Albert Wolff (sculptor)

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Portrait of Albert Wolff
supplement to the Darmstädter Tagblatt , No. 22/1886

Conrad Albert Carl Wolff (born November 14, 1815 in Neustrelitz , † June 20, 1892 in Berlin ) was a German sculptor and medalist . His main works include the Ernst August Memorial in Hanover, unveiled in 1861, and the equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III, which was destroyed in 1946 . in Berlin.

life and work

Albert Wolff was born as the son of the sculptor and architect Christian Philipp Wolff, who immigrated to Neustrelitz at the end of the 18th century, and the Neustrelitz forest officer daughter Maria Christiane Wilhelmine, née. Siemers was born at Strelitzer Straße 15 in Neustrelitz and was baptized on November 19, 1815 in the local court community.

After the early death of his father, he came to Berlin in 1831 - like his older brother in 1825 - to the workshop of his father's friend and apprentice Christian Daniel Rauch . From this he was sent to Carrara in 1844 to make the sculptures for the top terrace of the Sanssouci Palace in marble. After almost two years in Italy, Wolff returned to Berlin and helped Rauch on the Friedrichs monument, but was also self-employed - for example, he created a portrait statue of Countess Raczynska as a hygieia for a fountain in the city of Poznan and a crucifix with Johannes and Maria in marble for the church in Kamenz .

After completing his training, Albert Wolff opened his own workshop. In the following years he created the reliefs on the national war memorial in Invalidenpark zu Berlin, one of the groups on the castle bridge (see below ) The warriors led by Pallas into battle and the colossal statues of the four evangelists for the new castle church in Neustrelitz in fired clay.

For this type of execution, Wolff also made a number of models, allegorical statuettes, small ideal figures, monumental ornaments, etc., which were widely used. This includes the allegorical figures of the faculties for the university building in Königsberg , the pulpit figures for Berlin's Lukaskirche , the statue of Galileo Galileis for the university building in Pest and the colossal sculpture of Friedrich Wilhelm IV for the King's Gate in Königsberg .

In his works Wolff followed the traditions of the Rauch school with a predominantly idealistic view. Wolff taught from 1866 as a professor for modeling after antiquity at the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin, where he trained numerous young sculptors. Since 1868 at the latest, he was also the academy's senator. One of the most gifted was Wilhelm Wandschneider , who saw his teacher as a fatherly friend and was with his family. His son Martin Wolff also worked as a sculptor. His students included Eugen Boermel and Karl Albert Bergmeier (1856–1897) and, as a master student, Johannes Boese . In 1881 he was made an honorary member of the Dresden Art Academy .

In the anniversary year of Albert Wolff's 200th birthday, an exhibition took place in the Schlosskirche Neustrelitz in 2014 , a year too early, as it turned out when the date of birth in the church records was checked carefully.

Work (selection)

1852–1855: Together with Heinrich Hesemann , the tomb for Ernst August was created in the Guelph mausoleum in the mountain garden of Herrenhausen .
1853: The group of figures The Warrior led by Pallas Athene into battle on the Schlossbrücke in Berlin was made in his studio according to Wolff's design.
1857–1863: In front of the Friedenskirche in Potsdam there was a biblical scene that was made in Wollf's workshop: Moses, supported by Aaron and Hur, praying for his people in the fight against the Amalekites . Christian Daniel Rauch supplied the design based on a sketch by Friedrich Wilhelm IV .
1861: The equestrian statue for King Ernst August in Hanover
1866: Sachsenross in Hanover (cast in numerous reductions up to modern times)
1866/67: Monumental figure of a Borussia for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867 , fired in clay by Ernst March
1867: Grave monument with bust of Adolf Diesterweg in Alten-Matthäi-Kirchhof Berlin (bronze bust stolen at the end of 1869 and replaced by a marble bust in 1870)
1868: Albert Wollf designed the figure Die Baukunst for the central building of the Orangery Palace in Potsdam. Eduard Stützel carried out the execution and the sculpture was erected in 1871.
1863–1876: Equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III. in the middle of the Berlin pleasure garden. The memorial was moved to the edge of the park in 1936. Damaged in the war, it was removed and melted down. Only the bronze figures Klio and Allegory of Science and a corresponding genius have been preserved and have been installed in the Nikolaiviertel and Kleistpark since 1987.
1880: Allegory "Peace", bronze figure in the ballroom of the Reichsbank Berlin
1894/95: Bronze group lion defending its young against a giant snake
In June 1895, the ensemble was set up on the jewelry square in front of the Moabit criminal court building . In the 20th century, the new court building in Wilsnacker Strasse was implemented.

Other major works are the group of a lion fighter in ore on the stringer of the stairs in the Altes Museum in Berlin, the statue of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (in Ludwigslust), the bronze relief with the entry of the victorious troops in 1871 on the base of the Victory Column in Berlin and the marble group of a Bacchus with a panther in the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin. The inventory catalog of the Nationalgalerie from 2006 names a total of 13 of his works.

Fonts

literature

Web links

Commons : Albert Wolff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Date confirmed by the church registry, not November 14, 1814, as often stated in the literature
  2. ^ L. Forrer: Wolff, Albert . In: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . tape VI . Spink & Son Ltd, London 1916, p. 526 f .
  3. Wolff, Albert . In: Allgemeiner Wohnungs-Anzeiger together with address and business manual for Berlin , 1868, part 1, p. 717. “Senate member of the Academy of Arts; Münzstrasse ”.
  4. ^ Archive of the Dresden University of Fine Arts
  5. Helmut Knocke : Mausoleum (Welfenmausoleum) . In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 433.
  6. ^ Illustrated newspaper. No. 1250 of June 15, 1867, p. 413, illus. P. 414.
  7. ^ Illustrated newspaper. No. 1255 of July 20, 1867, p. 47.
  8. ^ List, map, database / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. Retrieved December 26, 2017 .
  9. ^ List, map, database / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. Retrieved December 26, 2017 .
  10. ^ Hans-Werner Klünner: Berlin places. Photographs by Max Missmann. Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1996, ISBN 3-87584-610-9 . P. 17.