Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard (29 November 1795 – 12 May 1867) was a German

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He was co-founder and secretary of the first international archaeological society.

Biography

Gerhard was born at Posen, and was educated at Breslau and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The reputation he acquired by his ''Lectiones Apollonianae'' (1816) led soon afterwards to his being appointed professor at the gymnasium of Posen. On resigning that office in 1819, on account of weakness of the eyes, he went in 1822 to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he remained for fifteen years. Gerhard was one of the principal originators of the Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica, founded at Rome in 1829, with the support of the Prussian crown prince, Frederick William. Co-founders included Theodor Panofka, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg and August Kestner. This model of international cooperation and systematic scientific publication was influenced by the example of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

, and later became the present-day

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Status, tasks and ...

. Gerhard served as secretary to the new Institute during his stay in Rome. Returning to Germany in 1837 he was appointed archaeologist at the Royal Museum of Berlin, and was also elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

that same year.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref> In 1844 he was chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences, and a professor in Berlin University. He died at

Evaluation

''The New International Encyclopædia'' of 1905 gives the following evaluation of his work: :Gerhard's great service to archæological study was in the publication of important groups of monuments, and in promoting an orderly classification. Such a worker was much needed at this time, when the excavations at Vulci and elsewhere in Etruria increased so suddenly the mass of early vases and other small objects. For artistic beauty and style Gerhard had little perception; his interest was largely antiquarian, and it is characteristic of him that he was attracted by the Etruscan art, generally of little interest to the artist.

Publications

Gerhard contributed to Platner et al.'s ''Beschreibung der Stadt Rom'' (Description of the city of Rome; Vol. I, 1829). Besides a large number of archaeological papers in periodicals, in the ''Annali'' of the Institute of Rome, and in the ''Transactions'' of the Berlin Academy, and several illustrated catalogues of

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and other antiquities in the

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and

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Museums, Gerhard was the author of the following works: *''Rapporto intorno i vasi Volcenti'' (1831) *''Antike Bildwerke'' (Stuttgart, 1827–1844) *''Auserlesene griechische Vasenbilder'' (1839—1858) *''Griechische und etruskische Trinkschalen'' (1843) *''Etruskische und campanische Vasenbilder'' (1843) *''Etruskische Spiegel'' (4 vols., 1843–68; 5th vol. by Klugmann et al., 1897) *''Apulische Vasen'' (1846) *''Trinkschalen und Gefässe'' (1850) *''Hyperboreisch-römische Studien'' (vol. i., 1833; vol. ii., 1852) *''Prodromus mythologische Kunsterklärung'' (Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1828) *''Griechische Mythologie'' (1854-1855) *''Gesammelte akademische Abhandlungen und kleine Schriften'', published posthumously (2 vols., Berlin, 1867)

Notes

References

* On websit
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, accessed June 26, 2006. * This work in turn cites: **Jahn, ''Eduard Gerhard, ein Lebensabriss'' (Berlin 1868) ** Sandys, ''A History of Classical Scholarship'' (Vol. III, Cambridge 1908) *
Lettre à M. le professeur Edouard Gerhard sur quelques miroirs étrusques.
Par Jean de Witte. Extrait des Nouvelles Annales. Institut d'archéologie. Paris 1838. Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhard, Friedrich William Eduard 1795 births 1867 deaths 19th-century German archaeologists People of the Antikensammlung Berlin Directors of museums in Germany Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences University of Breslau alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni People from the Grand Duchy of Posen Writers from Poznań