Heinrich Kaehler

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Johann Heinrich Daniel Kaehler (born February 22, 1804 in Rostock , † November 5, 1878 in Güstrow ) was a German sculptor .

Life

Childhood in Rostock 1804–1820

Heinrich Kaehler was born in Rostock in 1804 in the "Haus zum Goldenen Löwen" (Lange Straße) as the son of a master carpenter. In 1820, his father arranged for the talented boy to train with the famous Prussian court sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow . He had created the Blücher memorial for Rostock , which was unveiled in 1819, and probably met the carpenter Kähler while preparing the installation in August 1819.

Training in Berlin 1820–1826

On April 22, 1820, Kähler himself accompanied his son to Schadow in Berlin, in whose house Heinrich, like a son, was lovingly welcomed. We learn this and other information of the following years from the traditional records of the master. The training initially included drawing and modeling based on templates. Schadow seemed to have been very satisfied with the progress of his pupil, and he soon commissioned him to make copies of busts and full-length statues such as the ancient “ Diskobolos ” and the “ Faun ” by the Swedish sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel . At the age of eighteen in 1822, Kaehler was allowed to appear in front of the public as “Eleve” Schadows at the Berlin Academy Exhibition, which took place every two years, with two busts modeled “after life”. Other work modeled under the supervision and guidance of the master quickly followed: the statuettes " Apostle Paulus ", " Melpomene ", " Genius Prussia " and some busts, including that of the master's little daughter, Lida Schadow. The catalogs of the academy exhibitions of 1824, 1826 and 1830 also name Kaehler with his own works. In 1826 Kaehler moved away from Berlin. In August he said goodbye to his master teacher, in whose workshop there was hardly anything left to do, since most of the official orders have now been sent to Christian Daniel Rauch's studio . What remained was an unfinished “Resting Girl”, which is exhibited today as a work by Schadow - who had completed it - in the National Gallery in Berlin .

Years in Rome 1826-1833

First the journey took a few months home to Rostock, then at the beginning of October continued via Hamburg , Magdeburg , Dresden , Nuremberg , Munich , Bologna , Verona and Florence to Rome , where Heinrich Kaehler arrived on Christmas Eve. Through a letter of recommendation from Schadow in 1832 he got the opportunity to work for the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen , who was in charge of what was then an extraordinarily large studio in Rome. Kaehler later gave a large marble relief that was created here to his daughter for her wedding. The activity in Thorwaldsen's studio ended as early as 1833. On September 3 of that year he left Rome.

Years of travel 1834–1836

At that time, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz I still ruled in Mecklenburg-Schwerin from Ludwigslust Palace , the old Schwerin residence had long been out of sync. The grandson and Hereditary Prince Paul Friedrich had other plans. From 1832 he had a new court theater and the royal stables built in Schwerin , and from 1840 - he had himself been Grand Duke since 1837 - the arsenal at Pfaffenteich followed . The construction of a new palace, however, initially remained the foundation, after which the museum was built under his successor. After the early death of Paul Friedrich in 1842, his son Friedrich Franz II took up concrete plans for the renovation and construction of a representative palace. During this phase of lively construction activity in the Schwerin Residence, Heinrich Kaehler initially returned to his home in Rostock. Hopes of being able to take part in the sculptural decoration of the buildings as a sculptor were quickly disappointed. After lengthy planning, the extensive palace construction began almost 20 years later. The new departure from home did not seem difficult for Kaehler due to the lack of orders. He was drawn to France as a wandering sculptor , where, in addition to theoretical studies, he also performed some private assignments in order to secure a low income. Probably as early as 1836, but by early 1837 at the latest, he moved on to London , an attractive art market at the time.

Years in London 1837–1846

In England in the mid-19th century, capitalism was in full bloom with a booming economy. Successful entrepreneurs and wealthy nobility created an attractive market for art of all kinds. Numerous German sculptors have worked for English clients. It was not difficult for Heinrich Kaehler to find a wealthy audience for his work. Even if the London period has not been fully explored, there is some information from these years. In 1837 we first heard of Kaehler's participation in the exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in London with two busts. Further exhibitions followed in 1838 and 1839 and from 1842 to 1844. We learn from family tradition that Heinrich Kaehler married Louise Eulalie Bigot, daughter of a French mayor, on April 28, 1838 in London. The bride was niece of the Irish playwright James Sheridan Knowles , with whom she lived as a half-orphan. Rapid artistic success through commissions for busts, tombs, coats of arms and other architectural sculptures for castles in the outskirts of the city as far as Scotland allowed the couple to acquire a small house on the outskirts of London and to start a family. The children Eulalie (1839–1906), Heinrich, Sheridan (* 1842) and Alaric (1844–1898) were born here.

