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Klauber.
German family of engravers and publishers. Joseph Sebastian Klauber (c. 170068) was a pupil of Melchior Rein ( fl 171430) in Augsburg, then worked with Anton Birkhart (16771748) in Prague. On his return to Augsburg, he worked for Johann Andreas Pfeffel I (16741748), doing engravings for Thesenblätter, and c. 1740 he founded a joint publishing venture with his brother Johann Baptist Klauber (1712c. 1787) and Gottfried Bernhard Göz. The brothers continued the firm after Göz departed to found a publishing company of his own. Their enterprise, commercially the most successful business in Augsburg, was specifically Catholic, publishing mainly devotional and pilgrimage prints, biblical engravings, pictures of saints, portraits of clerics etc. Cath. was systematically appended to the engravers names, suggesting to Catholic customers that they should give preference to artists of their own faith. The significance of the Klaubers output of engravings lies more in the field of cultural history than of art (see DEVOTIONAL PRINTS), although among their many prints there are some of high artistic quality, such as the large Thesenblätter and wall calendars. The two brothers used a very similar engraving technique, and as they signed only with the firms name it is barely possible to distinguish between their work.
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