1937

Wooden Relief «Jürg Jenatsch»

Arosa, before 1935

Jörg Jenatsch (1596‒1639) is the best-known figure in Graubünden’s history. This is mostly due to Conrad Ferdinand Meyer’s (1825‒1898) novel «Jürg Jenatsch», published in 1876. The Zurich writer sparked a huge mania for Jenatsch.

Henceforth, artists of all genres became fascinated by the Jenatsch myth. Among them was the Arosa sculptor Hermann Würth (1880‒1953).

His relief of Jenatsch was orginally a gift from the «Rhätische Bahn» [Raetian Railways] administration to the Art Museum Graubünden. They then lent it to the Raetian Museum. The director at that time, Lorenz Joos, deposited the relief in the Museum, «because it does not take up much space», as he remarked somewhat critically.