Set #10

Audio recording transcript

Maribor bakers

Heinrich Kurnigg was a master baker and the son of baker Mathias Kurnigg. He and Josefa, née Kollroser, married in 1865. They owned a house at today's 8 Grajski trg, to which the baker's legal privileges applied since 1749.

On November 8, 1912, Josefa Kurnigg donated to the Museum Society two smaller portraits of the Walcher couple in gilded frames. Leonhard Walcher was a copperplate engraver, and Maria was the daughter of the baker Mathias Kurnigg. Maria Walcher, née Kurnigg, is depicted on the miniature portrait, while her brother Heinrich Kurnigg appears on the larger portrait.

The Scherbaum dynasty

The hexagonal portraits depict Carl Scherbaum Sr. and his wife Francisca, née Kokoschinegg. Carl first engaged in trade, and later in bakery. In 1851, he and his wife bought a house at today's 6 Grajski trg, the former bakery of the Kauffman family, which included a grain warehouse, and soon also the house next door. In 1872, Carl Scherbaum built the first steam mill in the city centre, and in 1883, with the help of a steam engine and a dynamo, he was the first to generate electricity for 36 incandescent light bulbs, marking the beginning of the electrification of Maribor and of present-day Slovenia. In 1894, Carl Scherbaum built a rye mill in Bistrica ob Dravi to meet the great demand for flour.

Members of the Scherbaum family commissioned several paintings from Lind, including eight portraits.