Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel (15 December 180421 January 1861) was a German

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Life

Rietschel was born in

Pulsnitz Pulsnitz (German, ; Upper Sorbian name: ''Połčnica'', ) is a town in the district of Bautzen, in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. It is situated on the small river Pulsnitz, 11 km southwest of Kamenz, and 24 km northeast ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

the third child of Friedrich Ehrgott Rietschel and his wife Caroline. From the age of 20 he became an art student at

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, and from 1826 was a pupil of

Rauch Rauch (meaning "smoke" or "fume" in German, perhaps an occupational name for a blacksmith or charcoal burner) may refer to: People with the surname * Adolf von Rauch (born 1798) (1798–1882), German paper manufacturer * Adolf von Rauch (born 1 ...

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 ...

. He there gained an art studentship, and studied in Rome in 1827–28. After returning to Saxony, he soon brought himself into notice by a colossal statue of Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony; was elected a member of the academy of Dresden, and became one of the chief sculptors of his country. In 1832 he was elected to the Dresden professorship of sculpture, and had many foreign orders of merit conferred on him by the governments of different countries. He died in Dresden in 1861 aged 56. He is buried in the Trinitatisfriedhof, north-east of the city centre.

Family

He married three times. Firstly in 1832 to Albertine Trautscholdt. In 1836 he married Charlotte Carus daughter of

Carl Gustav Carus Carl Gustav Carus (3 January 1789 – 28 July 1869) was a German physiologist and painter, born in Leipzig, who played various roles during the Romanticism, Romantic era. A friend of the writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe, he was a many-sided man: a ...

. Finally in 1841 he married Marie Hand (1819–1847). From the third marriage he had a son .

Style and sculptures

Rietschel's style was very varied; he produced works imbued with much religious feeling, and to some extent he occupied the same place as a sculptor that Overbeck did in painting. Other important works by him were purely classical in style. He was specially famed for his portrait figures of eminent men, treated with much

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

and dramatic vigour; among the latter class his chief works were colossal statues of

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 ...

and

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 ...

for the a monument in Weimar, of

Weber Weber may refer to: Places United States * Weber, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Weber City, Virginia, a town * Weber City, Fluvanna County, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Weber County, Utah * Weber Canyon, Utah * Weber R ...

for Dresden and of

Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin. The original Sorbian form, ''Lěsnik'', means either "forest dweller" or "woodman", ''lěs'' meaning "wood forest". People with the surname Lessing include a German family of writers, artists, musicians ...

for

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

cast by Georg Howaldt. He also designed the Luther Monument in

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

, Germany, and created two of its many statues, but died before it was completed. The principal among Rietschel's religious pieces of sculpture are the well-known Christ-Angel, and a life-sized Piet, executed for the king of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. He also worked a great deal ''in rilievo'', and produced many graceful pieces, especially a fine series of

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s representing "Night and Morning" and "Noon and Twilight".

Gallery

File:Das Rietschel Denkmal Pulsnitz - Sachsen - Marktplatz.jpg, Rietschel Monument Pulsnitz - Saxony - Market Square Image:Braunschweig, Lessingdenkmal (Lessingplatz) (2).jpg, Lessing Monument (German: ''Lessing-Denkmal'') in

; cast by Georg Ferdinand Howaldt. File:Martin-luther.JPG, Luther Monument in Washington, D.C., copy of Rietschel's work in Worms. Image:GoetheAndSchillerMonumentAtWeimar.jpg,

Goethe–Schiller Monument The original ''Goethe and Schiller Monument'' (German: ''Goethe-Schiller-Denkmal'') is in Weimar, Germany. It incorporates Ernst Rietschel's 1857 bronze double statue of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759–18 ...

in Weimar.

Notes

References

External links

Ernst Rietschel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rietschel, Ernst 1804 births 1861 deaths People from Pulsnitz People from the Electorate of Saxony German sculptors German male sculptors 19th-century German sculptors Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Academic staff of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts