until his twelfth year that he at all developed his genius. Sent to
Vienna, he was placed there under the care of the Chapel-Master,
Albrechtsberger, in spite of whose cold and conventional instruction he
advanced in knowledge and strength, and excited general attention by his
extraordinary gift of improvisation, and marvellous execution. In 1805,
he composed “Fidelio;” then followed his oratorio of “Christ on the
Mount of Olives,” the “Heroic” and “Pastoral” symphonies, and his
pianoforte Concertos. At this time Beethoven had scarcely the means of
subsistence, and to save him from want, a pension of four thousand
florins was settled upon him by the Austrian government. He fixed his
abode at the village of Baden, near Vienna, and his life became one of
retirement and self-nurture. He composed his music in his solitary
rambles. The wildest scenery to him was the choicest, for he shrank from
intercourse with men. His habits were known and respected. He died
unmarried. From his twenty-sixth year he had been deaf; but he was
otherwise robust. He was passionately fond of Scott’s romances, and
these works, with the “Odyssey” of Homer, were his consolations during
the illness of which he died. His fertility and variety of production
are marvellous. The passionate soul of melody possessed him. His works
are rich in harmony, tinctured it may be with the delicate mysticism
that ruled his genius in its silent haunts.
[By Ernst Hähnel, of Dresden. Plaster. 1847. In the possession of the
artist, who executed the large statue of Beethoven in bronze, which
stands in the Place at Bonn. This was the study from the life, for the
head of the statue.]
321*. FERDINANDO PAER. _Musical Composer._
[Born at Parma, in Italy, 1771. Died 1839. Aged 68.]
At sixteen, Paer began to write for the stage. Before he was twenty-six
he had already produced twenty-two operas, all in the conventional style
of the old Italian operas, and after the manner of Cimarosa and
Paisiello. After 1797, a laudable change is remarked in his style--more
force in the harmonies, more variety in the modulations, with richer and
more effective instrumentation. In 1801, appointed by the Elector of
Saxony Chapel-Master in Dresden, and, favoured by the repose afforded
here, Paer still improved his style. In 1806, Dresden was taken by the
French. The musician transferred his services to Napoleon, and
accompanied his new master to Paris. In 1810, revisited his native city,
and there composed his master-piece, the opera of Agnèse. His subsequent
career is remarkable for little more than for petty intrigues against
rival composers, and--after his appointment as Director of the Italian
Opera in Paris in 1812--for miserable squabbles with actors and
musicians. He ceased to be an artist, and condescended to become a mere
courtier and “homme de salon.” His death was accelerated by
long-continued habits of intemperance. Paer was gifted with great
fluency, and his works have brilliancy and spirit; but he is without
originality, force, and dramatic power.
[Bust to come.]
322. CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH TIECK. _Sculptor._
[Born 1776. Died at Berlin, 1850. Aged 74.]
Of the school of Schadow. Brother to the celebrated poet and critic, and
the friend of Rauch, with whom he was engaged in illustrating in
sculpture the glories of the late war. His productions are in various
parts of Germany, and are held in high estimation. He is the sculptor of
the statue of Frederic William at Ruppen, and of the front gate of the
cathedral at Berlin.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1825. Given by Rauch to his friend Tieck, and now
in the possession of his widow.]
323. CHRISTIAN RAUCH. _Sculptor._
[Born 1777. Still living.]
The leading German sculptor of his day--endowed with great imaginative
powers, and excelling in portraits, which, under his treatment, exhibit
truth and nature, intimately associated with poetic elevation. In 1804,
he took his way from Berlin to Rome, and presently secured the
friendship of Thorwaldsen, whose love for the antique greatly influenced
and directed his taste. Whilst at Rome he executed “Mars and Venus
wounded by Diomedes,” a colossal bust of the King of Prussia, and other
celebrated works. In 1811, invited by the King of Prussia to Berlin, he
produced many colossal statues and countless busts. His colossal
“Victories,” for the Walhalla, and the equestrian monument of Frederic
the Great, are well known efforts of his genius. A great
artist--competent to express vigorously, truthfully, and naturally,
historical rather than ideal conception.
[By F. Tieck. Plaster. 1825. Modelled, to be given to his friend
Rauch, but the marble bust not finished. From Lager-Haus.]
324. KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL. _Architect and Painter._
[Born at Neuruppin, in Germany, 1781. Died at Berlin, 1841. Aged 60.]
Styled by his countrymen the Luther of architecture. Employed by the
King of Prussia to erect those structures in his capital which have
stamped a new character on Berlin, and endowed it with high
architectural claims. He gave a new impulse to his art, both by his
influence and his example, and was besides a generous and amiable man.
[By F. Tieck, 1819. The marble bust is in the Berlin Museum. A copy in
bronze is on the staircase of the Royal Theatre, Berlin.]
325. LEO VON KLENZE. _Architect._
[Born at Hildesheim, in Hanover, 1784. Still living.]
The architect, in Munich, of “The Glyptothek,” and the constructor of
many works, Royal and otherwise, in the same city. Also the designer of
the plans for the “Walhalla.” Author of some literary productions
bearing upon his art. In 1844, accompanied Ludwig I. to Greece to
examine the plans already made for the improvement of Athens, and to
suggest original designs. Klenze possesses great decorative skill, and a
comprehensive knowledge of the history of architecture; but the true
genius and high faculty of composition appears on few of his
productions. He does not take what is universal in the various styles
with which his mind is familiar, in order to form a style expressive of
his own spirit, and suitable to the country and climate in which it is
his business to exhibit it, but he borrows his structures from Greece
and Italy, and deposits them in Munich, loading the city with specimens
of foreign styles of architecture. His effects are undoubtedly
picturesque, and the decorations of his buildings always beautiful, but
fault is found with the internal arrangements of his edifices, with the
lowness of the apartments, and with the bases of his façades, which are
occasionally mean and even vulgar.
[By J. Halbig. Plaster. 1846. Executed for King Ludwig.]
326. PETER CORNELIUS. _Painter._
[Born at Düsseldorf, in Prussia, 1787. Still living.]
A renowned painter of the later German school. He studied under Langer,
a disciple of the old school, who made enormous efforts to suppress the
romantic tendencies of his pupil, to check his imagination, and to
restrain his boldness. By a visit to Italy, however, Cornelius confirmed
the bent of his genius, and rendered the good intentions of Herr Langer
of no avail. His indomitable perseverance, hard study, and rare gifts,
soon enabled him to outstrip all rivalry. Whilst still young he was
invited to direct at Düsseldorf the School of Painting, which has proved
itself one of the most careful and successful nursing-mothers of Art in
Germany. In 1819, engaged by the King of Bavaria to decorate the Museum
of Sculpture then constructing at Munich. The subjects painted by
Cornelius in fresco for this Museum from the heroic myths of Homer and
Hesiod, are conceived with a rich imagination, and executed with
superior power. His cartoons illustrating the old “Nibelungen-Lied,”
and the “Faust” of Goethe, are equally remarkable. In 1825, appointed
Director of the Academy of Painting at Munich. In 1841, summoned to
Berlin by the King of Prussia, for whom Cornelius designed the “Shield
of Faith,” presented by his Majesty to his godson, the Prince of Wales.
Cornelius paints with the passionate sensibility and delicate perception
of a true poet. His copious imagination is never at fault, and his
ability to produce is as striking as his faculty of conception. Yet he
never oversteps the modesty of nature, or the confines of true art. He
is the worthy leader of a daily increasing school in Germany, which
attempts, and not unsuccessfully, to unite in art earnestness of
thought, activity, boldness, and freedom.
[By E. Hähnel. Plaster. 1852. In the possession of the artist. This
was the study for the head of the large statue of Cornelius which
Hähnel was commissioned to execute for the new museum at Dresden, and
which stands on the outside, amongst the artists of Germany.]
327. CHRISTOPH GLUCK. _Musician._
[Born in the early part of the 18th century. Died at Vienna, 1787.]
The great merit of Gluck is that he emancipated music from the trammels
of conventionalism and false taste, and made it the exponent and
minister of poetry and the drama. Gluck, invited to London in 1745 to
celebrate in music the butcheries of the Duke of Cumberland, found that
the operas represented there were mere concerts, for which the drama was
a pretext. Sound was everything, meaning nothing. His own music was set
to words with which it had no connexion, and, torn from its original
context, lost all its effect. This fact led him to the discovery of the
great principle which is the key to the rest of his life: viz., that
music is not merely a pleasant arrangement of sounds intended to gratify
the ear, but a subsidiary language, able to exalt and strengthen the
emotions, raised by the measure and force of the spoken language to
which it is allied. In 1761, he composed his opera of “Alceste,” as an
illustration of his idea. It was followed in 1762 and 1763 by “Paris and
Helena” and “Orpheus.” In 1779, he composed the “Iphigenia in Tauride,”
the greatest of his works. Wieland has happily expressed Gluck’s claim
upon our respect in a sentence. “He preferred,” he says, “the Muses to
the Syrens.” His works are not so much operas, in the ordinary sense of
the term, as poems, in which music is employed for producing and
sustaining emotion. Off the stage Gluck was nothing, but upon it the
musician was himself a poet. The manners of Gluck, like those of
Beethoven and Handel, were rough and blunt. He was large in person; and
his habits were indolent and somewhat sensual. The bust discloses the
man.
[From the Terracotta, by Houdon. In the musical collection of the
Royal Library at Berlin. The only bust taken from the life.]
327A. CHRISTOPH GLUCK. _Musician._
[From the Terracotta by Houdon, in the Louvre.]
327B. CHRISTOPH GLUCK. _Musician._
[From the bust by Francin (Fils) in the Louvre.]
327C. CHRISTOPH GLUCK. _Musician._
[From a bust by R. Wagner of Berlin.]
328. FRIEDRICH GÄRTNER. _Architect._
[Born 1792. Died 1847. Aged 55.]
The chief architect in Munich since the withdrawal of Klenze. His most
important work is the new Library in that city, which is remarkable for
the simple magnificence of its façade. He designed the Palace of King
Otho at Athens, and he re-opened the quarries of Pentelicus, which had
not been employed since the days of Hadrian. Upon the departure of
Cornelius from Munich, Gärtner received the appointment of Director of
the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
[By Johann Halbig.]
329. JULIUS SCHNORR. _Painter._
[Born at Leipzig, in Saxony, 1794. Still living.]
First studied under his father, who was Director of the Academy at
Leipzig. In 1811, went to Vienna to get instruction there; but found
little to gratify his taste, or to encourage his genius. In 1817,
travelled into Italy, and there made the acquaintance of Ludwig, then
Crown Prince of Bavaria. At Rome worked at the Villa Massimi, where
Cornelius was also employed, and where he produced in the space of five
years his eleven frescos from the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto. Called to
Munich in 1827, he received there the appointment of Professor of
Historical Painting in the Academy, and painted for the King of Bavaria
his admirable frescos illustrating “The Nibelungen-Lied.” In 1846,
accepted an invitation to Dresden. Schnorr is chiefly known to us by his
beautiful illustrations of the Bible. Amongst all the fresco painters of
Munich he stands unrivalled for combining individual life with ideal
composition.
[From the plaster model by Ernst Rietschel, dated 1848. In the
possession of the sculptor.]
330. LUDOVIC SCHWANTHALER. _Sculptor._
[Born at Munich, in Bavaria, 1802. Died there, 1848. Aged 46.]
Most of his numerous and admirable works adorn his native city. His
masterpiece is the colossal statue of Bavaria, cast in bronze, 54 feet
high. The noble head of this figure forms a remarkable object in our
Court of German and English Sculpture. Before its inauguration the
artist had died, having been an invalid for the last fifteen years of
his life. Many casts from the works of Schwanthaler may be found in the
Court of Modern German Sculpture. He had the advantage of being an
excellent classical scholar, and was besides a warm-hearted, unassuming
man, simple in his manners, full of wit and humour, and a true friend.
As an artist he had a fine classic feeling, great spirit and fire, a
strong imagination, a vigorous and creative genius.
[By Xavier Schwanthaler. Marble, 1849. The original is in the
“Ruhmeshalle” (Hall of Fame), at Munich. It was modelled from the life
in 1837.]
331. FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY. _Musician._
[Born at Berlin 1809. Died at Leipzig 1847. Aged 38.]
The grandson of the Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, and the son
of an eminent banker. Like Mozart he exhibited an astonishing precocity.
In his twentieth year he was already a musical composer of great
originality. Then setting out on his travels, he visited London, Paris,
and various parts of Italy. In 1834, appointed Chapel-Master at
Düsseldorf. In that city he produced, when 27 years old, his oratorio of
“St. Paul.” It won the success it merited. In 1839, he composed his
“Lobgesang,” or “Hymn of Praise,” by many regarded as his masterpiece.
In 1846, his marvellous oratorio of “Elijah” was produced at Birmingham.
From this period his mental activity was prodigious, and his production
ceaseless. He died, literally consumed by the fire within him. He was a
great man. His faculties, of the highest order, were engaged in the
advancement of the purest art. His manner was unaffected, his heart warm
and affectionate. He loved England. His earliest works indicate his
genius; his latest compositions are tinged with a deeper, and more
solemn hue--but all he did was beautiful--like his mind.
