(b Hameln an der Weser, c. 1610–20; d Frankfurt am Main, 2 Dec 1678). German sculptor and ivory-carver. He was the son of Jost Glesker, also a sculptor, recorded as working in Hameln from 1607. After visiting Italy, where he studied ancient statues and other works of art, mainly in Rome, and travelling in the Netherlands (probably in the 1630s), Justus settled in Frankfurt am Main in 1648. Probably on the recommendation of Matthäus Merian (ii), a painter from Frankfurt, he was commissioned to produce the Crucifixion figures (1648–53) for the east choir in Bamberg Cathedral, where, mounted on a triumphal arch, they crowned the altar to SS Henry I and Cunegunda. The over life-size, gilt limewood figures of Christ, the Virgin, St John and St Mary Magdalene represent the most important of Glesker’s early works. Stylistically, the influence of the Flemish sculptor François Du Quesnoy, who lived in Rome, is striking, but there are also echoes of north Italian sculpture c. 1600, as well as the work of Rubens and the southern German sculptors Hans Reichle and Georg Petel. The altar was dismantled during the restoration (1829–37) of Bamberg Cathedral, but in 1912 the Crucifixion group was returned to the Cathedral and in 1917 was erected at the high altar in the west choir.

• Glesker, Justus
  • Bendl, Ehregott Bernhard
  • Germany, §IV, 3(ii)(a): Sculpture, c 1600–c 1750: Southern Germany