(b Giessen, Hessen; fl Sweden, 1641; d Stockholm, 1669/70). German sculptor, active in Sweden. He arrived in Sweden in 1641, at the invitation of Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Dowager Queen of Sweden (1599–1655), and was first a member of Jost Henne’s workshop (1642–5). From 1646 he worked for the city of Stockholm, and from 1648 he was court sculptor. Among his surviving works are: the portal and decorative gable of the house at Stortorget 20 (1650) and the portal of Själagårdsgatan 2 (1659–60) in Stockholm; the fine Ionic columns with entablatures in the main portico (c. 1655–6) of Skokloster Slott, Uppland; the portals (c. 1654) of the parish church of Vadsbro, Södermanland; and the sculptural work of the mortuary chapels of Eric Ryning (1592–1654), with his burial monument (1656) at Vadsbro, and of Nils Ryning (d 1631), with a tomb monument (1656), in the church of Sköldinge, Södermanland. Wendelstam may also have been the architect of both chapels. They are small, towerlike, polygonal structures crowned by wooden lanterns and spires, similar to the more elaborate chapel (c. 1637) of Herman Wrangel (1584–1644) attached to the former monastery church at Skokloster, which was in turn influenced by the memorial chapel (1632–3) of Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden (reg 1611–32), at Riddarholm Church in Stockholm. Wendelstam’s chapel vault in Sköldinge is of a basically Gothic design, but the rib consoles are shaped as characteristic snub-nosed cherubs’ heads, a rather cheerful treatment in an otherwise solemn environment.

• Wendelstam, Johan
  • Hebel, Markus