[By E. Rietschel. Marble. 1848. In the possession of Alexander
Mendelssohn, the banker, of Berlin, for whom it was executed.]
332. JOHANN HALBIG. _Sculptor._
[Still living.]
An excellent German sculptor, who studied under Schwanthaler, at Munich.
The grand colossal figure of Franken (Franconia), in the German Court of
Modern Sculpture (No. 173), is by this artist.
[Modelled by himself. 1850. A commission from King Ludwig.]
333. MORITZ VON SCHWIND. _Painter._
[Born at Vienna, 1804. Still living.]
Studied under Ludwig Schnorr; then under Cornelius. Since the year 1828,
has been employed in decorating with frescos the Palace of the King of
Bavaria, at Munich, and the Palace of the Grand Duke of Baden, at
Carlsruhe. His compositions from the classical mythology, and from the
modern poets, particularly from Tieck and Goethe, are amongst the finest
things which have been produced in modern times.
[From a medallion by Ernst Rietschel.]
333*. EDWARD DEVRIENT. _Player._
[Born 1801. Still living.]
One of a family remarkable, like that of the Kembles in England, for
dramatic genius. His uncle was a famous actor of his time; his elder
brother is a player of repute in Hanover, and his younger brother, Emile
(born in 1803) is known in England, as one of the best representatives
of Hamlet at the present day. Edward is rather a studious and careful
artist, than a man of genius. He is also an author of ability, his
dramatic works having obtained considerable favour.
[From a medallion by Ernst Rietschel, dated 1852. In the possession of
the sculptor.]
POETS AND DRAMATISTS.
334. FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK. _Epic and Lyric Poet._
[Born at Quedlinburg, in Prussian Saxony, 1724. Died at Hamburgh,
1803. Aged 79.]
Goethe said well of Klopstock, that to him German literature owed a debt
of gratitude, for he was in advance of his time, although he lived long
enough for his time to be in advance of him. He is the classical epic
poet of Germany, as Milton of England, but with a difference. Milton
was nurtured on the overflowing bosom of English poesy. Klopstock had
imbibed no such strength at a native fount. The sublime utterance of the
one still reverberates through a world that is still the wiser and the
better for the heavenly strain. The sonorous rhapsodies of the other
already weary the ear of the land on which they originally fell with
weight and power. Few were the admirers of England’s blind poet when he
sang “of Man’s first disobedience.” To-day they are countless. When
Klopstock published the first part of “The Messiah,” Germany was
enthusiastic. The learned were at his feet, kings craved his
companionship, and the people worshipped a prophet. To-day, a young
German critic has the hardihood to say--without being stoned for his
heresy--that Klopstock’s poems are like nothing so much as translations
from some unknown author, by an erudite but somewhat unpoetical
philologist. With the early admiration for the poet, was mingled awe for
the sanctity with which his subject had enveloped his person. He became
in a nation, what Pollock, the author of “The Course of Time,” has been
amongst a class. If he is now taken down from his undue eminence, his
just claims to respect must not be disregarded. If Luther constituted an
epoch in the moral and intellectual emancipation of his country,
Klopstock marked an era in the progress of her poesy. Both names are
landmarks, in the history of the language, as cultivated in the service
of letters. The latter was, also, a pioneer and a reformer. His odes are
striking and lofty; his learning extensive; his piety fervent; and his
poetic sensibility profound. The thirst of communing with the soul of
his native Germany--since, a widely-possessing enthusiasm--announced
itself as a literary virtue, first in Klopstock’s writings. It spoke in
the selection of some of his themes: but was chiefly operative in his
profound and enamoured study of the language which begins, in his verse,
to discover and lavish exuberant wealth.
[By Dannecker.]
335. GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING. _Man of Letters._
[Born at Camentz, in Saxony, 1729. Died at Brunswick, 1781. Aged 52.]
A philosopher and a poet, but more of an investigator than of a creator.
Nevertheless, a strong renovator. He is named by Germany of to-day with
gratitude, amongst those who loosened the old chains of imitation from
her literature, and summoned her to think and to write, self-conscious,
from her own deep and powerful spirit. Powerlessly enough, her drama,
till his time, was borrowed from that of a people, geographically
divided from her by a river--intellectually, her antipodes. Lessing
showed her, in place of Corneille and Racine, a foreigner, in whose
kindred veins her own blood ran; and called her to Nature and to
herself, in calling her to SHAKSPEARE. Lessing was a critic in plastic
art; witness his “Laocoon.” He was a fabulist of great invention, fancy,
and humour: witness his “Fables,” which may take rank with those of
Æsop. He was a dramatist of skill, power, and pathos: witness his
“Nathan the Wise,” and his “Emilia Galotti.” Above all, he was an
independent thinker; and a style clear, precise, and masterly, runs
through all his writings. He is one of those now elder classics through
whom the language of the country has risen into literary rank and
service.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Bronze. 1849. Erected by subscription at
Brunswick. For further account of this statue, see Handbook to Modern
Sculpture. No. 200.]
336. CHRISTOPH WIELAND. _Poet._
[Born in Suabia, 1733. Died 1813. Aged 80.]
An exquisite artist in words, herein resembling though more enchanting
than, Lessing, whose contemporary he was. He might seem to be a
transitionist; softening the passage from the imitative French school in
Germany, to the pure German. Or you may suspect that the foreign element
is not French, but Italian, if modern,--or Attic, if ancient. For he was
a student of classic antiquity, and a lightness of grace, and a mobile
sensibility to the beautiful, which are not German, reign over his
numerous writings in prose and verse. Some of his works are direct
imitations from the Greek--as his Dialogues after Lucian. His elaborate
philosophical romance, “Agathon,” lays the scene in old Greece. But his
gift is an unrivalled ease in the flow of his narrative verse--lively or
serious--made alluring by perpetual representation to the eye; and
roving with predilection amidst romantic scenes and adventures. His poem
of “Oberon” is a masterpiece in this kind. He seems to have prepared for
it in studying Ariosto, but engrafting upon the Italian style the more
picturesque of his own northern and later poetry. The qualities missed
in this rich, enticing, and luxurious word-painter, are profound
passion, intellectual might, and the more solemn contemplation of the
universe, natural and spiritual. Wieland was a scholar: you feel the
influence of his reading at every step; but the springs in his own bosom
well freely.
[The original marble, by Schadow, is the property of Henry Crabbe
Robinson, Esq. of London. Flaxman declared it “a perfect work, never
surpassed by any artist, living or dead.” When Mr. Robinson visited
Goethe at Weimar, and informed him that he possessed this bust, Goethe
related the circumstances under which it had been lost to Germany, and
added: “You have made me as happy as though I had recovered a lost
child.” Mr. Robinson promised Goethe to bequeath the bust to the
Public Library at Weimar, where Wieland had lived for many years. One
cast has been allowed to be taken for the Crystal Palace; and the
mould has been destroyed.]
337. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE. _Poet._
[Born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, 1749. Died at Weimar, in
Germany, 1832. Aged 83.]
For comprehensiveness and grasp of thought, for profound knowledge of
human life and dealings, for intellectual prowess, for intimate
acquaintance with various and opposing arts and sciences, Goethe stands
alone in Europe throughout the period which he elevated by his presence
and swayed by his achievements. He was a great poet, an excellent
dramatist, a fine novelist, a skilled naturalist; with chemistry,
botany, and anatomy he was familiar. In truth, it is not easy to limit
the immense domain through which his giant mind ranged at its will,
conquering and acquiring wherever it touched. His productions are
voluminous, corresponding to the wealth of his overflowing brain. His
“Faust” predominates far above his other works in popular impression. It
is the one in which he seems the most resolutely to have committed
himself to his subject. Wild, audacious, lying as this does desperately
out of the Real and the Possible, he throws himself into his enterprise,
doing it justice, with all his gathered might. We have a feeling
persuasion of this having been his own favorite work, to which he most
confided, with love, the intimacies of his genius. The recognition of
Faust, as a high work of art, must, however, be restrained to the first
part. In the second the poet seems as though self-bewitched. Certainly,
Germany never has possessed so consummate a master, in art, of her
words. His lyrics are gems of music. They have the _felt_ charm of
grace, rather than demonstrable worth. In the verse of Schiller it is
the other way. Ask of his Germany what constitutes the all-extolled
merit of Goethe, and you will hear for answer:--“He is the great
world-sage.” But some of the elements of true wisdom he unquestionably
lacked. Admit all his strength, his knowledge, his skill, his intuition,
and you still miss the heart lodged by Mother Nature in the bosoms of
Homer, of Shakspeare, of the compatriot and contemporary Schiller;
which, warm and large, embraced with loving and devout sympathy all that
is great and high in the souls of men. You desire, in many of his
personages, the beating pulses of simple, natural, human affection; the
exuberance of genial and generous passion;--in himself, the possessing
and tyrannizing enthusiasm, proper to the vowed follower of the Muse.
His _judgments_ of the world show distinguished capacity, but his
_pictures_ are not generic representations of Man, either as reality
gives him in experience to every one of us, or as poesy would select
him. Goethe promulgated speculations on plants and colours that have
been received into science. He made other speculations during his mighty
and protracted career, which passed into the spirit of more than one
generation, to influence, guide, advance, fashion, and direct it.
[By Alexander Frippel, 1789. Modelled from the life when Goethe was in
his prime. It was done at Rome, by order of the Prince Waldeck, in
whose castle at Aroldsen the original exists. Goethe at that time
allowed his hair to grow in all its natural luxuriance. “I remember
him well,” says a distinguished friend and countryman of his; “he was
then as handsome as Apollo.”]
337A. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE. _Poet._
[This bust is by Rauch, from the marble, dated 1820. It was a
commission from the Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, and occupies its place
in his palace.]
337B. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE. _Poet._
[This bust is from the colossal statue, the work of Steinhauser,
executed by order of the Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar.]
338. FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH VON SCHILLER. _Poet._
[Born at Marbach, in Germany, 1759. Died at Weimar, 1805. Aged 46.]
According to the Germans, Schiller stands second in the list of their
great poets, Goethe being the first; but in the esteem of the rest of
the world, Schiller is pre-eminently the greatest of German poets. In
universality, breadth and power, his genius yields to that of his
illustrious rival; but in delicacy of perception, refinement of feeling,
intense sympathy with the passions he represents, exquisite purity of
thought and diction, and in the treatment of ideal beauty, he is without
a competitor in his own country. His manifest delight in the delineation
of pure and generous characters is not the least grateful of his
excellences. His poetry is the bright intellectual reflexion of his own
chastened spirit, as the writings of Goethe constitute the masculine and
mighty expression of his essentially sensual nature. The German stage
was formed by Schiller, whose later tragedies gave to the drama of his
country a rank that it had never held before. At the outset of his
career Schiller studied law, then medicine; and whilst his own tastes
would have led him to the pastoral office, he found himself, at the age
of 30, appointed to the Chair of History at Jena. His acknowledged
greatest work is the tragedy of “Wallenstein.” He died of consumption,
and was buried with public honours. He conferred dignity upon the
literature of his country, and helped, more than any other man of his
time, to bring it abreast of the poetry of other nations; but the
originality, beauty, and force of his productions are not more worthy of
contemplation, than the aspiring grandeur and nobility of his moral
character. He was the friend and pupil of Goethe. The teacher was the
more consummate artist, the disciple was the purer man. Schiller exalts
our idea of humanity, Goethe lowers it.
[By Dannecker. Marble. 1805. The original was bequeathed by the artist
to King William of Würtemberg, who presented it to the Museum at
Stuttgart.]
338A. FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH VON SCHILLER. _Poet._
[This colossal bust was executed by order of King Louis of Bavaria for
the Walhalla.]
339. LUDWIG TIECK. _Author._
[Born at Berlin, 1773. Recently deceased.]
A writer in literature and art, who has exercised a sensible influence
upon the minds of contemporary authors. His narratives reveal a powerful
imagination and a profound sense of the beautiful. In his “Zerbino” he
exhibited his ideas on general æsthetics. A visit to England in 1818
inspired him with the idea of translating the plays of Shakspeare, and
he undertook this labour in conjunction with W. Schlegel. The
translation is perhaps the best that has ever been made in any language
of our great poet. At the early period of his literary career, Tieck
delighted in the marvellous and fantastic. In 1820, his genius took a
new direction, and built upon an historical foundation, and upon
observation of actual life. The present King of Prussia charged Tieck
with the direction of the theatre at Berlin, and conferred upon him a
pension. Many of his works have been translated into English--two by
Bishop Thirlwall.
[By F. Tieck. Plaster. 1836. In the Lager-Haus. The original model was
done at Dresden.]
340. BERTHOLD AUERBACH. _Poet and Novelist._
[Born 1812. Still living.]
Of Jewish parents, and originally intended for theological pursuits.
Completing his education in 1832, he abandoned Rabbinical lore for the
study of history, philosophy, and general literature. In 1841, he
published a life of Spinosa, to whose doctrines he was deeply attached,
and a translation of that philosopher’s complete writings. In 1843, he
produced a much more popular and generally interesting work, “Village
Histories of the Black Forest,” which has been translated into English,
Dutch, and Swedish. Since 1845, Auerbach has resided either at Weimar or
Leipzig. He is zealous in the cause of popular education, and, during
the commotions of 1848, took part with the moderate democrats.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Medallion. 1847. In the possession of the
sculptor.]
