Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff

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Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Erdmannsdorff, painting by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein , 1796, Gleimhaus Halberstadt
Wörlitz Castle

Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Erdmannsdorff (born May 18, 1736 in Dresden , † March 9, 1800 in Dessau ) was a German architect and architectural theorist during the Enlightenment .

Erdmannsdorff is considered the most important representative of German early classicism . According to his plans, Wörlitz Castle in Wörlitzer Park near Dessau was built as the earliest classicist castle building on the European continent. His best known student was Friedrich Gilly , the teacher of Karl Friedrich Schinkel .

Life

Erdmannsdorff was the son of the Electoral Saxon court official Freiherr Ernst Ferdinand von Erdmannsdorff and his wife Henriette Margarethe von Hessler.

After first lessons with Wüstemann in Dresden and Eléazar Mauvillon in Leipzig as well as training at the Knight's Academy in Dresden from 1750 to 1754, he met Franz von Anhalt-Dessau during his subsequent studies at the University of Wittenberg in the years 1754-1757 , in his service he resigned in 1758. His later level of fame should not least be seen in close connection with the Anhalt prince and the Wörlitz complexes created during this time. Linked to the educational ideals of the Enlightenment, Prince Franz pursued the goal of transforming his lands into a coherent garden kingdom. In addition to the beautification of the landscape, country houses of various architectural styles, temple architectures based on antiquity , bridges and monuments should be built and accessible to everyone, regardless of their status. He commissioned his friend, the architect Erdmannsdorff, with the architectural design of the facility.

On study trips between 1761 and 1775 to Italy, the Netherlands, England, France and Switzerland, Erdmannsdorff was able to gather important impressions for the architectural design of the Wörlitz complex. Partly in the travel company of the prince, he got to know the style of the Scottish architects Robert Adam and James Adam ( Adam Style ). He was also impressed by the architect William Chambers . In Rome Erdmannsdorff made the acquaintance of the archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann and the architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau . He came into contact with the builder Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the painter Jakob Philipp Hackert .

He was particularly influenced by contemporary art and culture in England. The architecture of English classicism, which was based on Palladio's strict structure of the facade , can be recognized in Erdmannsdorff's later designs. It became the most important model alongside the architecture and interior design of ancient Italy. In this style he created, among other things, the Wörlitz Castle as the earliest classical palace structure on the European continent.

Although Erdmannsdorff preferred this architectural style, buildings in the neo-Gothic style favored by Prince Franz were also built according to his plans . Among other things, by building the “Gothic House” in the Wörlitz complex, he implemented the impressions he had gained on his trip to England. The revival of the Gothic style had its origins in English architecture .

While working in Anhalt-Dessau, he married Wilhelmine von Ahlimb , a daughter of the Prussian Colonel Joachim Wilhelm von Ahlimb (1701–1763) in 1781 . With her he had two daughters.

In 1786 the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II appointed Erdmannsdorff to his residence. With small interruptions he worked for him until 1789 in Berlin and Potsdam . In the first year he became an honorary member of the " Royal Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences " in Berlin. At the same time he was commissioned to redesign the worn bedroom and study of the late Prussian King Frederick the Great in Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. According to Erdmannsdorff's plans, the first interior of the Potsdam and Berlin palaces was created consistently in the classicism style. Further interior designs in the Berlin Palace took place in the years 1787–1789. In addition to this work, he was mainly active as a consultant in matters of art, culture and education in Brandenburg-Prussia.

Between 1789 and 1790 Erdmannsdorff stayed in Italy again. In Rome he made the acquaintance of the painters Angelika Kauffmann and Jakob Philipp Hackert as well as the sculptors Alexander Trippel , Antonio Canova and Bartolomeo Cavaceppi . After a trip to Weimar in 1791 with Prince Franz von Anhalt-Dessau, stays at the courts in Gotha , Kassel and Karlsruhe followed . In 1796 Erdmannsdorff took over the artistic direction of the Chalkographische Gesellschaft founded in Dessau in 1795 , whose aim was to popularize artistic works through copperplate engravings.

