Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser

Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser (illustration from 1825)

Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser (French Jean Geoffroy Schweighaeuser ; born January 2, 1776 in Strasbourg , † March 14, 1844 ibid) was an Alsatian classical philologist , archaeologist and art historian .

life and career

Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser was taught early on by his father Johannes Schweighäuser and his mother Katharina Salome Häring. His linguistic talent was recognized early on, but especially his good memory, which Schweighäuser should be very helpful because of an eye problem in his right eye. His father also taught him the ancient languages, and he knew Homer's works by heart at an early age. He graduated from school prematurely, began studying philosophy at the University of Strasbourg at the age of 13 and later also studied law . Because of the French Revolution and the resulting turmoil, Schweighäuser was unable to study at other universities as planned. His father was involved in politics at this time and also urged his 16-year-old son to join the French armed forces, with whom he was on duty in the Palatinate, among others . However, Schweighäuser did not like the war, but he was fascinated by the many ruins of the Haardt Mountains and the Vosges . In 1795 he became secretary to Charles Nicolas Fabviers at his headquarters in Colmar . During this time he lived in the house of Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel , a friend of his father's. Like Johann Heinrich Voss, he influenced his poetic attempts, and later some of Schweighäuser's poems were published. He wrote in German, but later he was to publish primarily in French. He was equally at home in both languages; Schweighäuser later saw itself as a mediator between the two cultures.

After his discharge from military service Schweighauser went to Paris, where he met Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison , Ennio Quirino Visconti , d'Jean-Baptiste Gaspard Ansse de Villoison , Guillaume de Sainte-Croix , Jean-François Boissonade and Paul Jérémie Bitaubé known has been. For his father he examined three manuscripts with texts from Epictetus and the commentary by Simplicius . On January 2, 1797, Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser presented a find made by his father in the work of Simplicius on the life of Xenophon to the Institut de France . After his return to Strasbourg, he became his father's representative at the Strasbourg Central School (École centrale). During a trip to Tübingen he met Johann Friedrich Cotta as well as several French exiles. In 1798 he went to Paris again on behalf of his father, where he examined the original manuscript of Marcianus des Athenaios and four Kebes manuscripts. In Paris he campaigned for the preservation of Protestant church property, which, if not church property, should at least remain property of the city of Strasbourg. For a short time he was tutor in Wilhelm von Humboldt's house until he left Paris again in 1801. In doing so, he acquired such a good reputation that Madame de Staël wanted to employ him as a private tutor, which Schweighäuser turned down, however, as she was expelled from Paris in 1802. With interruptions he was then tutor to Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson until 1812 , first in Paris and Poitou , from 1809 in Antwerp . At that time, at the suggestion of Count von Schlabrendorf, he got a new edition of Theophrast's characters in the expanded form by Jean de La Bruyère . He also made friends with Paul-Louis Courier and Jens Immanuel Baggesen , he was also well known with August Wilhelm Schlegel and in particular Friedrich Schlegel , and he was in lively exchange with Karl Benedikt Hase . From 1803 he wrote on French topics in the magazine Französische Miscellen , on the other hand he brought the French closer to German topics in Millin's magazine Magasin encyclopédique . In addition, he wrote regularly for Publiciste and Archives littéraires , he was also involved as an editor on Jean Baptiste Antoine Suards Publiciste .

At the beginning of the 19th century, Schweighäuser's interest in archeology grew. In the first volume of the publication of the Musée Napoléon by Francesco Piranesi and Pietro Piranesi , he contributed the introductory texts to the 80 pictures in the style of Visconti's writings. Because Schweighäusers was ill, Philippe Petit-Radel was responsible for the texts from the second volume onwards. At the suggestion of Sainte-Croix, Schweighäuser devoted himself to the Indian history of Arrian after his recovery . He became more and more involved in this work, not only including the entire relevant literature beyond classical studies, but also Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy and Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage for collaboration. He even thought seriously about a trip to India. Schweighäuser's preoccupation with Georgios Synkellos was connected with the Arrian research . But even after more than ten years, the research did not come to an end, publication was also prevented by the bankruptcy of his publisher. In addition, he dealt with more modern art, especially the Dutch masters , whom he met during his time in Antwerp.