SCIENTIFIC MEN AND WRITERS.
341. JOHANN GUTENBERG. _Inventor of Printing._
[Born at Mayence, in Germany, between 1395 and 1400. Died there,
1468.]
Nothing is known of the early history of Gutenberg, save that he was
born of a patrician family. In 1427, he resided at Strasburgh. When and
where his first attempt at printing was made, it is impossible to say,
for he never affixed his name, nor the date of printing to any of his
productions. About 1438 he first employed moveable types made of wood.
In 1443, he quitted Strasburgh, and returned to his native place. There
he met with one John Faust, a rich goldsmith, and engaged with him to
establish a printing-press, Faust finding the money for the undertaking.
The press was established, and then, for the first time, the Bible was
printed in Latin. Business went on prosperously for a time. But, four
hundred years ago, it fared with great discoverers and great
speculations as at the present hour. Faust had made large advances, and
Gutenberg could not meet the claim. The pair went to law; and, as it
falls out in these cases, the goldsmith got the verdict. He retained the
business. Gutenberg was thrown upon the world. There he found a friend,
was set upon his feet, and established another press. In 1837, a
splendid monument, by Thorwaldsen, was erected to the memory of
Gutenberg in his native town, where the members of the Gutenberg
Society--to which many of the writers of the Rhenish provinces
belong--meet to celebrate his mighty discovery, and to do honour to his
name. Who shall fix the merit or assess the claims, or tell the
influence exercised in the world by the portentous labours, of “The
Inventor of Printing?”
[By E. Von Launitz. Plaster. 1840. Modelled gratuitously by the
artist, for the celebration of the invention of printing in 1840. For
an account of the very line monument erected to Gutenberg at Frankfort
by E. Von Launitz, see No. 175 of Handbook to Modern Sculpture.]
342. IMMANUEL KANT. _Metaphysician._
[Born at Königsberg, in Prussia, 1724. Died there, 1804. Aged 80.]
The founder of a new philosophy in Germany. After twelve years’
meditation, he produced, in the space of five months, his celebrated
“Criticism of Pure Reason.” His main theory is, that there is only one
source of knowledge, viz., the union of subject and object; that is to
say, our knowledge is partly _mental_, partly _physical_,--one half of
it coming from the mind, or _subject_, the other half from the _object_.
The mind has its own forms which it gives to objects. Time and space are
forms of the mind, not things existing out of it. By thus restoring to
mind its independent activity he was able to oppose Locke, proving that
we have ideas independently of experience, and to oppose Hume, by
proving that these ideas have a character of universality, necessity,
and irresistibility. Hume insisted that the understanding is
treacherous. Kant declared it is only limited. For a time, Kant’s
philosophy superseded every other system in the Protestant Universities
of Germany. A man of high intellectual endowment; his life rigorously
philosophical. He lived and died a type of the German Professor. The
cathedral clock of Königsberg, which town he never once quitted during
his long life, was not more punctual, it was said, than Immanuel Kant.
[By Fried. Hagemann. The original in marble is in the University of
Königsberg. F. Hagemann was a pupil of G. Schadow; he was born in
1773, and died at Berlin in 1806. He executed this bust at
Königsberg.]
343. HEINRICH PESTALOZZI. _Educator._
[Born in Switzerland, 1745. Died there, 1827. Aged 82.]
In a year of great dearth and distress to a Swiss Canton, he found
himself in charge of half a hundred ragged and wretched children--in an
empty barn for a school--with hardly bread for them and him, and wholly
without books, or any other usual implements of that industry; but with
a heart yearning and overflowing in love towards his little helpless
ones, and with an intellect singularly given to resolve the complex
forms of knowledge into the primitive elements fitted, by their evidence
and their simplicity, for the tender and opening mind to receive. So
driven and so gifted “he made every child its own book.” These emphatic
words of the narrative tell the secret of that genius with which he
afterwards renovated instruction for the schools of Europe. To draw
forth power--to invite the native energies into spontaneous action--to
lead on the pupil, step after step, in creating thought, in
investigating and constructing, how slowly soever, knowledge for
himself--to foster intelligence under the kindliest influences, like a
plant that wins growth in dews and sunshine, in soft airs and
showers--was the new and living scholastic art which Pestalozzi opposed
to the old tyranny of inflexible rote, rule, and routine. But
intellectual training alone, he held for vain and pernicious. The roots
must strike and feed in the soil of the religious, rightly-governed
will.
[Marble. 1809. A commission from King Louis of Bavaria. The original
is in the Walhalla.]
343.* JOHANN PETER FRANK. _Physician._
[Born at Rotalben, in Germany, 1745. Died at Vienna, 1821. Aged 76.]
One of the greatest practical physicians that Germany has produced. In
1779, he published the first volume of his most famous work, the “System
of Medical Police,” which he states to have cost him ten years intense
study. Was Professor of medicine at Göttingen. In 1795, invited to
Vienna by the Emperor with commission to reform the medical department
of the army. In 1804, charged by the Emperor Alexander with the
formation of a chemical school at Wilna; and subsequently received many
tempting offers from Napoleon to establish himself in France. Has
written many interesting works in connexion with his profession; but his
fame as a writer rests upon the publication already mentioned.
[The bust, which is to come, is by Rauch, in bronze. 1841. The
original belongs to the monument raised to Frank by subscription, in
the House of the Orphans at Halle on the Saale.]
344. FRIEDEICH HEINRICH JACOBI. _Philosopher and Poet._
[Born at Düsseldorf, 1743. Died at Munich, 1819. Aged 76.]
The son of a merchant whose business he followed in spite of his great
fondness for literature, until an official appointment in his native
city enabled him to devote his whole time to study. In 1777, he
published “Friendship and Love,” a philosophical poem, and in the same
year was invited to Munich, where he was made Privy Councillor. In 1781,
he had a sharp controversy with Mendelssohn, respecting the doctrines of
Spinosa. In 1804, he assisted in the formation of the Academy of
Sciences at Munich, of which institution he became President in 1807.
His work published in 1811, upon “Divine Things and Revelation,”
involved him in bitter discussion with Schelling. Jacobi was a
philosophical critic, rather than the founder of a distinct
philosophical system, and his polemical works did good service to
philosophy by weeding false theories from systems already in existence.
He was an honest, diligent, and penetrating inquirer after truth, and
carried a reverent mind and a sincerity of purpose into all his
investigations. He affirmed that all our knowledge of the divine world
comes by spiritual intuition, and that all demonstrative systems tend to
fatalism.
[By Tieck, 1809. In plaster. Modelled at Munich, and now in the Royal
Museum, Berlin.]
345. ALBRECHT THAER. _Physician and Agriculturist._
[Born at Celle, in Hanover, 1752. Died at Mœglin, near Frankfort,
1828. Aged 76.]
Educated for the medical profession at Göttingen, where in 1774, he took
his doctor’s degree. From his youth upwards of a serious and reflective
turn, engaged in philosophical studies, and in brooding over plans for
the amelioration of his kind. He passed some time in England, at the
University of Oxford, and there attracted the notice of George III., to
whom he was appointed Physician in Ordinary. After making a pedestrian
tour through England, he visited Scotland, and closely investigated the
system of agriculture there pursued. Henceforth he belonged to
agricultural science. In 1794, he published his introduction to English
agriculture. Retiring to Celle upon the death of his father, he founded
in his native place an institution for the education of young
agriculturists. Implements instantly improved, and a rational system of
cultivation spread throughout the Communes bordering on that of Celle.
Invited to Berlin, he quitted Hanover in 1804. Obtaining a property at
Mœglin on the Oder, through the generosity of the King of Prussia, he
began a course of oral instruction in agriculture to classes of youth
collected from all parts of Germany. His Institution rapidly rose to the
rank of an Academy, and all its Professors were paid by the Prussian
government. As an agricultural writer, the name of Thaer is worthy of
being placed beside that of our own Arthur Young, and of the meritorious
Frenchman, Olivier de Serres. He is the reformer of husbandry in his own
country, and an enlightened expounder of the great principles upon which
agricultural prosperity in modern times rests.
[By Carl Wichmann. Marble. In the possession of Thaer’s family at
Mœglin.]
346. SAMUEL HAHNEMANN. _Physician and Founder of Homœopathy._
[Born at Meissen, in Saxony, 1755. Died in Paris, 1843. Aged 88.]
He began life under good auspices. His father, a porcelain painter, an
upright and instructed man, in straitened circumstances, is said to have
been assiduous in inculcating upon him his own principles of integrity.
When, unable to support further the expenses of his education, he was
about putting him to a trade, the Meissen professors, struck by the
lad’s talents, resolved to continue his education gratuitously, and
afterwards obtained for him the same favour at Leipzig. He embarked in
his profession, and gained such distinction, that for a whole
twelvemonth, during the illness of the celebrated Wagner, all the
hospitals of Dresden were placed under his direction. His eminence
offered the fairest prospects, when he was visited by a growing distrust
of the science which he practised. He found in it no settled and
commanding principles. He saw the ablest men, groping their way between
experience and conjecture. One law, as he thought, dawned on him; that
the cure of the disease is to be effected by the same agent which, in
the healthy body, would have produced it. On this basis he
re-constructed medicine, giving to his new system the name of
“Homœopathy,” or “The Science of Like Affections.” His disciples devoted
themselves to the creation of a suitable Materia Medica, by
experimenting upon their own healthy bodies; and it is a second
discovery of Hahnemann, if a discovery, that infinitesimal doses may be
effectual in the cure of disease. The system of Hahnemann waged war to
the knife, and it met with war to the knife. As an historical point it
is worthy of remark, that Homœopathy has spread, and is spreading, its
conquests. The honesty of the founder may stand on the single plain
fact, that by denouncing and renouncing established doctrines, he
stepped down from the safe height of his profession, into hazard of the
poverty which he had tasted, and from which he had laboriously risen.
[By Rauch. The original bust is in marble, in the Library at Bremen.]
346A. SAMUEL HAHNEMANN. _Physician and Founder of Homœopathy._
[This is a colossal bust representing the homœopathist at a more
advanced age.]
347. HEINRICH WILHELM MATHIAS OLBERS. _Astronomer._
[Born at Abergen, in Germany, 1758. Died at Bremen, in Germany, 1840.
Aged 82.]
In 1779, whilst studying medicine at Göttingen, he became known as an
astronomer by his observations on the comet of that year. He then
discovered a new method of calculating the orbits of comets. In 1802, he
discovered the planet Pallas; and in 1807, after an arduous search of
three years, the planet Vesta. Olbers was by profession a physician, and
he divided his time between the practice of medicine, and the pursuit of
his darling study. His observatory was the most complete known in
Germany at his time. He wrote but little, and his works are on abstruse
subjects. His valuable library was purchased at his death by the Emperor
of Russia, and deposited in the University of Pultowa.
[For description of this statue, see Handbook to Modern Sculpture.]
348. FRIEDRICH AUGUSTUS WOLF. _Philologist._
[Born at Hainrode, in Germany, 1759. Died at Marseilles, 1824. Aged
65.]
Son of the organist of Hainrode. In 1777, he entered the University of
Göttingen, where he gave private lessons to his fellow-students in
English and Greek, and published an edition of Shakspeare’s Macbeth. In
1807, he went to Berlin, and took an active part in the foundation of
the University shortly afterwards created there. Is honourably known to
literature, for his erudite and admirable editions of the classical
authors, and for his bold elucidation of many obscure points in ancient
learning. His most celebrated work, the “Prolegomena ad Homerum,”
published in 1795, was directed to overthrowing the opinion, previously
universal, which saw in the “Iliad,” the entire creation of a single
mind. He argues that it is the contexture of distinct traditionary
songs, the productions, probably, of many distinct singers: thus
dissolving at once the unity of the poem and of the poet, and making out
of one many Homers. An earlier suspicion had already separated the
authorship of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” Both questions are still in
full debate amongst the learned. He may be regarded as the founder of
the modern philological school of Germany; and his “Prolegomena”
undoubtedly exercised a greater influence upon modern scholarship than
any work that has yet appeared.
[By F. Tieck. Marble. 1822. In the Royal University, Berlin.]
349. JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE. _Philosopher and Metaphysician._
[Born at Rammenau, in Germany, 1762. Died at Berlin, 1814. Aged 52.]
He was an humble private teacher in Leipzig when he first made
acquaintance with the writings of Kant, whose views he eagerly adopted
and cherished. He subsequently (1792) introduced himself to Kant by a
work which he wrote in eight days, “A Critique upon every possible
Revelation.” This publication procured for its author the Chair of
Philosophy at Jena, in 1793, which he was obliged to resign in
consequence of his heterodox religious principles. Finding an asylum in
Prussia, he was appointed to the Philosophical Chair first at Erlangen,
then at Berlin. In 1813, he joined a corps of volunteers, and took part
in the memorable campaign of that year, his wife accompanying him, and
performing many heroic and womanly services to the wounded. Husband and
wife both took fever in the discharge of their duties, and died. It has
been said of Fichte that he erected the temple which Kant declined to
build. His great aim was to construct a science out of Consciousness,
and to found upon it a system of morals. He endeavoured to establish the
identity of Being and Thought, and is therefore the great advocate of
Idealism, which, however, he understood in a different sense from that
taught by Berkeley. According to his theory, the realization of the
world is the complete development of ourselves--which should tend to the
beautiful, the useful, and the good. His life and death were both
honourable to his nature. Before he died, he was doomed to see his
system in a great measure superseded by that of Schelling.