Erdmannsdorf grave slab on the new burial ground in Dessau
Memorial plaque for Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff at the Anhalt State Library

At the age of 64, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff died on March 9, 1800 in Dessau. His grave is on the New Burial Ground (Historischer Friedhof I) in Dessau.

Erdmannsdorff never had a formal position in the administration or government of Anhalt-Dessau or any other country. He exercised his work as a master builder and his influence on contemporary art exclusively through his close friendship with Franz von Anhalt-Dessau. Likewise, he never did a formal teaching job. His great influence on the classicist artists in Prussia such as Friedrich Gilly, Carl Gotthard Langhans and Gottfried Schadow is due to the fact that they worked for him on his Berlin building assignments.

Erdmannsdorff was a member of the Freemasons Association . In 1759 he was accepted into the Freemason Lodge Minerva to the three palms in Leipzig.

Buildings and designs

Wörlitz / Wörlitzer Park

(also various garden pavilions and architectures)

Dessau

  • 1767: Cabinet of the princess and large ballroom in Dessau Palace
  • 1774–1778: Luisium Castle
  • 1775: Pavilions at the Lustgarten
  • 1777: Castle theater
  • after 1780: Georgium Castle
  • after 1780: guest house and various small architectures in Park Georgium
  • after 1780: residential building Poststrasse 11/12
  • after 1780: residential building at Schlossstrasse 3
  • after 1780: Zerbster Strasse 52
  • 1787: New burial place and cemetery portal
  • 1789: Elbe customs house
  • 1790–1791: riding school
  • 1792: Mar stables and court stable master's apartment
  • 1792: Palais Waldersee , Zerbster Strasse 10
  • 1793: Orangery and main guard
  • 1796: Bridge houses of the Mulde bridge
  • 1797: Palais Branconi ("Crystal Palace"), Zerbster Straße 36
  • 1798: House Zerbster Strasse 69
  • 1798: Court theater
  • 1798: House Wallstrasse 10

Potsdam

Berlin

  • 1787–1789: Redesign of some rooms in the Berlin City Palace (Parolesaal, Großer Säulensaal, Blue French Chamber, Green French Chamber, dining room)

literature

  • August Rode: Life of Mr. Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. Dessau 1801. / as reprint : Kettmann, Wörlitz 1994.
  • Wilhelm Hosäus:  Erdmannsdorff, Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 189-193.
  • Erich Paul Riesenfeld: FW von Erdmannsdorff, the builder of Duke Leopold Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau. Berlin 1913.
  • Günther Meinert:  Erdmannsdorff, Friedrich Wilhelm Frhr. v .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 575 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Ralf-Torsten Speler: Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. Founder of classicist architecture in Germany. Dissertation, University of Halle 1981.
  • Reinhard Alex (ed.): Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff 1736–1800. (Catalog of the exhibition for the 250th birthday) Wörlitz 1986.
  • Hans-Joachim Kadatz: Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. The pioneer of German early classicism in Anhalt-Dessau. Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-345-00024-5 .
  • Ralf-Torsten Speler: Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. Pioneer of classicist architecture on the European continent. (= Between Wörlitz and Mosigkau , volume 29.) Dessau 1986.
  • Ingo Pfeifer: Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. The architect of the garden kingdom. (= DKV-Kunstführer , No. 562/4.) Munich / Berlin undated (2004). (with further references)
  • Gerd-Helge Vogel : Otto Carl Friedrich von Schönburg's Park 'Greenfield' in Waldenburg . An example of the succession and further development of the landscape gardening intentions of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. In: Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff 1736–1800. Life, work, effect. State palaces and gardens Wörlitz, Oranienbaum, Luisium. Woerlitz 1987.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ August Rode: Life of Mr. Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff . Dessau 1801, p. 240 .
  2. ↑ Freemason Lodge celebrates its 100th anniversary : A newspaper article by Heidi Thiemann. In the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of August 26, 2012 On the newspaper's homepage (accessed on June 7, 2013)

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Erdmannsdorff, Friedrich Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erdmannsdorff, Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect and architectural theorist
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1736
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1800
Place of death Dessau