(b Benediktbeuren, bapt 28 Sept 1686; d Munich, 10 May 1739). Painter and architect, son of (1) Hans Georg Asam. As a youth, he worked as his father’s assistant, for example at Schloss Schönach (1704) and at the Maria-Hilf-Kirche (1708), Freystadt. After his father’s death in 1711, Cosmas Damian went to Rome, studying at the Accademia di S Luca under Carlo Maratti; he was awarded the academy’s first prize for his brush drawing of the Miracle of St Pius (Rome, Accad. N. S Luca) in 1713. That year he returned to Germany. In 1717 he married Maria Anna, daughter of the engraver Franz Anton Mörl (1671–1734); their son, Franz Erasmus Asam (1720–95), produced few works of his own, acting mainly as an assistant to his father. In 1724 Cosmas Damian bought an estate he named Asamisch-Maria-Einsiedel-Thal in Munich-Thalkirchen, even building a chapel of his own there in 1739. Throughout his life Cosmas Damian worked mainly on large commissions, painting and sometimes also acting as architect, sometimes collaborating with his brother Egid Quirin; his work took him to the Upper Palatinate, Upper and Lower Bavaria, Baden and Swabia as well as to the Tyrol, Switzerland, Bohemia and Silesia. Besides church dignitaries, his patrons included the court and the aristocracy. He was given the protection of the Elector’s court in Munich in 1719 and subsequently some minor offices at various other courts. On large-scale commissions he always employed workshop assistants as well as members of his family. His pupils included Thomas Christian Scheffler (1699–1756), Matthäus Günther, Joseph Gregor Winck, Johann Adam Schöpf (1702–72) and Johann Adam Müller ( fl 1718–38).

Part of the Asam family

• Asam, Cosmas Damian
  • Asam
  • Asam, §II: Collaborations on the Gesamtkunstwerk
  • Innsbruck, §2: Art life and organization
  • Munich, §II, 1: Art life and organization, before c 1799
  • assistants
    • Günther, Matthäus
  • collaboration
    • Asam, §I: (3) Egid Quirin Asam
  • Gesamtkunstwerk
    • Germany, §II, 4(ii): Architecture, c 1700–c 1750
  • groups and movements
    • Rococo, §III, 1(iii): Holy Roman Empire: Churches
  • interior decoration
    • Mannheim
    • Regensburg, §3(i): St Emmeram
    • Schleissheim, Schloss
    • Switzerland, §II, 1: Architecture: Gothic period to the late 19th century, c 1200–c 1900
  • paintings
    • Illusionism, §2(i)(c): Large-scale projects, c 1700–c 1800
    • frescoes
      • Asam, §I: (1) Hans Georg Asam
      • Asam, §II, 1: Collaborations on the Gesamtkunstwerk: Weltenburg Monastery
      • Bílá Hora
      • Einsiedeln Abbey
      • Germany, §III, 3(ii): Painting and graphic arts: Rococo and court art
      • Lighting, §1(i): Before c 1800: Natural lighting
      • Weingarten Abbey
  • patrons and collectors
    • Wittelsbach, §I: (7) Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
  • pupils
    • Saint-Pierre, Joseph
  • stucco
    • Fischer, Johann Michael, §1: Training and early work, to 1734
    • Stucco and plasterwork, §III, 10(i)(e): Western world, 1400–1850: Germany & Central Europe