[Bust by Ludwig Wichmann. Marble. The original is in the hall of the
University of Berlin. Executed for the University.]
350. CHRISTOPH WILHELM HUFELAND. _Physician._
[Born at Langensalze, in Saxony, 1762. Died, 1836. Aged 74.]
Professor of medicine at Jena in 1793, and physician to the King of
Prussia. The author of several works, the most celebrated being “The Art
of prolonging Human Life,” a book translated into many languages. His
fame in his own country was very great, and he is styled the Nestor of
German practitioners.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1833. A commission from the University of Berlin,
where the original exists.]
351. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. _Naturalist and Traveller._
[Born at Berlin, 1769. Still living.]
The mighty traveller of our own day. Filled with literature and science,
as if he had spent one life in the library, the laboratory, and the
observatory, he performed the work of another in treading visited and
unvisited plain, valley and mountain of the eastern and western
hemisphere; uniting an ardour of spirit and a vigour of intellect rarely
mated, and not often, singly matched. An author of books that have
advanced existing science, and the creator of new sciences. His
writings, conveying an account of his world-wide journeys and scientific
exploits, and treating profoundly and originally of general physics,
zoology, comparative anatomy, astronomy, mineralogy, magnetism, and
botany, are without parallel for richness of materials, and in respect
of their value as manuals for all enlightened explorers of the marvels
of nature. After a life of almost superhuman labour, and inconceivable
results, the grey-headed sage sums up the diligence of his lengthened
years, in a survey which registers, along every line of human inquiry,
the point of progress attained in the contemplation of the
Universe,--the first half of the teeming nineteenth century having
elapsed. Who else could have achieved--who but he could have
attempted--the Atlantean service? Who but the philosopher, to whom the
whole cycle of the physical sciences is familiar--who walks hand in
hand, a friend and fellow-labourer, with their most distinguished
inquirers? Who but the scholar, before whose eyes the lore of old time
lies unrolled? Who but the workman whose strength toil cannot quell, and
whose fire age does not quench?--Spread his “Kosmos” before a young and
ardent intelligence, which has just then accomplished its regular
liberal nurture, and say “Read and comprehend.” The comprehension
exacted will, when acquitted, have added an education.
[By Rauch. Executed in marble at Rome, 1823.]
351A. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. _Naturalist and Traveller._
[This medallion, by F. Tieck, was modelled gratuitously for a medal
struck at the expense of those who had attended a course of lectures
delivered by Humboldt, and by them presented to him.]
352. GOTTFRIED HERMANN. _Philologist and Critic._
[Born at Leipzig, 1772. Still living.]
This distinguished scholar evinced, at a very early age, a taste for
classical literature, but was compelled by his father to study law at
Jena. Returning to his native city, he resolved to abandon the career of
jurisprudence for that of literature. In 1798, he became Professor of
philosophy. The foundation of his reputation was his fine work on Greek
metres, well known to English students. He translated “The Clouds” of
Aristophanes, and some tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles. His
academic dissertations are numerous, and his Latin poems are admirable
specimens of antique composition. Hermann has rendered invaluable
service to the cause of letters. Goethe said of him, that he was “a true
Sçavant, for he knew how to renew the old and to revive the dead.” Dr.
Parr placed him at the head of the great contemporary critics.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Marble. 1846. Executed for the University of
Leipzig, and placed in the hall there.]
353. FRIEDRICH WILHELM JOSEPH VON SCHELLING. _Metaphysician._
[Born at Leonberg, in Germany, 1775. Still living.]
At Leipzig, where he studied medicine and philosophy, became the pupil
of Fichte. Afterwards filled Fichte’s vacant Chair at Jena, where he
lectured with great success. Continued in Bavaria until 1842, when he
was invited by the King of Prussia to Berlin. Is still there, occupying
as lecturer the philosophical Chair once held by Hegel. Is often styled
the German Plato. It has been suggested that he should rather be called
the German Plotinus. Schelling proclaims the incapacity of reason to
solve the problems of philosophy, and calls in the aid of a higher
faculty--“intellectual intuition.” He is the founder of a new school of
scientific thinkers, called the _Nature Philosophers_, of whom Oken is
the most illustrious example. He treats Newton’s speculations upon light
with disdain, although they have led to many practical discoveries.
Schelling’s views on light and philosophy, generally, will probably lead
to little more than endless disputation. His works, nevertheless,
indicate a vivid imagination conjoined with, subtle dialectics.
Coleridge, in his philosophical writings, has often adopted and adapted
the ideas of Schelling. In many respects, Schelling’s head and face
resemble those of Socrates.
[By J. Halbig. Marble. 1852. The original is in the Royal Palace at
Munich. It was executed by order of King Maximilian II.]
354. JAN JACOB BERZELIUS. _Chemist._
[Born at Ostgothland, in Sweden, 1779. Died at Stockholm, 1848. Aged
69.]
The son of a village schoolmaster, and educated for the medical
profession. Cultivated with ardour the science of chemistry, which then
scarcely drew the attention of the medical student. Appointed Professor
of Chemical Pharmacy in the University of Stockholm, and retained the
Chair for the space of forty-two years. At home and abroad he attained
to great honour and distinction. In Sweden he was made a noble, and he
could boast of connexion with eighty-eight scientific societies of
Europe and America. His patient investigations helped largely to lay the
foundations of organic chemistry; and to him pre-eminently belongs the
honour of applying the great principles of inorganic chemistry. He
invented the use of symbols for chemical formulæ, an invaluable method
of representing chemical changes; and was as distinguished for his
researches in analytical chemistry, as for his philosophical views of
the science. His personal appearance was that of a strong, healthy man,
and gave no indication of his intellectual power. An early riser,
devoting all his mornings to his scientific labours, and his evenings to
social relaxation. He was beloved in Stockholm.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1822.]
355. SULPITZ VON BOISSERÉE. _Architect and Archæologist._
[Born at Cologne, 1775. Still living.]
A man to whom, as to his brother, Germany is indebted for one of its
most interesting and valued picture galleries. The two brothers, and a
friend named Bertram, in 1803, formed a resolution to collect the
artistic antiquities of Germany, and for years all three pursued their
object with the utmost vigour, intelligence, and zeal. In 1814 “The
Boisserée Collection” already reckoned 200 works of art, and was
arranged at Cologne. It was ultimately transferred to Stuttgart, on the
invitation of the King of Wurtemburg. Many valuable masterpieces of old
masters were thus brought to light. In 1827, the collection was ceded to
Louis, King of Bavaria, for 120,000 dollars, and in 1836 conveyed to
Munich, in which city Sulpitz and his brother established themselves. A
writer upon the “Architectural Monuments of the Lower Rhine,” and an
indefatigable, as well as a successful, day labourer in the field of his
early and later discoveries.
[Bust. Plaster. By L. Schwanthaler. 1840. The original is in the
Palace at Munich.]
356. PETER KASPAR WILHELM BEUTH. _Member of the Council of State in
Prussia._
[Born 1782. Died 1853. Aged 71.]
Director in Berlin of the Government department of trade, commerce, and
buildings, and head of the Great Industrial Society of Prussia. In his
public service he endeavoured to advance the principles of Free-trade,
and always acted upon the idea that the regulative intervention of
government in matters of commerce should be restricted to cases of
general danger. He established many useful institutions in connexion
with his department, and caused the issue of several works of
instruction for industrial schools and for artisans. He also introduced
into Prussia valuable improvements in manufactures, brought home by
himself from the United States, England, and France, into which
countries he had travelled. An active promoter of enlightened industry.
[By F. Tieck. 1847. Modelled for a large gold medal struck by the
Great Society for the Encouragement of Industry in Berlin, and
presented to Mr. Beuth.]
357. KARL GUSTAV CARUS. _Physician and Anatomist._
[Born at Leipzig, 1790. Still living.]
The son of a painter. Intended for a dyer,--he devoted himself to the
study of chemistry; but, widening his sphere, applied himself to
medicine, and, subsequently, to anatomy. In 1811, appointed to the Chair
of Comparative Anatomy in Leipzig; and, in 1815, to the Directorship of
Clinical Midwifery, at the Medico-Surgical Academy of Dresden. Has
acquired great reputation by his lectures on Psychology. Also a painter
of considerable talent, and the author of numerous works on Medicine,
and upon Art. His Letters on Landscape-painting are valuable to artists;
their merit was recognised by Goethe. No less important is his book on
the “Proportions of the Human Body,”--just published. In him severe
science and beautiful art--a rare union--are happily combined.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Plaster. 1846. In the possession of the
sculptor.]
358. KARL GUTZKOW. _Journalist and Dramatist._
[Born at Berlin, 1811. Still living.]
A German author, who, after the breaking out of the Revolution of 1830,
exerted himself to advance the interests of his countrymen by publishing
one work against Revelation, for which he received three months’
imprisonment, and another against Marriage, which was scarcely issued
before he himself entered the marriage state. The dramas of Gutzkow have
fared better than his polemical writings, some of his plays being very
popular. He is a prolific author, and has cleverness and wit, which he
brings to the illustration of every topic of the day; but his vanity and
conceit surpass his abilities, and perpetually mislead him.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Plaster. 1850. In the possession of the
sculptor.]
SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN.
359. HANS JOACHIM VON ZIETHEN. _Prussian General._
[Born at Ruppin, in Germany, 1699. Died at Berlin, 1786. Aged 87.]
One of the bravest and best of the great Frederic’s generals. Served
with great honour in the campaign of Silesia, 1742; secured the victory
of Hennesdorf by the eminent skill displayed in the retreat from
Bohemia. As lieutenant-general, made the campaign in Saxony, 1756, and
won further distinction in 1760 at Torgau. When 80 years old still eager
for action, and kept out of battle only by the kind interdict of the
king. He died honoured by his sovereign, beloved by his inferiors, and
worshipped with enthusiastic admiration by the great mass of the people.
Frederic the Great was fond of proposing military problems to his
officers, asking them, in such or such an imaginary situation,--“What
would you do?” to which the other officers replied, as they best might.
All that he could ever get from old Ziethen was: “Sire, only let me see
the enemy coming, and I shall know well enough what to do with him.”--So
he did.
360. GEBHARDT LEBRECHT VON BLUCHER, PRINCE OF WAHLSTADT. _Prussian Field
Marshal._
[Born at Rostock, in Germany, 1742. Died in Silesia, 1819. Aged 77.]
First entered the Swedish army. Taken prisoner by the Prussians, whom he
joined, but expelled from this service for duelling and dissipation.
Retired to the country, married, and, after fourteen years’ quiet,
returned to the army as Major of the very regiment which he had quitted
as Captain. Then commenced a glorious military career, proudly
terminating with his opportune appearance on the field of Waterloo. In
1814, visited England with the allied sovereigns, and was
enthusiastically received. A rough and fearless soldier, brave, honest,
free, beloved by his comrades, devoted to his country, and a bitter
hater of his country’s foes. As a general, daring, reckless, and
impetuous, to the detriment of otherwise high military qualifications.
In temper he was vehement and irascible, and an ardent lover of
pleasure. His soldiers gave him the nickname of “Marshal Forwards.”
[Bust, by Rauch. 1816. Marble. This is the bust presented by King
Frederic William III. to the Duke of Wellington, and is in the gallery
at Apsley House. The large intaglio (No. 360A) is from the monument at
Kriblowitz, a small village near the city of Kant, in Silesia, and
about ten English miles from Breslau. It was erected about six years
ago by order of King Frederic William IV. of Prussia, and is designed
after the ancient Roman sepulchre of Cæcilia Metella, but on a smaller
scale, being thirty feet high. It is constructed entirely of granite,
and the ceiling is formed of one large block. A marble sarcophagus
within contains the remains of Blucher. The monument at Löwenberg, on
the river Bober in Silesia, was erected by King Frederic William IV.
to commemorate the battle of Katsbach, won by Blucher over the French
in 1813. It consists of a colossal bust in marble upon a pedestal of
grey marble, bearing an inscription. The bust, No. 360B, was
sculptured by Berger, a pupil of Rauch’s, after the head of the
colossal statue in bronze by Rauch, which stands in the Place at
Breslau.]
360A. GEBHARDT LEBRECHT VON BLUCHER, PRINCE OF WAHLSTADT. _Prussian
Field Marshal._
360B. GEBHARDT LEBRECHT VON BLUCHER, PRINCE OF WAHLSTADT. _Prussian
Field Marshal._
361. FRIEDRICH WILHELM BULOW. _Prussian General._
[Born in Mecklenburgh, 1755. Died at Königsberg, 1816. Aged 61.]
A brave man and a distinguished general. He fought under Blucher in the
battles of Eylau, Friedland, and Tilsit. In 1813, he three times saved
Berlin from the advancing French army. He was in the great battle of
Leipzig; and in 1815, he repulsed Vandamme and Grouchy on the heights of
Wavre. The marvellous rapidity with which he brought up his division to
the field of Waterloo won high commendation from the Duke of
Wellington. He had great taste in the Fine Arts, and a cultivated mind.
