Cosmas Damian Asam


Cosmas Damian Asam was a German painter and architect during the late Baroque period. Born in Benediktbeuern, he lived in Rome from 1711-13 to study at the Accademia di San Luca with Carlo Maratta. In 1713 Asam won the Academy's first prize for his drawing of Miracle of Saint Pio. In Germany, he worked with his brother Egid Quirin, a sculptor and stucco worker, on building and decorating entirely new churches or redesigning churches in the Baroque style. Their joint projects are often attributed to the "Asam Brothers". Cosmas Damian died in Munich.

Major works

The Asam Brothers, singularly and together, were very prolific artists. They typically worked for Benedictine monasteries, though they occasionally took secular commissions. Cosmas Damian's altar depicting The Vision of St. Benedict in Weltenburg—Monastery Church of St. George and St. Martin is thought to be the first realistic depiction of a solar eclipse in Western art history. Some of the major works of Cosmas Damian are the following.

Bavaria