In 1809 Schweighäuser was appointed as an adjunct to his father at the revitalized Strasbourg University. He did not meet this call until 1812, when he also became a professor at the Protestant seminary. In 1815 he succeeded his father as a university librarian . In teaching - as in his writings, he used both languages ​​- he differed from his father, who was more of a sharp critic of the texts. Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser devoted himself to the texts more in modern subject philology and examined historical backgrounds and aesthetic aspects. He applied the same standards to his archaeological studies. Politically, in 1813, he expressed himself clearly anti- Napoleonic and for the old French monarchy. The antiquities of Alsace became more and more a center of his efforts. He administered the old collection of Johann Daniel Schöpflin , which was kept at the city library, and increased it further. In 1817 he published his first contribution to the Alsace of the pre-world . The results there, which combine Semitic, Egyptian and Greek traditions, should not be seen as research results to be taken seriously, as they are too imaginative and many monuments are interpreted arbitrarily. Schweighäuser's investigations of ruins, castles, churches and studies in archives and libraries were much more valuable. This means that Schweighäuser can be considered one of the pioneers of archaeological research in Alsace. He was supported in his research by his wife Sophie, daughter of the anatomist Thomas Lauth , who had a great talent for drawing. When in 1819 the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres began to record the existing legacies in all departments, it was able to fall back on the preparatory work of Schweighäuser, who made the previously unscientific region of the Bas-Rhin known to a wider public. For this he was awarded the first gold medal of the Académie in 1821, and a year later he became a corresponding member. He created his most important archaeological and art-historical work between 1825 and 1828 in collaboration with his friend Philippe de Golbéry , who created Upper Alsace , Schweighäuser the Lower Alsace , for the monumental work Antiquités de l'Alsace, ou châteaux, églises et autres monuments des départemens du Haut et du Bas-Rhin edited. In a single study he dealt with the Strasbourg cathedral . He saw himself in archeology as a dilettante and wanted to return to philology after his regional studies.

Schweighäuser's health had been badly damaged since 1825. Nevertheless, he continued to work at a high level, which in 1829 led to a stroke . After that he was paralyzed on the left side and blinded in the previously healthy left eye. Mostly tied to the house, almost blind and cared for by his wife sacrificially, Schweighäuser continued to have an alert mind and good memory even afterwards. His imagination, which had often been exuberant before, ensured that during this time he came to largely nonsensical knowledge, often with Etruscan and Celtic references. He thought he recognized remnants of the Etruscan language in the Alsatian dialect . These results came mainly from his correspondence, besides which he published little. In 1842 he was able to open another scientific congress in Strasbourg, in 1844 he was relieved of his 15-year suffering through death. His scientific estate ended up in the Strasbourg library in Temple Neuf , where he was burned on the night of August 24th to 25th, 1870 during the siege of Strasbourg during the Franco-Prussian War .

Fonts (selection)

• Les monumens antiques du Musée Napoléon, dessinés et gravés by Thomas Piroli; avec une explication par Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser; publiés by Francesco et Pietro Piranesi, frères. Volume 1. Paris 1804 digitized .
• Editor: Johann Friedrich Lichtenberger : History of the invention of the art of printing to save the honor of Strasbourg and complete refutation of the legends of Harlem. Heitz and Gleditsch, Strasbourg and Leipzig 1825
  • French: Histoire de l'invention de l'imprimerie pour servir de defense à la ville de Strasbourg contre les prétentions de Harlem. Accomp. D'un portrait de Gutenberg et de 8 planches orig. grav. sur bois. Heitz and Renouard, Strasbourg and Paris 1825

literature

• Adolf Michaelis :  Schweighauser, Johann Gottfried . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 33, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, pp. 351-357.
• Chrétien Pfister: Les Schweighaeuser et la chaire de littérature grecque de Strasbourg (1770–1855). Belles Lettres, Paris 1927.
• Albert Leitzmann (ed.): Wilhelm von Humboldt's letters to Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser. Frommann, Jena 1934.
• Wilhelm Kühlmann, Walter E. Schäfer (Ed.): Between Directory and Empire. Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel's letters to Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser. Manutius, Heidelberg 1992, ISBN 3-925678-29-8 .

Web links

• Entry on Johann Gottfried Schweighäuser in Kalliope