He composed some pieces of sacred music, which have been much admired.
[By Rauch. Bronze. 1824. In the Pleasure Garden near the Palace at
Potsdam.]
362. KARL BARON VON STEIN. _Prussian Minister of State._
[Born at Nassau, 1756. Died 1831. Aged 75.]
A great Minister of modern times. Though rough and uncouth in his
manners, his honour was unimpeachable, his integrity without a flaw, and
his devotion to the interests of Prussia patriotic and enlightened. He
was Prussian Minister of Finance in 1804: but resigning in consequence
of some differences with the King, he retired to his patrimony in
Nassau. Thence recalled after the peace of Tilsit, he resumed his
functions, and commenced a series of great social, economical, and
material reforms, which led directly to the resuscitation of the
Prussian monarchy, and to her present eminence. Napoleon, jealous of the
useful activity of this Minister, demanded and obtained his exile. In
1813, the banished man proceeded to St. Petersburg, where his counsels
directed the Emperor Alexander through the crisis of that dreadful year.
Nor did Prussian interests suffer, in consequence of the sagacious
advice that came from time to time to Berlin from the exile’s retreat in
Courland.
363. GEBHARDT DAVID SCHARNHORST. _General._
[Born in Hanover, 1756. Died at Prague, 1813. Aged 57.]
A very distinguished general of his day. He served first in the
Hanoverian service, then in the army of the King of England, and finally
in that of Prussia. In the war with France, in 1806, he contributed
greatly to the brilliant retreat on Lübeck, effected by Blucher. After
the peace of Tilsit, he was named President of the Commission for the
re-organization of the Prussian army, and his energy and wisdom enabled
Prussia to bring a finely appointed army of 200,000 men into the field,
after Napoleon’s Russian reverses. He was wounded at Lutzen, and died at
Prague shortly afterwards. In 1804, he had been appointed by the King of
Prussia, conjointly with Baron Knesebeck, instructor to the Prince
Royal: and at one time of his life he wrote several works on military
subjects, which gained him great repute.
[By Rauch. Modelled in 1819, and executed in bronze by order of King
Frederic William III. It stands in the Pleasure Garden near the Royal
Palace at Potsdam. A colossal bust, taken from the same model, was
done by Rauch, by order of King Louis of Bavaria, for the Walhalla.]
364. YORCK, COUNT VON WARTENBURG. _Prussian Field Marshal._
[Born at Königsberg, 1759. Died 1830. Aged 71.]
One of the ablest Prussian generals in the wars with Napoleon. He fought
under the British flag in the American revolution. When commanding
subsequently in the Prussian service, he concluded in 1812, on his own
responsibility, the celebrated Convention which separated the Prussian
troops from the French, and proved one of the main causes of Napoleon’s
overthrow. He gained many victories at various times, and was honoured
with the title of Wartenburg for the battle fought at that place. In
1821, he was created Field-Marshal. A brave man, endowed with great
military talent; a shrewd observer of men, ambitions, violent, yet
devoted to his country.
[By Rauch. Bronze. 1818. In the Pleasure Garden near the Palace at
Potsdam.]
365. FRIEDRICH HEINRICH VON NOLLENDORF. _Prussian Field-Marshal._
[Born at Berlin, 1763. Died there, 1823. Aged 60.]
A distinguished Prussian officer. Commanded a brigade in the Prussian
contingent to Napoleon’s disastrous expedition to Russia, and bore an
honourable part in the wars subsequently undertaken against Napoleon.
Accompanied Frederic William of Prussia on his visit to England. He died
on the same day as Buonaparte. All the sovereigns of the coalition had
conferred honours upon him, and Napoleon himself decorated him with the
cross of the Legion of Honour.
[By Rauch. Bronze. 1819. In the Pleasure Garden near the Palace at
Potsdam.]
366. AUGUSTUS, COUNT HERDART DE GNEISENAU. _Field-Marshal._
[Born at Schilda, in Upper Saxony, 1760. Died at Posen, in Prussia,
1832. Aged 72.]
An eminent soldier, who served first under the Margrave of
Anspach-Bayreuth; then in the English, then in the Prussian service. On
the return of Napoleon from Elba, he was placed at the head of Blucher’s
staff, and was mainly instrumental in bringing up the Prussian troops at
Waterloo, where he ably conducted the pursuit. In 1831, took the command
of the Prussian army on the breaking out of the Polish insurrection, and
died of cholera the same year. A great master of strategy.
[By F. Tieck. Bronze. 1821. In the Pleasure Garden near the Palace at
Potsdam.]
367. KARL WILHELM BARON VON HUMBOLDT. _Statesman and Philologist._
[Born at Potsdam, in Prussia, 1767. Died near Berlin, 1835. Aged 68.]
In William Von Humboldt the highest qualities of a scholar were united
to the talents of a statesman and man of the world. He discharged the
functions of Ambassador at Vienna and in London, and served his country
on more than one grave and diplomatic mission. He was extensively
learned in languages dead and living; but that is common in Germany. His
_originality_, as a philologist, lies in a delicacy of abstruse
thought--a philosophical vein, as fine as profound, which he brings to
bear on all questions of the literary field, from the rigid
investigation of grammatical forms and laws, to the most feeling and
comprehensive criticisms of taste. A rare power of sifting analysis, a
strong impulse to tread, alone and self-guided, unfrequented grounds,
and an eye to seek out new truth on ground the most trodden, may be read
in his various masterly writings. He was a poet also.
[Modelled by Thorwaldsen, at Rome, in 1807. It has since been executed
in marble by order of King Frederic William III., and placed in the
Museum at Berlin.]
368. HERMANN VON BOYEN. _Prussian Minister of War._
[Born at Kreutzburg, in Prussia, 1771.]
Commenced his military career as corporal in an infantry regiment, 1784,
and gradually rose until, in 1799, appointed Staff-Captain. In his youth
a great student of the works of Frederic the Great; and from 1794 to
1796, during the war with Poland, the adjutant and friend of the
celebrated General Von Günther, whose military disciple he became, and
whose memoirs he subsequently composed. In his twenty-eighth year he
wrote a treatise upon military law, which eminently conduced to the more
humane treatment and greater comfort of the common soldier. Served in
all the later wars against Napoleon. Major-general at the Peace of
Paris, when he became Minister of War. In that capacity, established in
connexion with the service a number of organic laws, which display great
practical wisdom, and a manly consideration for the well-being of the
army. Retired from office in 1819, and occupied himself in literary
pursuits. Reinstated by the present King of Prussia in 1841, he at once
pursued his former energetic course of improvement on behalf of his
country and of its loyal defenders, to the great joy of the soldiers,
and with the honour, good-will, and affection of the people.
[By Hopfgarten. The original bronze is in the Palace at Potsdam.]
369. OTTO-FEODOR FREIHERR VON MANTEUFFEL. _Prussian Minister._
[Born, 1805. Still living.]
Educated at the University of Halle. In 1827, went to Berlin, where he
was employed in the Administration. In 1841, appointed Chief Counsellor
of State and Director of the Home Department in the government of
Königsberg. When, in 1847, the first united Prussian Chamber met,
Manteuffel powerfully defended the existing system against the liberal
attempts of the day; and in April, 1848, protested and voted against
universal suffrage. In November, 1848, appointed chief Administrator for
Brandenburg, since which time his ministerial activity has become matter
of Prussian history. Manteuffel took an active part in framing the
constitution of December 5, 1848. After the death of Count Brandenburg,
he was entrusted provisionally with the direction of foreign affairs;
and in 1850 was elected President of State. He is in high favour with
the king, but not so popular with the liberal party.
[By Vollgold. Bronze. 1850. In the Pleasure Garden near the Palace at
Potsdam. First executed by the artist for his own gratification. Has
since been cast in bronze by order of King Frederic William IV.]
370. COUNT JOSEPH RADETZKY. _Austrian General._
[Born in Bohemia, 1766. Still living.]
Has been a soldier, and in active service, for upwards of seventy years.
He took part in the great struggle against Napoleon. In 1809,
distinguished himself at Agram, and in the battles of 1813, 1814, and
1815, won fresh laurels. In 1822, appointed Commander-General of the
Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. His last great service for Austria was after
the Revolution of 1848, when he opposed and defeated the vacillating
attempts made by Charles Albert of Sardinia, on behalf of Italian
liberty. When it is said that Radetzky is a brave soldier, an able
general, a loyal subject, and, as many aver, a courteous gentleman, his
claims to respect are enumerated. He is rigid and severe, if not cruel,
as he is certainly regardless of all human considerations that presume
to interpose between him and the duty which he owes as a soldier to his
king.
[By Rauch. Considered to be a very exact likeness.]
PRELATES AND THEOLOGIANS.
371. MARTIN LUTHER. _The Great Reformer._
[Born at Eisleben, in Saxony, 1483. Died there, 1546. Aged 63.]
The Lion of the Reformation. One of the men who, by coming to their
time, have made an epoch in the world’s history. Assuredly the abuses of
Rome,--in her second supremacy, as the spiritual mistress of the
world,--must have aroused their effectual remedy; for partial
resistances, before Luther rose, showed how deeply the mind of mankind
resented and resisted the oppression and the spiritual malversation, and
how fast the time was ripening for general revolt. Europe, since the
overthrow of the Roman Empire, had been gradually rising with the inward
vigour of her renewed life. The restored study of classical letters came
as a powerful external impulse. Rome had but slowly established her
domination, and only then securely given herself up to licence. Thus the
strengthening of the evil on the one hand, and of the resisting life on
the other, met: and then Luther came. He was fit for his Herculean
labour. He had stepped from the very heart of the people, and his strong
nature bespoke his hardy origin. He was fearless as one who could not
feel fear in the midst of the most terrible danger; he was zealous as
one who labours under the sense of Divine appointment, who knows that to
die may be to live, to live may be to suffer worse than death: and who
rejoices equally at every turn of fortune. He was threatened with the
stake: he persisted in his crusade all the more for the menace. The Pope
excommunicated him in the face of all the world. He denounced the Pope
before as large an audience. The Pope publicly burned all his writings:
he publicly burned the Bull of excommunication, the Canon Law, and the
Pope’s Decretals. Before Luther died,--and he fell asleep tranquilly,
worn out with labour, not with age,--his doctrines had already taken
deep root in the wide world. We are all the debtors of his work; and we
may remember with gratitude the generous protection of the Elector of
Saxony, who again and again refused to give the Lion up, when the
hunters loudly demanded his blood at the gate.
[By G. Schadow. Marble. The original placed in the Walhalla by order
of King Louis. Luther was excluded from the Walhalla till 1848, when
he was admitted, and inscribed as Dr. Martin Luther. In the Berlin
Museum there is a portrait of him from the life, by L. Cranach, as the
Junker Georg, with moustaches, painted when he was concealed in the
Castle of Wartburg.]
372. PHILIP MELANCTHON. _German Divine and Reformer._
[Born at Bretten, in the Palatinate of the Rhine, 1497. Died at Wurms,
in Germany, 1560. Aged 63.]
The wise and gentle sharer with Martin Luther in the glory of the
Reformation. Melancthon was Professor of Greek in the University of
Wittemberg in 1518, when Luther was there teaching Theology. They united
their great gifts and powers to do the perilous labour of their lives,
and each proceeded to his mission in the spirit created within him for
the accomplishment of a seemingly superhuman task. Luther raged
furiously against the error he encountered on his path. Melancthon
strove to entice it into the right road by gentle words and mild
remonstrance. The one exhibited the resolute bearing of a soldier
fighting for the church militant; upon the face of the other beamed the
quiet heroism of the Christian saint. Luther upbraided his
companion-in-arms for his lukewarmness. Melancthon met the rebuke by
continuing his steadfast course of conciliation, caution, and thoughtful
zeal. Luther found no friend in the camp of the enemy. The most
intolerant of his foes respected the mild virtues of Melancthon. Both
were fit instruments for the hour in which they were summoned to action,
and for the sacred cause they arose to defend: and, as was fitting, both
were buried side by side in death, as they had laboured side by side,
and hand to hand, in life. Melancthon compiled the celebrated Augsburg
Confession. He was a great scholar, attached to the study of
mathematics, and to scientific studies generally. He had no desire for
worldly honours and distinctions. He was a true hero.
[From the marble by G. Schadow. Placed in the Walhalla by order of
King Louis.]
373. FRIEDRICH ERNEST DANIEL SCHLEIERMACHER. _Theologian._
[Born at Breslau, in Prussia, 1768. Died at Berlin, 1834. Aged 66.]
His parents were of the Moravian brotherhood, which he quitted at the
age of 18, and began to study philology and divinity at the University
of Halle. In 1802, he taught the same subjects in the same University of
Halle. In 1833, he visited England, and opened the German chapel of the
Savoy. The author of several works distinguished for profound thought,
conveyed perspicuously to those he is addressing. He was an excellent
theologian, a distinguished philologist, a profound critic, and an
admirable translator. His translation of Plato, unfortunately not
completed, is the best extant. He had a pure and pious mind.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1822. A commission from the University of Berlin.
