Carl Gottlieb Weisser

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Carl Gottlieb Weisser (also Gottlob Weiser ) (born August 21, 1779 in Berlin , † April 2, 1815 in Weimar ) was a sculptor.

life and work

Goethe's living mask, exhibited in Thorvaldsen's Museum

In 1802 he came to Weimar with Christian Friedrich Tieck, to work on the sculptural work on the new palace under his direction and in his pay. After Tieck's departure in the spring of 1805, he continued to work here independently with the human and artistic sympathy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . In 1807 he became a Saxon-Weimar court sculptor.

He made busts closely based on Tieck's classical style. For Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria he created a bust of the painter Lucas Cranach the Elder , which is now in the Hall of Fame in Munich . He made plaster casts for sale of Tieck's Weimar busts, as well as his own, which he reworked by hand.

In 1806 he made a bust of Friedrich von Schiller . In 1807 he removed a living mask from Goethe , after which he made the Weißer bust in 1808, which, according to recent research, is considered by many to be the only authentic depiction of Goethe's head; all others after 1808 go back to this bust. He created the tomb of Johann Friedrich Bause († 1814). He also created a bust of Christiane von Goethe in 1811/12 . A bronze copy of it made in Dresden at the beginning of the 19th century is under the pavilion in the spa gardens of Bad Lauchstädt . Impoverished and possibly depressed, he committed suicide .

His successor as the Saxon-Weimar court sculptor was Peter Kaufmann in 1817 .

aftermath

He is the focus of Jutta Hecker's novella The Mask .

swell

  1. ↑ http://www.goethezeitportal.de/index.php?id=3964
  2. ^ Rose Unterberger: Friedrich Schiller, Places and Portraits: a biographical picture book ; P. 216
  3. ↑ https://www.welt.de/kultur/article2574956/Wir-wissen-endet-wie-Goethe-nicht-aussah.html
personal data
SURNAME Weisser, Carl Gottlieb
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wise, thank God
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1815
Place of death Weimar