Friedrich "Fritz" Johann Baptist von Miller, known as Fritz von Miller (11 November 1840 – 29 December 1921) was a German bronze caster,

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

and sculptor.

Life

Fritz von Miller, born in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, was one of the 14 children of

Ferdinand von Miller Ferdinand von Miller (18 October 1813 – 11 February 1887) was a German artisan who is noted for his furtherance of bronze founding. Biography Von Miller was born in Fürstenfeldbruck. After a sojourn at the academy in Munich and a preliminar ...

, creator of the

Bavaria statue ''Bavaria'' is the name given to a monumental, bronze sand-cast 19th-century statue in Munich, southern Germany. It is a female personification of the Bavarian homeland, and by extension its strength and glory. The statue is part of an ensemb ...

in the centre of Munich. His brothers included Ferdinand Freiherr von Miller,

Oskar von Miller Oskar Franz Xaver Miller, since 1875 von Miller (7 May 1855 – 9 April 1934), was a German engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science in Munich. Biography Born in Munich into an Upper Bavarian family ...

and Wilhelm von Miller (18481899) He studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

, and the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

. He taught from 1868 to 1912 at the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich. He was a prolific maker of small objets d'art and artistic domestic items, including pens and electric light fittings. One of his larger projects, on which he collaborated with his brother Ferdinand, was the

Tyler Davidson Fountain The Tyler Davidson Fountain or ''The Genius of Water'' is a statue and fountain located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is regarded as the city's symbol and one of the area's most-visited attractions. It was dedicated in 1871 and is the centerpiece of F ...

, built in 1871 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Both Fritz and Ferdinand supported their brother Oskar financially when he wanted to open his own office in 1887. In 1875 Fritz von Miller married Rosina Theresia Anna Sedlmayr, a descendant of the brewer . Thanks to this marriage he inherited a fortune in 1891. In 1894 he bought and renovated the Kainzenhof in

Bad Wiessee Bad Wiessee (Central Bavarian: ''Bad Wiessä'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Miesbach (district), district of Miesbach in Upper Bavaria in Germany. Since 1922, it has been a spa town and located on the western shore of the ...

; in 1904 he was involved in the establishment of the church-building society in Bad Wiessee. The design for the church of the

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

(''Mariae Himmelfahrt''), which was eventually dedicated in 1926, was produced by his son, the architect Rupert von Miller. Fritz was also much involved with St. Benno's Church in Neuhausen, founded in 1850 by his father. The

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

church includes an elaborate chapel in honour of the Miller family, for which Fritz's son Rupert sculpted a bust of him. Fritz died in Munich. The ''Fritz-von-Miller-Weg'' in Bad Wiessee is named after him, and another von Miller family memorial chapel, also in a Neo-Romanesque style, is located there. Wilhelm Neu und andere: ''Denkmäler in Bayern. Oberbayern''. Oldenbourg 1986, , p. 367 He is buried in the family grave in the in the Munich suburb of Neuhausen.

Notes and references

Bibliography

Thieme-Becker Thieme-Becker is a German biographical dictionary of artists. Thieme-Becker The dictionary was begun under the editorship of Ulrich Thieme (1865–1922) (volumes one to fifteen) and Felix Becker (1864–1928) (volumes one to four). It was compl ...

, Bd. 24, 1930, p. 583.

External links

Newsletter of St. Benno's Church, Munich, 2006, containing article on the Miller family chapel

Metropolitan Museum, New York: photo of Fritz von Miller
---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Fritz Von 1840 births 1921 deaths 19th-century German artists 20th-century German people 19th-century German sculptors 20th-century German sculptors German male sculptors Bavarian nobility Artists from Munich Von Miller family 19th-century German artisans