The same bust was placed over his tomb by the friends of
Schleiermacher.]
KINGS AND QUEENS.
374. FREDERIC WILLIAM. _Elector of Brandenburg._
[Born at Cologne, 1620. Died 1688. Aged 68.]
Surnamed the Great Elector, and father of the first King of Prussia. He
succeeded to the government in 1640, and found his dominions exhausted
by war and mismanagement. He restored the public finances, and corrected
abuses. In 1655, he joined the Swedes in the invasion of Poland. In
1678, he completed the conquest of Pomerania. He then fought against the
Swedes, and involved himself in war with France, because, after the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he had befriended 20,000 French
Protestants who sought protection at his door. In 1686, he helped the
Emperor against the Turks, and two years afterwards assisted William of
Orange in his invasion of England. He left his territory as rich,
fruitful, and well-governed, as he had found it poor and distracted. He
has been censured for his frequent change of party, but he deserves his
name of “Great,” no less for the victories he won abroad, than for the
good services performed at home. He is described as a generous,
kind-hearted man.
[By Ludwig Wichmann. Bronze. At Treptow.]
375. FREDERIC WILLIAM I. _King of Prussia._
[Born at Berlin, 1688. Died there, 1740. Aged 52.]
The son of Frederic I. and the father of Frederic the Great. The best
that can be said of him is, that he left behind him a full treasury and
an efficient army of 66,000 men. He was rough and rude in his manners, a
hater of luxury, and parsimonious in all things but his expenditure for
the increase of his military resources. He had a childish desire to fill
all his regiments with very tall men, and was unscrupulous in his
methods of gratifying the whim. An amusing story is told in connexion
with this passion. Meeting with a fine, tall, and strong young peasant
woman, who was on errand to the quarters of a regiment, he gave her a
letter to deliver to the commanding officer, ordering him to marry the
bearer to his tallest grenadier. The girl, hindered on her way, and not
knowing the purport of her mission, entrusted it to a little old woman,
and the marriage was effected accordingly. His contempt for science and
literature was supreme, and he made no secret of his want of all respect
for their professors. He was feared, not loved, in his country, and his
death caused no regret.
[By Hopfgarten. Bronze. At Treptow. Done within the last ten years.]
376. FREDERIC II., SURNAMED THE GREAT. _King of Prussia._
[Born at Berlin, 1712. Died 1786. Aged 74.]
The greatest soldier of his time, and the most famous king that Prussia
has given to her throne. At the commencement of his reign, in 1740, his
dominions contained two and a quarter millions of inhabitants. At the
end of its 46 years, Prussia counted six millions of subjects. He held
the field singly against Russia, Saxony, Sweden, France, and Austria;
and came with honour and rich booty out of the conflict. A great worker,
whether in the field or in the cabinet. His custom was to rise at five
in the morning to read “papers.” These he dispatched with a word or two,
written on the margin: the rest of the day was marked out with exact
precision, a part of it being invariably devoted to literary pursuits,
and to the cultivation of music, of which he was fond. No man ever gave
less of his time to frivolity or inaction. His dress was plain, and
never other than military; his toilet, when he rose, occupied him only a
few minutes; he always wore high jack boots, and he never changed his
dress during the day. An able administrator, a liberal encourager of
art, science, and industry, and the personal friend of D’Alembert,
Condorcet, and Voltaire, with all of whom he personally corresponded.
His conversation was lively and brilliant, not unfrequently sarcastic:
but, in action, he was not cruel. A free thinker, rejoicing in his
intellectual independence. Besides his other acquisitions, he was one of
the guilty sharers in the dismemberment of Poland. Nevertheless, dying,
he left an illustrious name to his country, and a throne to his
successor worthy the acceptance of a European monarch.
[For an account of the admirable and unique monument, by Rauch, of
which this is the life-size model, see No. 195 in Handbook to Modern
Sculpture.]
377. FREDERIC LOUIS HENRY. _Prince of Prussia._
[Born at Berlin, 1726. Died at Rheinsberg, in Prussia, 1802. Aged 76.]
The son of Frederic William I., of Prussia, and brother of Frederic the
Great. A student in his youth, and a distinguished soldier in his
manhood. He held important command during the Seven Years’ War. In later
life, when he withdrew into retirement, he erected in his garden a
monument on a huge mound of earth. It was raised in memory of his
companions in arms, and underneath, it, in a vault, he directed that
his own remains should be interred.
[By Emil Wolff. Marble. 1847. It was modelled at Rome. The original is
in the Palace at Berlin.]
378. MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH I. _King of Bavaria._
[Born 1756. Died 1825. Aged 69.]
From 1799, Elector, and from 1806, King of Bavaria. The year that he saw
his Duchy raised to the dignity of a kingdom, Maximilian, who for some
years was the faithful ally of Napoleon, gave his daughter in marriage
to Eugène Beauharnois. In 1813, the Bavarian king, acting in the true
interests of his country and of humanity, joined the allies against
France, and helped with them to rescue Germany from the fangs of the
French invader. In public as well as private life, Maximilian was
courteous, benevolent, simple-minded, and true-hearted.
[By Stiglmayer. In marble. It is in the Palace at Munich. Stiglmayer
was for a long time at the head of the Royal Foundry for bronze
casting.]
379. FREDERIC WILLIAM III. _King of Prussia._
[Born 1770. Died 1840, aged 70.]
The grand nephew of Frederic the Great. He succeeded to the throne in
1797, and, in 1806, was involved in a war with France, which, before its
close, almost extinguished his kingdom. The peace of Tilsit, in 1807,
left him little more than a nominal sovereignty. In 1810, he founded the
University of Berlin; in 1812, took part with France against Russia; and
in 1813, again declared war against France. His army shared in the
triumphal entry into Paris in 1814; and in 1815, his soldiers under
Blucher partook of the glory of Waterloo at the crisis of the battle. A
man of domestic virtues, but of small capacity. Napoleon’s judgment of
this King was somewhat harsh. “He is,” said Buonaparte, “the greatest
idiot on the face of the earth--without intelligence, and incapable of
sustaining a conversation for the space of five minutes--a true Don
Quixote.” The present King of Prussia is the son of Frederic William
III.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1826. In the Royal Palace at Berlin.]
380. LOUIS FERDINAND. _Prince of Prussia._
[Born 1772. Died at Saalfeld, in Germany, 1806. Aged 34.]
A soldier of great distinction, and beloved by the Prussian army. In the
war of 1806, he commanded the advanced guard of Prince Hohenlohe, and
was killed in that year, whilst covering the evacuation of Saalfeld, in
Central Germany. He died bravely. He was of a generous and vehement
nature, a great advocate of the war, and frequently a violent opponent
of the government. He was impatient of the fact, that the accident of
his birth prevented the full exercise of energy and activity, which
meaner men were permitted.
[By L. Wichmann. Bronze. 1822. At Potsdam.]
381. LOUISA AUGUSTA WILHELMINA AMELIA. _Queen of Prussia._
[Born at Hanover, 1776. Died at Hohenzieritz, 1810. Aged 34.]
The honoured wife of Frederic William III. of Prussia. Napoleon admired
her for her wit, tact, and singular address, and Europe applauded her
for her heroic character, and true nobility of soul. On the breaking out
of the war with France, in 1806, she was inspired with enthusiasm, and
was frequently seen in the streets of Berlin at the head of her
Hussars, whose uniform she wore. On the defeat of her husband at
Auerstadt, she shared his perilous retreat, and evinced great firmness
and resignation. She was also with her husband at the Conference of
Tilsit, and was earnest in her entreaties to Napoleon for easier
conditions on behalf of her unfortunate country. She was beautiful in
person, calm and constant in reverses, with great dignity and grace of
manner. She was beloved by her people.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1824.]
382. LUDWIG I. _Ex-King of Bavaria._
[Born 1786. Still living.]
The eldest son and successor of King Maximilian Joseph. As Crown Prince
he took little interest in public affairs, but confined himself to the
zealous patronage of the fine arts. Frugal in his personal expenditure,
he was extravagant in his purchases of works of art, and in the
construction of his celebrated Glyptothek, a building devoted to the
reception of the finest works of sculpture. Ascending the throne in
1825, he commenced many economical reforms, but still drew around him,
by his munificent patronage, the most celebrated artists of Germany, for
the adornment and elevation of his capital. More than one stately
edifice and exquisite collection in Munich bear testimony to his love
for art and zeal in its promotion. He would have done still more for his
city had he been permitted. He lodged the munificent sum of £30,000 in
the hands of an English banker to purchase the Elgin marbles, in the
event of their rejection by the English government. The sum actually
paid for the marbles by England was £35,000. A grandeur is reflected
upon this--the finest side of Ludwig’s character. On the other hand, he
has lived to become a bigot, to forget his early political reforms, to
deal with a rough hand in matters of religion and state, and to shock
public opinion by illicit alliances, at the very moment he is expressing
a pious anxiety for the restoration of monasteries. In 1848, Ludwig I.
abdicated in favour of his son Maximilian, the reigning king. The
ex-king is a ruler fit for the middle ages, when the love of art was
intense and passionate, when manners were rude and unformed, and the
people in fetters, spiritual and bodily.
[By Halbig, 1848.]
382A. LUDWIG I. _Ex-King of Bavaria._
[Colossal bust, by Ludwig Schwanthaler. Marble. 1840. The original is
in the Royal Palace at Munich.]
383. LEOPOLD I. _King of the Belgians._
[Born 1790. Still living.]
Head of the House of Coburg. He was educated in Germany, and in 1816,
married Charlotte, the daughter of George IV. of England. She died the
following year. In 1832, he married a daughter of Louis Philippe of
France; and in 1850, she also died. He was called to the sovereignty of
Belgium in 1832. Although a foreign prince, and a Protestant ruling over
a Catholic country, he has succeeded in winning the respect of all
political parties, and the sympathies of all religious sects. He is the
type of a constitutional king on the continent of Europe, and his
personal influence, in European politics, is considered to be weightier
than in proportion to the size of his dominions. He is the uncle of
Queen Victoria.
[From the marble by G. Geefs, in Windsor Castle.]
383.* LOUISE MARIE. _Queen of the Belgians._
[Died 1850.]
She was the daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the French, and second
wife of King Leopold I. of Belgium.
[From the marble by G. Geefs, in Windsor Castle.]
384. FREDERIC WILLIAM IV. _Reigning King of Prussia._
[Born 1795. Still living.]
A king whose good intentions and fair-sounding promises seem invariably
to overbalance his powers of performance. Anxious for popularity, yet
always vacillating on the path that leads to it. Manifestly ambitious,
but kept aloof from the great prizes of ambition by want of moral
courage, of earnestness, and vigorous action. He commenced his reign
with many advantages, and might have rendered himself the most powerful
sovereign of Germany, and the most popular of its rulers. He has missed
the power, and parted with the popularity. He promised his people a
constitution: they have never received it. In the Revolution of 1848 he
sided with the extreme liberals, but only to bound back again--further
than ever--into the arms of absolutism. In his conduct towards Russia
and England in the momentous dispute of 1854, Frederic William IV. is
faithful to his character and his antecedents.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1845. In the Royal Palace at Berlin.]
385. NICHOLAS PAULOVITCH. _Reigning Emperor of all the Russias._
[Born 1896. Still living.]
The third son of Paul I. and of Maria Feodorowna, and the eighth
sovereign of the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty, which is of German origin.
Succeeded to the throne in 1825, upon the death of Alexander--his elder
brother Constantine renouncing the throne in his favour. In 1826,
declared war against Persia; in 1828, the war closed in his favour. In
the same year found occasion for a quarrel with the Turks, crossed the
Balkan mountains, which Russian troops had never before passed, and
imposed hard conditions upon the Sultan--amongst others, the so-called
Protectorate of the Danubian Principalities. The insurrection in Poland,
after the French Revolution of 1830, the commencement of the war in the
Caucasus, are familiar events. Still more recent is the interference of
Nicholas in the war between Hungary and Austria--an interference that
restored Hungary to Austrian rule--and, later still, the invasion of the
Danubian principalities, on the plea of securing the rights of the Greek
Church in the Turkish dominions. A fanatic in his adherence to Russian
customs, language, and religion, and glorying in his title of Spiritual
Chief of the Orthodox Church. The incarnation of despotism, and the
stern hater of all liberal ideas. His rule military and absolute. Like
Frederic the Great, he never shows himself but in military costume. Is
of great height, and said to be very proud of his size. His life one of
feverish activity. He gets through more work in a day than other
monarchs can manage in a month. He rides, walks, holds a review,
superintends a sham fight, goes on the water, exercises the navy, gives
a fête, takes his meals, and enjoys his rest, all within the twenty-four
hours. He is a wondrous traveller--travelling faster and getting over
more ground than everybody else--and has an absolute passion for
military evolutions. Since the days of the Empress Catharine,
Constantinople--called in Russia Czarapol (city of the Czars)--has been
regarded as the future capital of the Russian empire. Nicholas, after
much diplomacy, cozening, double-dealing, menace, and display of anger,
has put forth his massive hand to seize it. The world waits to see
whether that greedy hand shall grasp its prize, or recoil smitten and
maimed for its unauthorized rapacity.
