Carl Gustav Carus (3 January 1789 – 28 July 1869) was a German

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemica ...

and painter, born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, who played various roles during the

Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. A friend of the writer

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

, he was a many-sided man: a doctor, a naturalist, a scientist, a psychologist, and a landscape painter who studied under

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landsca ...

Life and work

In 1811 he graduated as a doctor of medicine and a doctor of philosophy. In 1814 he was appointed professor of obstetrics and director of the maternity clinic at the teaching institution for medicine and surgery in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. He wrote on art theory. From 1814 to 1817 he taught himself oil painting working under

, a

landscape painter. Subsequently he studied under

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (26 March 1794 – 24 May 1872) () was a German painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Renaissance style in religious ar ...

at the Oeser drawing academy. When the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus II, made an informal tour of Britain in 1844, Carus accompanied him as his personal physician. It was not a state visit, but the King, with Carus, was the guest of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Windsor Castle, and Carus was able to visit many of the sights in London and the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, and meet others active in the field of scientific discoveries. They toured widely in England, Wales and Scotland, and afterwards Carus published, on the basis of his journal, ''The King of Saxony's Journey through England and Scotland, 1844''. The grave of Carl Gustav Carus, Trinitatis-friedhof, Dresden

The grave of Carl Gustav Carus, Trinitatis-friedhof, Dresden

He is best known to scientists for originating the concept of the

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with ...

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...

, a

seminal Seminal, ultimately from Latin ''semen'', "seed", may refer to: *Relating to seeds *Relating to semen *(Of a work, event, or person) Having much social influence Social influence comprises the ways in which individuals adjust their behavior to mee ...

idea in the development of Darwin's theory of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. In 1836, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

. Carus is also noted for ''Psyche'' (1846). He developed a theory of landscape painting whose objective was the visualization of the inner workings of geological phenomena, which he called "Erdlebenbildkunst" (pictorial art of the life of the earth).

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, ph ...

credited Carus with pointing to the unconscious as the essential basis of the psyche. :Although various philosophers, among them

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

, and Schelling, had already pointed very clearly to the problem of the dark side of the psyche, it was a physician who felt impelled, from his scientific and medical experience, to point to the ''unconscious'' as the essential basis of the psyche. This was C. G. Carus, the authority whom

Eduard von Hartmann Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of '' Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of al ...

followed. (Jung 9591969, par. 259) Carus died in Dresden. He is buried in the Trinitatis-Friedhof (Trinitatis Cemetery) east of the city centre. The grave lies in the south-west section, against the southern wall.

Family

His daughter Charlotte Carus married the artist

Ernst Rietschel Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel (15 December 180421 January 1861) was a German sculptor. Life Rietschel was born in Pulsnitz in Saxony the third child of Friedrich Ehrgott Rietschel and his wife Caroline. From the age of 20 he became an art ...

Botanical Reference

Written works

;Zoology, entomology, comparative anatomy, evolution *''Lehrbuch der Zootomie'' (1818, 1834). *''Erläuterungstafeln zur vergleichenden Anatomie'' (1826–1855). *''Von den äusseren Lebensbedingungen der weiss- und kaltblütigen Tiere'' (1824). *''Über den Blutkreislauf der Insekten '' (1827). *''Grundzüge der vergleichenden Anatomie und Physiologie'' (1828). *''Lehrbuch der Physiologie für Naturforscher und Aerzte'' (1838)- also medical *''Zwölf Briefe über das Erdleben'' (1841). *''Natur und Idee oder das Werdende und sein Gesetz''. 1861. ;Medical *''Lehrbuch der Gynekologie '' (1820, 1838). *''Grundzüge einer neuen Kranioskopie'' (1841). *''System der Physiologie'' (1847–1849). *''Erfahrungsresultate aus ärztlichen Studien und ärztlichen Wirken'' (1859). *''Neuer Atlas der Kranioskopie'' (1864). ;Psychology, metaphysics, race, physiognomy *''Vorlesungen über Psychologie'' (1831). *''Psyche; zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Seele'' (1846, 1851). *''Über Grund und Bedeutung der verschiedenen Formen der Hand in veschiedenen Personen'' (About the reason and significance of the various forms of hand in different persons)(1846). *''Physis. Zur Geschichte des leiblichen Lebens '' (1851). *''Denkschrift zum 100jährigen Geburtstagsfeste Goethes. Über ungleiche Befähigung der verschiedenen Symbolik der menschlichen Gestalt'' (1852, 1858). *''Über Lebensmagnetismus und über die magischen Wirkungen überhaupt'' (1857). *''Über die typisch gewordenen Abbildungen menschlicher Kopfformen'' (1863). *''Goethe dessen seine Bedeutung für unsere und die kommende Zeit'' (1863). *''Lebenserinnerungen und Denkwürdigkeiten'' – 4 volumes (1865–1866). *''Vergleichende Psychologie oder Geschichte der Seele in der Reihenfolge der Tierwelt'' (1866). ;Art *''Neun Briefe über Landschaftsmalerei. Zuvor ein Brief von Goethe als Einleitung'' (1819–1831). *''Die Lebenskunst nach den Inschriften des Tempels zu Delphi'' ( 1863). *''Betrachtungen und Gedanken vor auserwählten Bildern der Dresdener Galerie'' (1867). ;Travel
''Sicilien und Neapel''
(1856). ;Translations * Carus' translation of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy'', ''Paradise'', Canto I. a
academia.edu

Art gallery

File:Carl Gustav Carus - Das Kolosseum bei Mondschein - ca1830.jpeg, The

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world ...

in Moonlight File:Carl Gustav Carus - The Imperial Castle - Google Art Project.jpg, The Imperial Castle File:CarusSorrent.JPG, In Memory of

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana rail ...

File:Carl Gustav Carus - Blick auf Dresden bei Sonnenuntergang.jpg, View of Dresden at Sunset File:Carl Gustav Carus - Barge Trip on the Elbe near Dresden (Morning on the Elbe) - Google Art Project.jpg, Barge Trip on the Elbe near Dresden File:Carl Gustav Carus - Balkon in Neapel - Google Art Project.jpg, Balcony Room with a View of the

Bay of Naples A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

, 1829 or 1830. File:Carl Gustav Carus - Italienischer Mondschein (Rom, Peterskirche im Mondschein).jpg, Italian Moonshine (Rome, St. Peter's in Moonshine) File:Carl Gustav Carus - Tintern Abbey.jpg, Tintern Abbey File:Carl Gustav Carus - Italienische Fischer im Hafen von Neapel.jpg, Italian Fishermen in Port File:Carl Gustav Carus - Segelschiff (ca.1820).jpg, Sailboat File:Carl Gustav Carus - Vollmond bei Pillnitz.jpg, Full Moon near Pillnitz File:Carl Gustav Carus - Woman on the Balcony - Google Art Project.jpg, Woman on the Balcony File:Carl Gustav Carus Stone Age Mound.jpg, Stoane Age Mound File:Carl Gustav Carus - Das Atelierfenster.jpg, The Studio Window

References

Sources

* Jung, C.G. ( 9591969). ''The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious'', Collected Works, Volume 9, Part 1, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. .
"Carl GustavCarus"
''Art History: Romanticism'' *

External links

*
Caspar David Friedrich: Moonwatchers
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Carl Gustav Carus (no. 10-11)
German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Carl Gustav Carus (no. 11-12) * * Carl Gustav Carus' translation of Dante Alighieri's Paradise, canto I, a
academia.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carus, Carl Gustav 1789 births 1869 deaths German psychologists 19th-century German painters German male painters Presidents of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 19th-century German male artists Scientists from Leipzig