Factory owner in Mecklenburg 1847–1878

Schadow tomb in Berlin by H. Kaehler

When Kaehler's brother-in-law Carl Anderssen died in Güstrow in 1846 , he left an iron foundry and machine factory to his widow. At the urgent request of his sister, Heinrich Kaehler and his family left London and returned to Mecklenburg. The new job as factory owner demanded all his attention from now on, so that further activity as a sculptor is hardly possible. The couple had three more children in Güstrow: Carl (* 1847), Elisabeth Betsy (* 1849), and a stillborn girl (1851). After the latter birth, Louise Kaehler died just 40 years old, the widow Anderssen became the children's “surrogate mother”. The "Heinrich Kähler iron foundry" was particularly successful in the 1850s with the manufacture of agricultural machines. The production also included cast iron grave crosses, garden benches and tables as well as cast iron products of all kinds. Kähler designed the models himself, of course. After a fulfilled life, Heinrich Kaehler joined forces in 1878. The resting place with a cast-iron grave slab already made in 1851 was on the Güstrower Gertrudenfriedhof. The grave slab is said to have been smashed by children in the 1930s.

Services

Heinrich Kaehler's artistic achievement is hardly known today, although - or perhaps precisely because - he received his training as the last pupil of Schadow in the famous Berlin sculpture school. The aging Schadow had already lost his rank to the younger Christian Daniel Rauch, whose work - and that of his workshop - was now decisive. To make matters worse, Kaehler did not work in one place alone, but in different places in Europe, which makes a (still necessary) research of his work very difficult.

Works

From the time in Berlin

  • "Faun" (copy after Johan Tobias Sergel )
  • "Diskobol" (copy after antiquity )
  • " Paris " (copy after Ridolfo Schadow )
  • Bust "Informator Schulz"?
  • Bust " Robert Wilhelm Bunsen "?
  • "Apostle Paul"
  • Bust of Martin Luther (based on a design by Schadow )
  • Statuette " Friedrich II. With the wind chimes" (based on a design by Schadow)
  • Bust "self-portrait" (destroyed, as not successful)
  • Statuette " Melpomene "
  • Statuette "Boy as Genius Prussia"
  • Busts "Mr. and Mrs. Franz"?
  • Bust "Miss. Kaehler "(sister of the artist)
  • "Resting Girl" (completed by Schadow in 1826)
  • Bust of Johann Gottfried Schadow
  • Statuette Johann Gottfried Schadow (erected as his tomb in Berlin in 1851)
  • Statuette "Mary with the Christ Child"
  • Statuette "So-called daughter of Lykomedes restored as Muse Polyhymnia "

Modeled on the trip in Munich

  • "Female bust"

From the time in Rome

From the time in London

  • Bust "self-portrait"
  • Bust "Mademoiselle de Schultze"
  • "Two children with a dog"
  • " Nymph " ("Girl coming out of the bath")
  • Bust "Miss Elphinstone"
  • Statuette "F. Sheridan Knowles "
  • Bust "Louise Kaehler, geb. Bigot "
  • Bust " James Sheridan Knowles "
  • Statuette of a boy
  • "Sheridan Knowles' mother love" ("The mothers face is turned upon her girl")
  • Ideal portrait of William Shakespeare

From the time in Güstrow

literature

  • Bloch / Grzimek: Classic Berlin. The Berlin School of Sculpture in the 19th century. Frankfurt / Berlin / Vienna 1978.
  • Bloch / Sibylle Einholz / v. Samson: Ethos and Pathos. The Berlin School of Sculpture 1786–1914. Contributions (accompanying volume to the exhibition); Berlin 1990.
  • Götz Eckart: Johann Gottfried Schadow. Leipzig 1990.
  • Vera Ruthenberg : Gottfried Schadow and his group of students. In: Exhibition catalog Gottfried Schadow 1764 to 1850, pictures and drawings. Berlin 1964/65.
  • Heinrich Kaehler . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 19 : Ingouville – Kauffungen . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1926, p. 412-413 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The date of death given in other sources (April 5, 1878) is incorrect.
  2. ↑ Maybe Johann Kähler (* 1763), who is recorded in Rostock as a carpenter in the census list in 1819?
personal data
SURNAME Kaehler, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaehler, Johann Heinrich Daniel (more complete name form); Kähler, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH Rostock
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 1878
Place of death Guestrow