[By C. Rauch. Marble. 1820. In the Palaces at St. Petersburg and
Berlin.]
386. ALEXANDRA. _Empress of Russia._
[Born 1798. Still living.]
The wife of Nicholas, the reigning Emperor of Russia, and the sister of
Frederic William IV., King of Prussia.
[By Rauch. From the marble. 1816. A commission from the Emperor. It is
in the Palace at St. Petersburg, and another copy is in the Royal
Palace at Berlin.]
387. FRANCIS JOSEPH. _Reigning Emperor of Austria, and King of Hungary._
[Born 1830. Still living.]
Succeeded to the throne on the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand, in
1848, (the epoch of revolutions), his father, Francis Charles, having
refused the Crown. At the time of his accession, Vienna had just been
recovered from the insurgents, but Hungary was in arms against Austria.
In 1849, a new constitution, of a more liberal character, was
promulgated by the Emperor, and, in the same year, Hungary was reduced
to submission by the assistance of Russia. In 1850, the young Emperor
returned to the old system of absolute government. In 1852, his life was
attempted by a Hungarian whilst walking on the ramparts of Vienna.
Francis Joseph is personally popular. He is bold and soldier-like,
possessed of strong will and independent judgment. His experience is
beyond his years.
[By Halbig. Marble. 1850. The original is in the Imperial Palace at
Vienna.]
ENGLISH PORTRAITS.
INTRODUCTION.
We have no great collection of Portrait Busts in England. The British
Museum contains 20 antique portrait busts; those of Homer, Pericles,
Diogenes, and Julius Cæsar have a good claim to authenticity. There are,
also, in the Museum, some valuable antique Portrait Statues. The English
portraits, in Sculpture, in the Crystal Palace have been collected, as
time permitted, from old busts and statues, and from the studios of
living and deceased sculptors. Attached to the lives of our English
worthies given in the following pages, will be found, wherever
practicable, the names of the respective artists.
With the English Contingent, the muster of our illustrious army for the
present closes. Five hundred busts and statues constitute the vigorous
germ of a collection which it is hoped eventually to render by its
extent worthy of the magnificent structure in which it is housed, and of
the subject which it is intended to vivify, viz.:--The history of the
great men of all nations who have, by thought and deed, advanced human
civilization, and stamped their impress, whether for good or evil, upon
the world through which they have passed.
* * * * *
(_The English Portraits commence immediately behind the Farnese
Hercules at the north-west angle of the Great Transept and Nave._)
ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS.
388. INIGO JONES. _Architect._
[Born in London, 1572. Died 1651. Aged 79.]
Inigo Jones served his apprenticeship to a joiner: but his talent for
landscape-drawing obtained for him the favour of the Earl of Pembroke,
in whose company he visited France, Flanders, Germany, and Italy. At
Venice he was inspired with a taste for architecture, and following the
art with ardour and success obtained the office of first architect to
the King of Denmark. The king took Jones to England in 1606, and
introduced him to James I. His employment at the English Court as scenic
decorator is well known. The attachment of Inigo Jones, who was a Roman
Catholic, to the cause of Charles I., caused him great loss and
suffering during the civil wars, and he died, shortly after the
sacrifice of his master, worn out with grief and trouble. The style of
architecture introduced into England by this famous master, was founded
on the Venetian school, and more particularly on that branch of it
exercised by Andrea Palladio. It is distinguished by excellent
proportions, and by a masculine and noble character, which, whilst it
does not condescend to borrow too much from ornament, yet makes just use
of its charm. The Banquetting House at Whitehall, the only completed
portion of the magnificent palace designed by Jones, is his
_chef-d’œuvre_, and bears comparison with any work of the Italian style
in Europe. He practised the best and purest style of Italian
architecture ever known in England.
389. SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. _Architect and Mathematician._
[Born in Wiltshire, 1632. Died at Hampton Court, 1723. Aged 91.]
We think of Wren as the first of British architects; but he was
something more. As a mathematician, he was in his day second only to
Newton; and in general scientific knowledge, he had no superior.
Educated at Westminster. At thirteen, had already invented a new
astronomical instrument. At fourteen, entered Wadham College,
Oxford;--and, young as he was, formed one of the original members of a
club established for philosophical discussions and experiments; a club
out of which sprang the Royal Society. When twenty-five, Professor of
Astronomy at Gresham College, London. At the Restoration, Savilian
Professor of Astronomy at Oxford; his skill as an architect having been
meanwhile shown in the Sheldon Theatre at Oxford. The popular fame of
Wren rests on St. Paul’s Cathedral, which he began to rebuild nine years
after the great fire, taking thirty-five years to complete his
magnificent labour. Before, and during this lengthened period, he built
other edifices, and applied his vigorous and subtle mind to the most
abstruse branches of science. His mechanical discoveries are numerous.
He invented an instrument for ascertaining the amount of rain falling in
each year; he rendered the taking of astronomical observations more easy
and exact; he was the originator of the attempt to introduce fluids into
the veins of animals; and there is every reason to believe that to him,
and not to Prince Rupert, we owe the art of mezzotint engraving. Amongst
his architectural buildings are Trinity College Library, Cambridge, the
new part of Hampton Court Palace, Chelsea Hospital, a wing of Greenwich
Hospital, and the palace at Winchester. St. Paul’s, probably suggested
by St. Peter’s at Rome, although not of equal dimensions with its
supposed prototype, is a far nobler work of art, excelling it in plan,
in composition externally, in variety of effect internally, and in
scientific construction. Bow Church, Cheapside, St. Stephen’s, Walbrook,
and most of the other churches, in the City of London--where he chiefly
worked--with their exquisite and varied steeples, are the work of Wren,
whose ecclesiastical edifices greatly surpass in beauty all his other
buildings. In his time the Greek style had not been made known, and
though with the Roman acquainted only through books, and the Renaissance
buildings of Paris, his work in it is critically correct. His native
genius is stamped upon his buildings, and he is ever to be admired, if
not always imitated. Supplanted by Court intrigue in 1718, he spent his
old age as quietly as intrigue would let him at Hampton Court, absorbed,
and finding compensation, in his scientific studies, and visiting London
occasionally to see how the repairs at Westminster Abbey were going on.
390. DAVID GARRICK. _Player and Dramatist._
[Born at Hereford, 1716. Died at Hampton, 1779. Aged 63.]
The pupil of Dr. Johnson, with whom he went to London from Lichfield, in
search of a profession. He adopted the stage, and after playing for some
time at Ipswich under the assumed name of Lyddel, made his first
appearance in London, in 1741, in the theatre of Goodman’s-fields. He
was twenty-five years old--the part was Richard III.--the success
triumphant. According to tradition, the sole imperfect reporter to
posterity of the triumphs achieved on the scenic boards, Garrick was a
rare master of his art; equally impressive in tragedy and comedy. Sir
Joshua Reynolds painted him smiling at Comedy, looking sadly at
Tragedy,--and claimed by both. He raised immeasurably the character of
the actor’s profession in this country, and purified the stage. His
acting was founded upon a delicate and thorough perception of Truth and
Nature. To him is due the great merit of restoring Shakspeare to the
boards, and of annihilating the false taste created by the dramatists of
a later period. His last appearance on the stage was in 1776. He was
small in stature, but well built; his eyes were dark, and full of fire.
He had marvellous power of transfusing the workings of the soul into the
face, and all the passions were at his bidding. He was very vain, and
not without other weaknesses; but else a generous and worthy man. His
private life reflected additional lustre on his genius, and as citizen
and artist he earned the honourable grave which he found in Westminster
Abbey. Garrick was also a writer for the stage. His comedies and farces
are lively and agreeable, and some of his epigrams have wit and fancy.
Johnson and he maintained their friendship to the last. The great
lexicographer affected contempt for the profession of his pupil; but he
hugged “Davy,” nevertheless, in the folds of his capacious heart, and
was justly proud of his achievements and renown.
391. HENRY FUSELI or FUESSLI. _Painter._
[Born 1745. Died 1825. Aged 80.]
An artist of undoubted genius and originality, but very eccentric both
as painter and as man. Born at Zurich, where he cultivated learning with
great ardour, especially the literature of England; at the same time
took delight in copying the works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. Came
to England in 1763, and showed his paintings to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who
praised the work and recommended to the young aspirant the usual
pilgrimage to Rome. Obeying the command he remained for eight years in
the city of Art, and then came back to England where he worked his way
to honour. In 1790, he was Royal Academician; in 1799, Professor of
Painting; in 1804, Keeper of the Royal Academy. Fuseli was a good
scholar, endowed with a potent and wild imagination, and an excellent
anatomist; but he suffered his imagination to lead him into
extravagance, and his anatomy protruded itself in his pictures. He
painted, in 1798, a series of forty-seven pictures illustrative of
Milton. They reveal grand conception and daring power, but tremble
occasionally on the verge of the grotesque. No later artist has ventured
to follow him in his flights, but his profound interpretations of the
true spirit of poetry may be contemplated by all men with advantage.
[From the marble, by E. H. Baily, R.A. Executed for Sir Thomas
Lawrence, 1824.]
392. JAMES NORTHCOTE. _Painter._
[Born at Plymouth, 1746. Died 1831. Aged 85.]
The son of a watchmaker, and intended for his father’s business; but, at
an early age, he transferred his affections from the parental shop to
the more genial region of art. In 1771, he attracted the notice of
Reynolds, under whose eye he studied for a time, and in 1777, set out
for Italy. In 1783, first exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1787,
elected Royal Academician. The subjects of Northcote are chiefly
historical, but he is not remarkable for power, or originality of
conception. Although he displayed considerable skill in composition and
colouring, as well as some vigour of expression, his ability in art was
by no means equal to his enthusiasm and his application. Northcote was
also a writer on art, and the author of a Life of Reynolds. At the age
of eighty-four he published a Life of Titian. He was penurious and
eccentric, and not a favourite with his brother Academicians.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A., 1821.]
392A. JAMES NORTHCOTE. _Painter._
[Modelled from the life, and executed in marble, by Joseph Bonomi.
Presented by J. S. Scoles, Esq.]
393. JOHN RAPHAEL SMITH. _Engraver._
[Born about 1750. Died in 1811.]
A distinguished draughtsman in crayons, and a mezzotint engraver. The
friend of Chantrey the sculptor, when that admired artist was serving
his time at Sheffield, in the shop of Mr. Ramsay, carver and gilder. It
is related that the sight of Mr. Smith’s drawings, together with his
conversation, first rendered Chantrey impatient of his servitude in the
carver’s workshop, and induced him to purchase his release, which he
obtained two years before his indentures had expired, for the sum of
fifty pounds. This bust of John Raphael Smith, by Chantrey, was the
first that brought the young sculptor into note. It was exhibited in the
Royal Academy when Chantrey was 24 years old, and, during the
disposition of the works for exhibition, attracted the attention of
Nollekens, who exclaimed, “This is a splendid work. Let the man be
known. Remove one of my busts and put this in its place.”
[The subject of this bust was afflicted with deafness, and the
expression of the infirmity is cleverly given in the face.]
394. JOHN FLAXMAN. _Sculptor._
[Born at York, 1755. Died 1826. Aged 71.]
Beyond all compare the greatest artist England has produced, and in all
respects one of her worthiest sons. His life constitutes one of the
landmarks set up in a nation for the guidance of the ambitious, and the
encouragement of the desponding. His father was a moulder of plaster
casts: in whose humble shop the boy received his earliest inspiration.
Feeble, and crippled, and thrown upon himself, he read such books as he
could obtain, and made drawings from the classic models that surrounded
him. This was his education, for there was no money at home to purchase
a better. At ten, the self-taught boy could read Latin, and had picked
up much varied information. A shop filled with plaster casts will be
visited occasionally by men of taste and feeling. One such man saw, and
was struck by the genius of John Flaxman. His name was Mathew, and by
him the child, who could read Latin, was made acquainted with the
beauties of the Iliad and Odyssey. At fifteen, admitted a student of the
Royal Academy, and competed successfully for the silver medal. What was
to be done next?--the father without means, and the youth old enough to
earn his own bread! The young sculptor entered the service of the
Messrs. Wedgwood, and devoted some dozen years of his life to the
improvement of their porcelain manufacture. His genius stamped upon the
products of the potteries a character of beauty and classic elegance
rivalling the productions of any country. The forms were admired in his
own day; they are now more highly esteemed than ever. At the age of
twenty-seven Flaxman married Anne Denman. His marriage, his friends
declared, would ruin him as an artist. Friends are apt to look upon the
shadowy side of one’s happiness. In this case they were mistaken. Anne
Denman had the finest qualities of heart; she possessed also exquisite
taste, and a cultivated mind. She appreciated the genius of her husband,
and was an enthusiast for his works. She accompanied him to Italy, where
he nourished his talents by the study of the masterpieces of antiquity.
