Reindl nativity
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Nr. 10175 (3,1 - 6,3 - 13 inch)
Rupert
Reindl is a master among the crib carvers. He made countless crib figures,
which all bear his unmistakable style, without having got any hallmark.
Rupert Reindl was born in Patsch (Tirol), the 25th March 1908, as the
youngest of four children. His father, a farmer called „Daniglerbauer“,
was also a carpenter and sacristan. When he was four years old, Rupert
Reindl once found a small pocket-knife, which wasn‘t very sharp;
with great care and enthusiasm, he began to carve his first figures out
of barks and pieces of cembrane-pine.
After having finished the primary school, Rupert Reindl was apprenticed to a famous crib-carver, Romed Speckbacher, at Thaur. He also attended some lessons of drawing and modelling held by Prof. Hofer at the „Staatsgewerbeschule“ in Innsbruck. For almost 20 years, until he had to join the army in 1941, he remained faithful to master Speckbacher‘s workshop. His activity there was interrupted only by a year of training in Nuremberg. Thousand of crib figures by Rupert Reindl were carved and sold in Speckbacher‘s workshop. After the war, Rupert Reindl began to work in very modest conditions in the garret of farmhouse called „Stettnerhof“ in Igls, near Innsbruck.
In the following years he works in a house of his own from morning till night at his carpenter‘s bench. Cribs, virgins and all kinds of carving have been made here and sent all over the world.
The „Altstadtkrippe“ which was exposed for the first time at the World Congress of Cribs in Innsbruck, as well as the crib in the Pradl Church, were made by Rupert Reindl.
On September 8th 1990, at the age of 82 years, he is died at Igls, his life‘s work remains an exceptional milestone in the whole art of nativity scenes.
The crib in this picture is one of Rupert Reindl‘s most famous works.