[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 emptybarn 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 sincerityof 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 creationof 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 inconceivableresults, 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 theNature 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 imaginationconjoined 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 ofgovernment 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.]
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, andkept 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 militarytalent; 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. Hisoriginality, 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 agreat 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.]
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.]
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 inarms, 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 wasfrequently 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 RussiaCzarapol (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.]
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.)
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 hischef-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 philosophicaldiscussions 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 notwithout 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 FuseliorFuessli.Painter.