Joseph Matthias Götz

Joseph Matthias Götz (1696–1760) was one of the leading Baroque and Rococo sculptors in southern Germany and Austria. Born in Bamberg to a sculptor and organ builder, he learned the craft from his stepfather Sebastian Degler before making his way to Passau as a journeyman. When the city denied him a master's license in 1715, the Augustinian canons of St. Nikola gave him his first big commission anyway.

Götz worked across an enormous range: monumental church altarpieces, organ cases, small ivory carvings, and architectural designs. His territory covered Lower Bavaria and the Diocese of Passau into Upper and Lower Austria. He became a favorite of Prince-Bishop Joseph Dominikus von Lamberg, who handed him prestigious projects including work at the pilgrimage church of Maria Taferl. His long collaboration with organ builder Johann Ignaz Egedacher produced some of the finest organ cases in the region.

Though he lacked formal architectural training, Götz took on the redesign of the monastery church at Kloster Fürstenzell in 1739 (later completed by Johann Michael Fischer). His output was prolific, with works in wood, stone, and ivory scattered across churches and collections from Bavaria to Austria. The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore hold examples of his work.