Eduard Gerhard

This article describes the archaeologist Eduard Gerhard. For the painter with a similar name, see Eduard Gerhardt .

Eduard Gerhard in the 1860s

Honor grave, Großgörschenstrasse 12, in Berlin-Schöneberg

Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard (born November 29, 1795 in Posen ; † May 12, 1867 in Berlin ) was a German classical archaeologist .

Life

Gerhard was the son of the Privy Councilor of Justice David Friedrich Gerhard (1768–1829), his mother was his wife Sophie Nösselt (1778–1857), a daughter of the professor of theology Johann August Nösselt .

Gerhard spent most of his childhood in Breslau , at whose university he began to study theology in 1812. However, he turned exclusively to classical philology and in 1814 moved to the University of Berlin , where August Böckh in particular became his teacher and sponsor. In July 1814 Gerhard received his doctorate with a thesis on Apollonios Rhodios . He returned to Breslau and completed his habilitation there in 1816. A position as a high school teacher in Posen, which he took over at the end of 1816, he had to give up again in 1818 because of an eye disease.

Gerhard traveled to Italy for the first time in 1820/21. A second stay there from 1822 to 1826 was supported by the Prussian Ministry. In Italy, Gerhard mainly dealt with archaeological studies and the topography of Rome . He participated in the description of the city of Rome founded by Barthold Georg Niebuhr and planned to compile a systematic compilation of the preserved archaeological monuments using illustrations and descriptions. His third stay in Italy, again supported by the Prussian state, lasted from 1828 to 1832. During this time, he founded the Istituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica , later the German Archaeological Institute, in Rome in 1829 with the help of other archaeologists and with the support of the Prussian Crown Prince . Gerhard now also turned to research into ancient vase painting .

In 1832 he returned to Berlin and in 1833 was employed as an archaeologist at the Royal Museum in Berlin . From 1836 he was custodian of the vase and terracotta collection, from 1855 director of the collection of sculptures and plaster casts . In 1835 Gerhard became a full member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences , and in 1844 a full professor at the University of Berlin. To popularize archeology, he initiated the founding of the Archaeological Society in Berlin in 1841 . Since 1841 he was a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Gerhard's scientific importance lies primarily in the systematic collection and publication of the archaeological monuments. He contributed significantly to the establishment of classical archeology as an independent science; among his students were Otto Jahn , Ernst Curtius and Alexander Conze , among others .

Eduard Gerhard was buried in the old St. Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin-Schöneberg , Großgörschenstraße 12-14. The grave site is an honorary grave of the State of Berlin .

He married Emilie Rieß von Scheurnschloß (* June 17, 1818 - September 7, 1892) in Frankfurt in 1843 , a daughter of the Hessian Minister Franz Hugo Rieß von Scheurnschloß .

Fonts

Among Gerhard's numerous writings, his extensive compilations should be mentioned in particular:

• Antike Bildwerke , Stuttgart 1827–1844, with 140 copperplate engravings and the supplement Greek Mystery Pictures , Stuttgart 1839
• Exquisite Greek vase pictures , Berlin 1839–1858, 4 vols. With 330 copper engravings
• Etruscan mirrors , Berlin 1843–1868, 4 vols. With 360 plates; continued by Adolf Klügmann and Gustav Körte , 1884 ff.

literature

• Otto Jahn : Eduard Gerhard. A streak of life . Reimer, Berlin 1868 (digitized version) .
• Ludwig von Urlichs :  Gerhard, Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, pp. 760-766.
• Friedrich Matz :  Gerhard, Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 276 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Henning Wrede (Ed.): To the archaeologist Eduard Gerhard 1795–1867 on his 200th birthday . Arenhövel, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-922912-43-5 .
• Wolfhart Unte : Eduard Gerhard (1795–1867) . In: Schlesische Lebensbilder . Vol. 7. Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2000. Reprinted in: ders .: Heroen und Epigonen . Scripta Mercaturae, St. Katharinen 2003, ISBN 3-89590-134-2 , pp. 163-169.
• Veit striker : Eduard Gerhard. In: Annette M. Baertschi, Colin G. King (ed.): The modern fathers of antiquity. (= Transformations of Antiquity, Vol. 3), de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-019077-9 , pp. 145-164.

Web links

Commons : Eduard Gerhard  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Eduard Gerhard  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Eduard Gerhard in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Eduard Gerhard  in the German Digital Library
• Literature list in the online catalog of the Berlin State Library
• Meeting reports of the Archaeological Society in Berlin, which was founded by Eduard Gerhard, digitized from Heidelberg University Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 91.
2. ^ Markus Joseph Müller: Eduard Gerhard (Nekrolog) . In: Meeting reports of the royal. bayer. Academy of Sciences in Munich . tape I , 1868, p. 421-422 ( online [PDF; accessed February 11, 2017]).