At Rome he executed his illustrations of Homer, Hesiod, Æschylus, and
Dante. For the first-named he received fifteen shillings for each
drawing, and was satisfied. He was elected member of the Academies of
Florence and Carrara, and after seven years’ absence came back to
England. His reputation bad preceded him, and he soon justified his fame
by his noble monument of Lord Mansfield, in Westminster Abbey. The works
of Flaxman, whether of the pencil or the chisel, may take rank with the
productions of any age or country. They are distinguished by simplicity,
dignity, sublimity, grace, and true poetic feeling. If any modern
sculptor may take rank with the ancients, Flaxman’s place will be second
to none. His productions are scattered over the globe; we meet them in
India, the two Americas, and in Italy, as well as nearer home. He is
better appreciated everywhere than in England. But we are beginning to
know his value. His worth as a man was equal to his greatness as an
artist. All who knew him speak of his modesty, his gentleness, his
single-heartedness. After the death of his wife in 1820, whom he
tenderly loved, he lived in comparative retirement.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. From the marble executed for Sir Thomas
Lawrence, 1824.]
395. THOMAS STOTHARD. _Painter._
[Born 1755. Died 1834. Aged 79.]
Apprenticed at an early age to a pattern draughtsman. Subsequently, and
for many years, he furnished the illustrations to “The Novelist’s
Magazine.” Became the reigning prince of illustrators, and for fifty
years continued to adorn the pages, not only of contemporary literature,
but of our poets from Chaucer all down to Rogers. His most famous
productions are the illustrations to “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” to
“Robinson Crusoe,” to “Rogers’s Italy,” the Procession of the Flitch of
Bacon, the Pilgrimage to Canterbury, and the Wellington Shield. He made
many designs for sculptors; amongst others, that for Chantrey’s
“Sleeping Children,” in Lichfield cathedral. At one time or another he
attempted every branch of the limner’s art. He had great powers of
imagination, moulded and directed by unflagging industry and the
severest application. His genius is peculiarly English. He studied
deeply the works of Raffaelle and Durer, but was no slavish imitator of
these, or of any other men. The grace that clings to his works is
essentially the expression of his own mind. Let us see his productions
how, or when, or where we may, his spirit is detected at once, and we
say, “This is Stothard.” His female figures, not always strictly correct
in drawing, are exquisitely graceful. His life passed evenly in the
performance of labour in which he delighted. He was a good man, and his
works are his annals.
[From the marble executed by E. H. Baily, R.A., in. 1825, for Sir
Thomas Lawrence.]
396. SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. _Painter._
[Born at Bristol, 1769. Died 1830. Aged 61.]
Of humble origin; the father of Sir Thomas being the landlord of the
“Black Bear,” at Devizes, in Wiltshire. At an early age evinced great
delight in drawing, and a talent for the recitation of poetry. Received
his first instruction at Bath from Mr. Hoare, the painter in crayons;
and when thirteen years old, gained from the Society of Arts the great
silver palette and five guineas, for a copy, in crayons, of the
“Transfiguration.” When eighteen, he exhibited seven female portraits at
Somerset House. In 1791, chosen Associate of the Royal Academy. In 1815,
knighted; and in 1820, upon the death of West, elected President of the
Royal Academy. The first portrait painter of his time, and in other
respects an accomplished man. His numerous works are representations of
the most notable and wealthiest people of his day, by whom he was
courted, honoured, and richly rewarded. His colouring was clear and
brilliant, and his design most graceful; but vigour and truthfulness of
character are not always remarked in his productions. Lawrence had
little or no education,--he was removed from school when only eight
years old,--but he must have picked up much on his road. One of our
great actors has acknowledged his large debt of gratitude to Lawrence
for instruction, advice, and intellectual training.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A. Taken the year after Sir Thomas Lawrence’s
death.]
397. CHARLES KEMBLE. _Player._
[Born at Brecknock, 1775. Still living.]
The living chief of a family remarkable for dramatic genius. Since the
time of Garrick, until very recently, the English stage has not been
without its Kemble, as one of its brightest ornaments. Mrs. Siddons and
John Kemble, were the sister and brother of Charles. As the
representative of Falconbridge, Mercutio, Benedick, Cassio, and similar
characters, Charles Kemble has been without an equal in our time. He
first appeared at Sheffield, as Orlando, in “As You Like it,” in 1792.
His first appearance in London was at Drury Lane Theatre (1794), in the
character of Malcolm, in “Macbeth.” He retired from the stage in 1836,
but subsequently returned to the boards for a short time, in 1840, in
order to play a few of his best parts before her present Majesty. He
played for the last time, April 10, 1840, in the character of Hamlet.
[By Dantan, 1842.]
398. FRANCIS CHANTREY. _Sculptor._
[Born at Norton, near Sheffield, 1781. Died in London, 1841. Aged 60.]
The first portrait sculptor of his day, but not equally famous for works
of imagination, the very few compositions of this kind that proceeded
from his chisel having been suggested to him by other more poetic minds.
Chantrey did not command astonishment, but compelled admiration by the
simplicity, beauty, and truth, that were stamped on all his productions.
His portraits are faithful, characteristic, and most artistic
representations; idealizing the individual; and in this branch of his
art he undoubtedly outstripped all rivals. His success was very great.
He began life as a carver’s apprentice, and was a journeyman carver in
London, where he helped with his own hand to furnish the dining-room of
Mr. Rogers, the poet--a room in which many times, in after life, he sat,
one of the most welcome and sociable of the guests there assembled.
Wealth and honour came to him earned by labour and perseverance; and the
fruits of his industry, amounting to £90,000, he bequeathed to the Royal
Academy, for the purchase of “works of fine art of the highest merit in
painting and sculpture,” such works “being executed within the shores of
Great Britain.” The bequest was worthy of a man whose mind, whose works,
whose habits, all bore the strong impress of the nation in which he was
born, and of the people from whose heart he had sprung.
[By his pupil, F. W. Smith.]
398A. FRANCIS CHANTREY. _Sculptor._
[Medallion by Heffernan.]
399. WILLIAM MULREADY. _Painter._
[Born at Ennis, in Ireland, 1786. Still living.]
An honoured name in British art, and undoubtedly the head of the
charming and peculiar style which he adopted, after having employed his
genius on larger and more striking subjects. He has risen from obscurity
by the force of genius, and given to the world works which will not
readily perish. When fourteen years old admitted a student at the Royal
Academy. Elected Royal Academician in 1816. His works reveal great
delicacy and purity of mind. He is a consummate draughtsman and
colourist; and in the refined beauty and finish of his pictures, is not
surpassed by any of his contemporaries. Amongst his best works may be
reckoned those in the Vernon Gallery and in the collection of Mr.
Sheepshanks.
[By Christopher Moore. 1830.]
400. JOHN GIBSON. _Sculptor._
[Born at Conway, N. Wales, 1790. Still living.]
Like Chantrey, apprenticed to a wood-carver, and, like him also, a
cabinet-maker at this starting-point of his career. At the age of
eighteen, he exhibited a wax model of “Time,” which procured him
employment with a sculptor in Liverpool. Making the acquaintance of Lord
Castlereagh, he was furnished by that nobleman with an introduction to
Canova, and he accordingly set out for Rome in 1820. In Rome he still
resides. He has wrought with his chisel for the noble and wealthy of his
own country, and for the patrons of art in the land which he has chosen
for his residence. Ludwig of Bavaria--the eager and munificent patron of
art--has been amongst the serviceable friends of the gifted Welshman.
For grace, beauty, and finished execution, John Gibson has never been
surpassed in this country. Flaxman is the first of British artists; but
as a sculptor, chisel in hand, Gibson is hardly second even to him.
[From the marble by Theed.]
400A. JOHN GIBSON. _Sculptor._
[This bust is by Macdonald of Rome.]
401. WILLIAM CHARLES MACREADY. _Player._
[Born 1793. Still living.]
The son of William Macready, who was author, actor, and manager.
Educated at Rugby. Made his first appearance on the stage as Romeo, at
Birmingham, and his debût in London, in 1816, as Orestes, in the
“Distressed Mother.” He continued in London a leading tragic actor,
until he finally retired from the stage in 1851. Mr. Macready’s style of
acting was of the romantic, rather than of the classic order; his
“Virginius” a more masterly performance than “Hamlet,” his “Rob Roy” far
more picturesque and striking than “Richard III.” In the representation
of Shakspeare’s characters this popular actor was not, generally
speaking, equal to the most celebrated of his contemporaries. His
conceptions were not the conceptions formed by the intellectual portion
of his auditory in the tranquillity of the study. It was, however,
impossible to witness a more admirable execution of a wrong conception,
than that which Mr. Macready was able to render. In private life he has
done honour to his profession; and he has left no actor behind him.
superior to himself.
[By W. Behnes.]
402. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. _Caricaturist._
[Born in London, 1794. Still living.]
Like Tom Hood, George Cruikshank is something more than a humourist: or,
to speak more correctly, like all great humourists, both he and Hood
possess and reveal a deep perception and appreciation of the serious and
the pathetic in Nature and Art. The labours of Cruikshank, which
commenced at a very early period of his life, have been incessant and
remarkable. His admirable illustrations have adorned books of all kinds,
from the political “House that Jack built,” to the moral “Bottle.” At no
period has he drawn a line which--however cutting may have been the
satire employed--has not had for its object the benefit, as well as the
amusement of his fellow-men. His latest works--attacking the most
degrading of our national vices,--command our gratitude and respect.
George is popular amongst his associates. His face is an index to his
mind. There is nothing anomalous about him and his doings. His
appearance, his illustrations, his speeches are all alike,--all
picturesque, artistic, full of fun, feeling, geniality, and quaintness.
His seriousness is grotesque, and his drollery is profound. He is the
prince of living caricaturists, and one of the best of men.
[By W. Behnes.]
403. ROBERT VERNON. _Patron of Art._
[Born 1774. Died in London, 1849. Aged 75.]
A benefactor to his country, who amassed a fortune in business, and
expended his wealth in the formation of a gallery of pictures by British
artists. Whilst living, he proved himself the benefactor of struggling
genius. Dying, he bequeathed his works of art to the nation. His
pictures are now collected at Marlborough House, where they form “The
Vernon Gallery.”
[By W. Behnes.]
404. FANNY BUTLER. _Actress._
[Still living.]
The daughter of Charles Kemble: and a popular actress of her day. She
made her first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre, October 5, 1829, in
the character of Juliet; and the sensation she then created rescued the
theatre from the difficulties into which it had fallen. She married Mr.
Butler, an American, and is the authoress of one or two well-written
tragedies and other works.
[By Dantan, of Paris.]
405. ADELAIDE SARTORIS. _Vocalist._
[Still living.]
Second daughter of Charles Kemble: highly distinguished as a vocalist of
the Italian school; she made her first appearance at Covent Garden
Theatre, in Norma, Nov. 2, 1841, and sang and acted with great success
at the same theatre in 1841 and 1842; but at the end of 1842 she retired
from her profession into private life.
[By Dantan, of Paris.]
405*. GRACE DARLING. _Lighthouse-keeper’s Daughter._
[Born at Bamborough, Northumberland, 1815. Died 1842. Aged 27.]
“ONE whose very name bespeaks
Favour divine, exalting human love;
Whom, since her birth on bleak Northumbria’s coast,
Known unto few, but prized as far as known,
A single act endears to high and low,
Through the whole land.”--WORDSWORTH.
Grace was the seventh child of a humble man who had charge of a
lighthouse on one of the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland.
In the month of September, 1888, the “Forfarshire” steamer, of 300 tons,
having on board sixty-three souls, during a terrible storm and dense
fog, struck on a rock within a mile of the light-house. It was deep
night. The ship snapped in half. Nearly all the creatures on board were
swallowed by the chafing sea; and when morning broke, all that remained
of the “Forfarshire” and its people, were nine of the passengers
clinging to the windlass in the forepart of the vessel. It was a fearful
morning, the fog still prevailing--the sea hardly less boisterous.
Through the mist, however, the sad spectacle could be witnessed from the
mainland, and a reward was offered to any boat’s crew that would venture
to the rescue. It was offered in vain. But the despairing castaways were
visible also from the lighthouse, where none was rich enough to offer
reward of any kind, for the sole inhabitants were husband, wife, and
daughter. It was the last watch before extinguishing the light at
sunrise, and Grace was keeping it. She intreated her father to go to
sea, and he consenting, the girl shared his boat, and the pair in dread
and awe put off. Why speak of danger? Why detail the miracle? The risk
was incalculable. The chances of recovery, nay, of self-preservation,
were infinitesimal. But God strengthened the woman’s arm, as he had
visited her heart, and, after painful labour, the rescue was effected.
The delivered nine were taken to the lighthouse, and there kindly
treated by the heroic girl and her aged parents. The spirit of the
nation was stirred by the act. Money enough to provide for her as long
as she should live, and gifts innumerable, were brought to her sea-girt
rock; but she would not leave the light-house. Why should she? What
place so fitting to hold this queen? She held her modest Court there
until her early death. One who visited her speaks of her genuine
simplicity, her quiet manner, her perfect goodness. In 1841, symptoms of
consumption--the poisonous seed sown, it may be, on that drear
morning--revealed themselves. In a few months she died, quietly,
happily, religiously. Shortly before her death, she received a farewell
visit from one of her own sex, who came in humble attire, to bid her God
speed on her last illimitable journey. The good sister was the Duchess
of Northumberland, and her coronet will shine the brighter for all time,
because of that affectionate and womanly leave-taking. Joan of Arc has
her monument. Let Grace of Northumbria have none. Her deed is
registered--