Carl August Mencke

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Carl August Mencke (born January 8, 1776 in Berlin , † January 4, 1841 in Berlin ) was a German artisan, gilder and wood bronze manufacturer.

Medal in gold from the Association for the Promotion of Industry in Prussia for Carl August Mencke 1822 and 1827 Model: Christian Daniel Rauch (born January 2, 1777 in Arolsen; † December 3, 1857 in Dresden) engraved by the medalist Gottlieb Götze (Goetze)

Life

Mencke was employed as an embosser at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (KPM) in Berlin. With Christian Friedrich Schwitzky, he tinkered secretly for 25 years on a mass that became known as wood bronze. The ingredients were mahogany shavings or the best domestic woods, clay, plaster and binders, creating a kind of self-hardening plastic. The mass was suitable for the production of useful and decorative objects and for the most complex decorations. Designs by well-known clients such as Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Johann Gottfried Schadow could be implemented cost-effectively and were in no way inferior to the objects made of bronze . The advantage of weight reduction also spurred the imagination and designs of the client, which became more and more elaborate and magnificent. Thanks to his dexterity and talent, Mencke was up to any of these challenges.

Johann August Zeune , the director of the first German Berlin teaching institution for the blind , founded in 1806 today, the Johann-August-Zeune-Schule for the blind , left the reproduction of his globes to Mencke in 1809. By 1818 many hundreds of relief globes were made from the wood-bronze mass -Factory shipped to the world. Around 1811 Mencke and Schwitzky continued to work together in a newly opened factory at Friedrichstrasse 110. They were supposed to take over the production from their wood mass, for game pieces and surfaces of a newly invented tactical military game.

The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. awarded him the process patent for the invention of wood bronze for five years in 1815. The patent was valid for Berlin and the Kurmark .

In 1815 he founded a wood bronze factory for art objects at Linienstraße 160 - corner of Friedrichstraße with his former KPM colleague and current partner Christian Friedrich Schwitzky. With great success at home and abroad they produced lamps, candelabra , chandeliers, bronze imitations, wall decorations, sconces and plastic globes for the blind.

In 1817 Mencke fell out with Schwitzky, who wanted to claim the invention for himself in an article in the Vossische Zeitung . From then on, the 43-year-old Mencke managed the factory, which already had 60 employees. For the production he used some war invalids. The wood bronze factory was located in Berlin at Letzt Strasse 5 (today Dorotheenstrasse 5) in the house of Chief Medical Officer Heinrich Kohlrausch . There were no great storage possibilities there; so it was mostly produced to order. Additional paint shops for production were located at Friedrichstrasse 86 and Unter den Linden 46.

From 1822 to 1841 he was a member of the association founded by Peter Beuth in 1821 for the promotion of industry in Prussia. At the exhibition of patriotic products in Berlin in September / October 1822, Mencke caused a sensation with his candelabra model . The jury awarded him the highest honor, the golden medal. In 1824 Mencke suffered a severe blow to the family, his son Carl August died at the age of 1 year and 7 months on December 11th of that year. At the national exhibition of patriotic products in Berlin in 1827, he was awarded the Golden Medal for a second time for his outstanding work.

Since manufacturer Mencke also carried out gilding, he was commissioned by Otto von Voß's sons in Birkholz (today's district of Bernau near Berlin ) to gild the tower cross of the Birkholz village church. The tower was designed by the royal building inspector Salomo Sachs , colleague of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and took over the construction management. Carl Justus Heckmann covered the tower with zinc sheet.

Around 1831/1832 he worked as a Vorgolder with the architect Friedrich Wilhelm Langerhans (1780–1851) and the iron caster Moritz Geiß (1805–1875), whose company also carried out gilding. They got the contract for a concert hall and the decorations from EJ Roth, the owner of the Hôtel de Russie.

In the Berliner Medicinische Central-Zeitung of 1836, under III. Various news, recommends Hofrath Dr. Georg Gustav Philipp Hauck (1783–1848), director of the Royal Midwives Institute in Berlin, a female pelvis normalis for anatomical studies made by Mencke in the wood mass factory .

In 1839, wood bronze manufacturer Menke received a copy as a subscriber with reports on the festivities of the third anniversary of the Brandenburg Reformation.

family

Carl August was married to Dorothea Maria Lehmann (born May 2, 1775 Berlin; † March 15, 1855). The following children resulted from the marriage.

  • Adolf Louis Mencke (born November 6, 1812 - December 21, 1892); Professor, teacher and chaser at the Royal Trade Institute
  • Ferdinand Theodor Mencke baptized 1815, bronze manufacturer 1844 Dorotheenstrasse 5
  • Carl August Mencke 1823–1824 died at the age of 1 year
  • Carl August Mencke junior, bronze manufacturer and gilder 1844 Dorotheenstrasse 5

In 1841 his wife Dorothea continued the business of her deceased husband as a wood mass bronze manufacturer with her sons Carl August and Ferdinand Theodor.

Dorothea Mencke as Rentière lived at Behrenstrasse 16 from 1845 and withdrew from the business around 1846–47.

