Robert Eberhard Launitz (4 November 1806 – 13 December 1870) was a

Russian-American Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United State ...

sculptor.

Biography

Launitz was born into a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

family in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. He received a classical and military education in training for a military career. However, his interest in art intervened, and on the advice of an uncle, sculptor

Eduard Schmidt von der Launitz Nikolaus Karl Eduard Schmidt von der Launitz (born Nikolaus Karl Eduard Launitz; 23 November 1797 – 12 December 1869) was a German sculptor. Biography Launitz was born a Baltic German in Grobin, Courland, which was then part of the Russian Emp ...

, he went to Rome. There he trained under his uncle, and later under Thorwaldsen. He then settled in New York in 1828, deaf and with no knowledge of English. He found work as a journeyman under John Frazee. In 1831, he and Frazee became partners. Frazee left the partnership in 1837. Launitz was the first instructor of Thomas Crawford. In 1833, he was made a member of the

National Academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the hum ...

on the basis of his bas-relief "Venus and Cupid." He has been called the father of monumental art in America. He died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. He is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, New York City. Launitz was the maternal grandfather of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

, Mayor Thomas L. Raymond.

Work

He designed the commemorative stone for the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

that is installed on the interior walls of the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and ...

(1853): "The block ordered by the Common Council of 1852, for the Washington Monument, is now finished by the designer, Robert E. Launitz. The block is of white marble, quarried at Lee, Mass., and is larger than any one that has yet been sent to Washington, being eight feet wide, and five feet six inches in height; the weight is about four tons. . . ." He is responsible for the monument and statue in honor of

Casimir Pulaski Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski of the Ślepowron coat of arms (; ''Casimir Pulaski'' ; March 4 or March 6, 1745 Makarewicz, 1998 October 11, 1779) was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called, to ...

located in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

. He executed many funerary monuments in

Frankfort Cemetery The Frankfort Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors and a ...

, including the Kentucky War Memorial, which was unveiled in 1850. He created a monument to General George H. Thomas in

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

; the Broken Mast Monument, which commemorates those "Who periled their lives in a daring profession and perished in actual encounter with the monsters of the deep," in Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor; and many other similar examples of his work are found in New York's Greenwood Cemetery. Two further examples of his work are found at Maple Hill Cemetery,

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...

— the tombstone of Dr. David Moore, and that of two of his children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Launitz, Robert Eberhard 1806 births 1870 deaths Artists from Riga People from Kreis Riga Baltic-German people Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Baltic German descent 19th-century American sculptors American male sculptors Latvian sculptors Artists from the Russian Empire Monumental masons 19th-century sculptors from the Russian Empire 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire 19th-century American male artists 19th-century Latvian artists