Heinrich Rudolf Meili

Fountain figure of Elisabeth of Thuringia , Basel

Heinrich Rudolf Meili (born March 13, 1827 in Binningen ; † August 23, 1882 there ) was a Swiss sculptor .

life and work

Meili grew up in Binningen and trained as a wood sculptor in Arlesheim near Faller and in Freiburg im Breisgau in the company of Joseph and Franz Sales Glänz . He then studied for a short time at the Munich Art Academy with Ludwig Michael von Schwanthaler . After his death in 1848 Meili returned to Binningen and worked there as a sculptor. In 1853 he married Katharina Riggenbach. From 1860 he worked as a teacher at the Basel drawing school on Steinenberg, a predecessor of today's trade school, in which young craftsmen were given lessons in drawing and modeling. Max Leu was a student of Meili.

In Switzerland, especially in the city of Basel, Meili created numerous decorative works such as portrait busts, a grave relief and decorative sculptures as well as the monumental groups Commerce and Industry for Basel Central Station in 1863. The works were later destroyed during a renovation. In the Basel cityscape, the statue of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia (St. Elisabeth is the patron saint of the poor) on the Klosterberg near the Elisabethenkirche is particularly well known. She distributes bread and water to those in need. He saw the template for his work in the side wings of the Sebastian altar by Hans Holbein the Elder , which show Saints Barbara and Elisabeth. 1876 created the mile in neo-Gothic style from sandstone carved monument commemorating the stairwell collapse of the school building in Hellikon on Christmas Day of 1875, in which 75 people, including many school children had come to death.

Another work is one of the two monument busts for the married couple of the Elisabethenkirche, Christoph Merian and Margarethe Merian-Burckhardt, which is buried in two marble sarcophagi in the crypt under the church.

Gravestone medallion for Wilhelm Schmidlin in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery

Further works can be seen at the Wolfgottesacker cemetery . The grave of Johann Jakob Speiser , grave medallions for Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette and for Wilhelm Schmidlin (1810–1872) Centralbahn Director, Basel.

literature

D. Burckhardt: Meili, Heinrich. In: Swiss Artist Lexicon. Frauenfeld 1905-1917, p. 352.

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Rudolf Meili - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Heinrich Rudolf Meili in the personal dictionary of the canton of Basel-Landschaft
Dieter Ulrich: Meili, Heinrich Rudolf. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Meili, Heinrich Rudolf. In: Sikart
Heinrich Rudolf Meili on artnet
Video about the Basel Elisabethenbrunnen Altbasel on YouTube (Swiss German)
Meilis monument stairwell collapse at the Wegenstetten cemetery in the online inventory of the Aargau cantonal preservation of monuments
Meili's Stachelschützen fountain in Basel

Individual evidence

^ Works by Hans Holbein the Elder Ä. at www.sammlung.pinakothek.de
↑ Preservation of monuments Aargau: Monument collapse of the stairwell. Retrieved May 4, 2019 .
↑ INSA 1850–1920, Volume 2. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-280-01716-5 , p. 146; Stefan Hess / Tomas Lochman (eds.), Classical beauty and patriotic heroism. The Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891), Basel 2004, p. 170.

personal data
SURNAME	Meili, Heinrich Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 13, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH	Binningen
DATE OF DEATH	August 23, 1882
Place of death	Binningen

[1] Works by Hans Holbein the Elder Ä. at www.sammlung.pinakothek.de

[2] Preservation of monuments Aargau: Monument collapse of the stairwell. Retrieved May 4, 2019 .

[3] INSA 1850–1920, Volume 2. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-280-01716-5 , p. 146; Stefan Hess / Tomas Lochman (eds.), Classical beauty and patriotic heroism. The Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891), Basel 2004, p. 170.