by Johann Anwander.

• 1757

  Picture Bible published

  [1]Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org

  The Klauber brothers produced a picture Bible containing 100 engravings.

• 1742

  Göz leaves the partnership

  [1]Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org

  Gottfried Bernhard Göz separated from the Klauber partnership and began an independent business.

• 1737

  Catholic publishing partnership established

  [1]Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org

  Joseph Sebastian and Johann Baptist Klauber established a Catholic fine-art publishing business in Augsburg with Gottfried Bernhard Göz.

A Catholic devotional and fine-art printmaking imprint built around skilled copper engraving, workshop production, and the international circulation of religious and artistic imagery.

• Religious illustrated book · 1757

  Picture Bible

  A large illustrated biblical publication issued by the Klauber brothers in 1757 and containing 100 engravings. It exemplifies the workshop’s role in translating religious narratives into reproducible copperplate images for devotional and educational use.

• Devotional engraving series · 1758

  Life of Saint Augustine

  A 1758 series of prints produced by the Klauber brothers from drawings by Johann Anwander. The series belongs to the firm’s Catholic publishing output and demonstrates its ability to develop extended narrative cycles from supplied artistic designs.

• Copperplate engraving

  Religious and saint prints

  The Klauber workshop was particularly associated with images of saints and other Catholic subjects. These prints were produced in a systematic workshop environment and circulated as devotional, educational, and decorative images.

1. 1Klauber (German engravers)en.wikipedia.org