Georg Christian Maternus de Cilano

Georg Christian Maternus de Cilano, with the coat of arms of his Lombard family. Engraving, 1775

Invitation to a lecture by Matern de Cilanos, Altona 1740

Georg Christian Matern de Cilano (born December 18, 1696 in Pressburg , † July 9, 1773 in Altona ) was a city physicist , professor of antiquities, royal Danish judiciary, writer and librarian in Altona.

Live and act

Georg Christian Maternus de Cilano was the son of a Bratislava senator. His grandfather, Jakob Matern, immigrated to Pressburg from Lombardy for religious reasons ; the family is said to have belonged to an old Italian noble family. The origin of the name suffix de Cilano is unknown. Before 1719 Maternus de Cilano went to Halle and studied theology and the fine sciences there . After a few years he turned to the natural sciences, now in Helmstedt , where he obtained his doctorate in 1724.

After a stay in Halberstadt , Maternus de Cilano settled in Altona, where he was appointed city physician shortly after 1737 ; he carried out the office successfully until 1750. Since December 22nd, 1738 he was also active as a professor of medicine and physics , as well as Greek and Roman antiquities at the newly founded royal Danish grammar school Academicum in Altona . In 1743 he became the first librarian of the institution, which had already had a valuable book inventory when it was founded in 1738, which quickly increased in the following decades under his direction. One of his special achievements as librarian at the Gymnasium Academicum consisted in the bibliographical recording of the Donum Kohlianum , the valuable book collection of Johann Peter Kohl , which the institution had received in 1768; Cilano's handwritten catalog made it possible for the donor to set up the collection separately and to keep it within the framework of a rapidly growing institutional library over the next two centuries. In 1745 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

After the high school in 1744 after its founder, the Danish King Christian VI. had received the name Christianeum , the management of the institution changed rotating; Maternus de Cilano served as director twice. As a result of the privileges of the grammar school, he also held the office of judicial council. With the political reorganization from 1770 in Copenhagen by Johann Friedrich Struensee - who had also worked as Altona city physicist from 1757 to 1768 - which also affected the Danish Altona, Maternus de Cilano lost his offices and retired in 1771; However, he remained the Christianeum's librarian until his death.

Afterlife

Maternus de Cilano had his own valuable book collection, the holdings of which are now in the historical library of the Christianeum and in the Hamburg State and University Library . Of his many publications as a writer, the treatise on Roman antiquities, published posthumously in 1775, is the best known.

In addition to the copper engraving from antiquity , a wax bust of Maternus de Cilanos based on a live cast was preserved, which was kept in the Altona Museum ; this was initially transferred to the Christianeum in 1799 by Johann Christoph Unzer (1746–1809), who was professor there from 1775 to 1792, from the estate of his uncle, the doctor Johann August Unzer , who died in 1799 . Since the number “1744” was scratched on the wax head, it was assumed that it was a (plaster) cast made by Unzer himself. The wax bust has not been preserved.

Works (selection)

Programma de praestantia philosophiae naturalis . Altona, 1739 (Maternus de Cilanos inaugural lecture at the newly founded Gymnasium Academicum in Altona)
Commentatio de aqua virgine, ingenti aedilitatis opere Marci Agrippae . Altona 1754
Programma de Saturnalium origine et celebrandi ritu apud Romanos . Altona, 1759
Extensive treatise on Roman antiquities. 3 parts. Arranged and edited by Georg Christian Adler . Altona, 1775

literature

Johann Christoph Adelung : Continuation and additions to Christian Gottlieb Jöcher's general scholarly lexico [...] . Second volume. C to J. Leipzig, 1787; P. 334 f.
Otto Hartz: Maternus de Cilano . In: 200 years of the Christianeum in Altona. 1738-1938 . Hamburg, 1938; Pp. 125-129.
Johann Georg Meusel : Lexicon of the German writers who died from 1750 to 1800 . Second volume. Leipzig, 1803; P. 128 f.
Constantin von Wurzbach : Matern de Cilano, Georg Christian . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 17th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing House, Vienna 1867, p. 101 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

↑ According to Hartz (1938), Maternus de Cilano, as a librarian, had the large painting of this coat of arms hanging in his book room in Altona.
^ In Hartz (1938) a number rotator (1742), which is corrected here for the first time.
↑ The dating of the entry into the Gymnasium Academicum differ in the sources mentioned ( Adelung mentions 1746); the presentation follows that of Meusel , since lectures on natural science topics have been taken at the grammar school since 1739.
↑ See Hartz (1938) p. 129, footnote
↑ A postcard with the black and white photo of the wax bust is in the archive of the Christianeum; Due to copyright reasons, an illustration is not possible here. The photo of the bust shows that the copper engraving shown here, which was probably made after the bust, came very close to reality in terms of physiognomy and expression.

personal data
SURNAME	Maternus de Cilano, Georg Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Matern de Cilano, Georg Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German classical philologist, physicist, professor, librarian
DATE OF BIRTH	December 18, 1696
PLACE OF BIRTH	Pressburg
DATE OF DEATH	July 9, 1773
Place of death	Altona

[1] According to Hartz (1938), Maternus de Cilano, as a librarian, had the large painting of this coat of arms hanging in his book room in Altona.

[2] In Hartz (1938) a number rotator (1742), which is corrected here for the first time.

[3] The dating of the entry into the Gymnasium Academicum differ in the sources mentioned ( Adelung mentions 1746); the presentation follows that of Meusel , since lectures on natural science topics have been taken at the grammar school since 1739.

[4] See Hartz (1938) p. 129, footnote

[5] A postcard with the black and white photo of the wax bust is in the archive of the Christianeum; Due to copyright reasons, an illustration is not possible here. The photo of the bust shows that the copper engraving shown here, which was probably made after the bust, came very close to reality in terms of physiognomy and expression.