Martin Gottlieb Klauer (29 August 1742,

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, within the Thuringian Forest, to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide ...

- 4 April 1801,

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

) was a German sculptor, and one of the first teachers at the Weimar Princely Free Drawing School.

Life and work

His father, Johann Michael Klauer, was a tailor. He learned his trade in his hometown, from the Court Sculptor, . He probably worked in

Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...

and

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. From 1769, he was an independent craftsman in Rudolstadt. In 1772, he married Johanna Kapler, the daughter of a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

manager. She died while giving birth to their first child, who also died. In 1773, he was appointed a Court Sculptor in Weimar, by Duchess Anna Amalia. He also worked in

Bad Berka Bad Berka () is a German spa town, situated in the south of Weimar region in the state of Thuringia. With its almost 8,000 inhabitants Bad Berka is the second biggest city in Weimarer Land district (after Apolda, 23,000). The river flowing throu ...

, which was a major source of high quality

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. During this time, he became acquainted with

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. In 1776, he became one of the first teachers at the new Drawing school. Three years later, he made a trip to study the ancient plaster casts in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

. His friendship with

Johann Joachim Christoph Bode Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (January 16, 1731 – December 13, 1793) was a well-known German translator of literary works. Life Bode was born in Braunschweig, the son of a poor day laborer from Schöppenstedt, and went as a shepherd boy to h ...

has led to speculation that he was a member of the

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 ...

.W. Daniel Wilson: "Zur Politik und Sozialstruktur des Illuminatenordens: Anläßlich einer Neuerscheinung von Hermann Schüttler", In: '' IASL.'' 19,1, 1994, pp.176–180 He was admired for his lifelike, monumental

portrait bust A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human body, depicting a person's head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. The bust is generally a portr ...

s. In addition to Goethe, he is known for definitive busts of

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( ; ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a Prussian philosopher, theologian, pastor, poet, and literary critic. Herder is associated with the Age of Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. He wa ...

and

Christoph Martin Wieland Christoph Martin Wieland (; ; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the ...

, as well as many other less familiar notables. In 1789, together with

Friedrich Justin Bertuch Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (30 September 1747 – 3 April 1822) was a German publisher and patron of the arts. He co-founded the Weimar Princely Free Drawing School with the painter Georg Melchior Kraus in 1776. He was the father of the writ ...

, he opened an ornamental brick factory and produced small works in

Terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

; keeping a detailed catalog of everything produced there. He also did a few larger works; notably the statue of

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

in the fountain at Weimar's marketplace. Although the great majority of his works are in Weimar, he occasionally went elsewhere; for example, four stone figures at the village church in Flurstedt. He remarried in 1778, but nothing is known about his wife. They had two sons; one who died in infancy, and , who also became a sculptor.

References

Sources

* * Katharina Lippold: "Klassizistische Terrakotten aus der »Kunstbacksteinfabrik« von Martin Gottlieb Klauer". In: ''Anna Amalia, Carl August und das Ereignis Weimar'', Edited by Hellmut Seemann, Göttingen 2007, pp. 292–302 * Jeanette Lauterbach, Hermann Hofmann, "Klassizistische Bildhauerkunst im Umkreis Goethes", Thüringer Landesmuseum Heidecksburg, 2003 * Charlotte Schreiter: ''Antike um jeden Preis. Gipsabgüsse und Kopien antiker Plastik am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts'',

De Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, 2014, pp.329–337

External links

Martin Gottlieb Klauer, Bibliography
@ the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

Klauer, Eintrag im Brockhaus Conversations-Lexikon von 1809
@

Zeno.org Zeno.org () is a digital library with German texts and other content such as pictures, facsimile, etc., which has been started by the Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, a German publishing house and sister enterprise of Directmedia Publishing GmbH. ...

Biographical notes
@ Weimar Lese {{DEFAULTSORT:Klauer, Martin Gottlieb 1742 births 1801 deaths 18th-century German sculptors German male sculptors Terracotta sculptures in Germany Court sculptors People from Rudolstadt 18th-century German male artists