Works of art

  • Decorations in 1810 in the Adolph Friedrich Erich (1777–1819) fashion store at Unterwasserstraße 5 in Berlin, designed and furnished according to Schinkel's designs.
  • Decorations in the new Fuchs confectionery, founded in 1816. The pastry shop was located on Unter den Linden No. 8 and was designed and furnished according to Schinkel's designs.
  • Decorations in the palace room of Prince Friedrich in Ludwigslust Palace 1820–1822
  • Decorations in the jewelry store in the Schloss Freiheit Nr. 4 of the gold and silver dealer Godet.
  • Decorations in the church of Neuhardenberg (according to Schinkel's information) around 1820
  • Prince Wilhelm Malte I. zu Putbus commissioned Mencke (called Mencken here) around 1820 to deliver two bronze Borghese fencing figures for the park gate.
  • The Neapolitan ambassador to Prussia Longo Domenico Severino di Gagliati (1787–1860) ordered chandeliers and statues from Mencke in 1821 for his residence in Berlin, including a custom-made wooden bronze candlestick of a 2.70 high Victoria.
  • Decorations in the palace room of Prince Friedrich in the Berlin City Palace
  • Decorations in the palace room of Ferdinant August
  • Decorations in the palace room of Prince Radzivil
  • Decorations in the rooms of the royal palace in Potsdam , where Emperor Alexander of Russia stayed during his visit in 1818
  • Ornaments on the canopy of the throne in the State Council room in the Berlin City Palace.
  • For the reopening (after expansion in 1827) of the Sankt Georgenkirche in Berlin, Mencke donated a crucifix and two altar candles made from his bronzed wood.
  • Around 1831/1832 gilding in the concert hall of the Hótel de Russie
  • In 1835 he gave the Sankt Johanneskirche Lychen a magnificent and artistic baptismal table made of wood bronze (referred to in the article as a bronze manufacturer and artist Menke senior )

Honors

  • Golden commemorative coin 1822
  • Golden commemorative coin 1827

Client

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Draft by Schinkel
  2. ↑ Official report on the General German Trade Exhibition ..., Volume 3, p. 193
  3. ↑ Almanac of the latest advances in science, arts, manufactories and handicrafts contain the latest inventions and discoveries GCB Busch Arnstadt 1812 from Easter 1810 to Easter 1811 ..., Volume 4 p. 489
  4. ↑ Allgemeine Handlungs-Zeitung: with the latest inventions and ... Volume 28 p. 301
  5. ↑ Official Gazette of the Royal Churmärk Government in Potsdam: 1815 p. 91
  6. ↑ Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und schehrte Dinge: 1815.1 / 6 under mixed advertisements and announcements on the right, last paragraph
  7. Jump up ↑ Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und schehrte Dinge: 1817,7 / 9 left 3 paragraph
  8. ↑ Separation from business partner Mr. Schwitzky and information on other clients and prices for his wood bronze work p. 206
  9. ↑ Weltkunst, Volume 75, Issues 10–12, page 52
  10. ↑ With the kind permission of Jan Mende, curator of the Biedermeier exhibition in the Knoblauchhaus Berlin Mencke
  11. ^ Negotiations of the Association for the Promotion of Industry and Trade in Prussia 1822, Volume 1 List of Members' Names, p. 9
  12. ↑ With kind permission from Dr. Jan Mendes Beneficial Beauty - a Victoria candelabra made of wood bronze on www.lightandglass.eu section Golden Prize Medal and further scientific explanations about Mencke
  13. ↑ On findagrave.com created by: Frank K Carl August Mencke
  14. ↑ Negotiations of the Association for the Promotion of Industrial Industry in Prussia, Volume 6, p. 281
  15. ↑ Gilders Mencke, Salomo Sachs, Carl Justus Heckmann at www.förderverein-dorfkirche-birkholz.de Fischer-Pfarrerbuch II 734
  16. ↑ Allgemeine Theaterzeitung and Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur ..., Volume 26, p. 72
  17. ↑ Medicinischen Central-Zeitung Volume 5 p. 981
  18. ↑ Georg Gustav Philipp Hauck on www.medicusbooks.com life data
  19. ^ Festschrift - the third anniversary of the Brandenburg Reformation - report on the festivities compiled by L. Frege, the royal preacher in Schwedt, p.10
  20. ↑ General housing gazette for Berlin, Charlottenburg and surroundings 1844 Königlicher Polizei-Rath Winckler 23 edition p. 300
  21. ↑ Family tree of Carl August Mencke wood bronze manufacturer and gilder under archive on Förderverein Dorfkirche Birkholz eV
  22. ↑ The Fatherland Trade Friend: A Guide to ..., Volume 1, Edition 2 by Heinrich Weber p. 208
  23. ^ The Dorotheenstadt in the 19th century: From the suburban residential area ... by Volker Wagner p. 387
  24. ↑ On bfhg.de Huguenots-and-their-descendants gold and silver merchant's Godet
  25. ↑ The Fatherland Trade Friend: A Guide to ..., Volume 1, Edition 2 by Heinrich Weber p. 208
  26. ↑ images on vanderkrogt.net ; residenzstadt-putbus.de .
  27. ↑ Dr. Jan Mende Beneficial beauty - a wooden bronze Victoria candelabra (courtesy of Dr. Mende) www.lightandglass.eu
  28. ↑ Berlin as it is: A painting of the life of this royal seat and its ... by Károly Mária Kertbeny p. 238
  29. ↑ Official Gazette of the government in Potsdam von Potsdam (administrative district) 1827 p. 28
  30. ^ Official Journal of the Government in Potsdam, year 1835, p. 284
personal data
SURNAME Mencke, Carl August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Menke, Carl August; Mencke, CA; Menke, CA
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist, gilder and wood bronze manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1776
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH around 1842