Rudolf Merian

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Rudolf Merian (born October 17, 1820 in Basel , † November 4, 1891 ibid) was a Swiss officer , politician and patron.

Life

Johann Rudolf Merian came from a wealthy family. After an aborted study of jurisprudence Merian visited the Federal Central Military School in 1848 Thun , the École d'état-major in Compiègne . In the summer of 1859 he was one of those sixteen officers who, on the orders of Chief Instructor Hans Wieland, spent three weeks on horseback reconnaissance of the southwest border of Switzerland. From 1858 to 1891 he was a member of the Grand Council and from 1861 to 1868 of the Small Council of Basel. In 1866 he became a colonel, in 1870 during the border occupation during the Franco-Prussian War Chief of Staff of the 1st Division, in 1872 commander of the 2nd division, in 1875 colonel division and commander of the 4th division. In 1876 Merian resigned because of differences with the army leadership.

Merian undertook an extensive study trip to Italy from 1842 to 1844. He was accompanied by Johann Georg Müller (1822–1849) architect, painter and poet from Mosnang . The journey took them to the monuments of Tuscany, Rome and Sicily.

In 1869 Merian became an honorary citizen of Meggen , where he owned a summer residence and supported the community financially. He was also a charity in Basel, among other things, he contributed 80,000 francs to the repayment of the building debt of the Kunsthalle Basel . Merian was also otherwise involved in art. He presided over the Swiss Art Association from 1855 to 1857 and then the Basler Kunstverein. He also succeeded in getting the Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth , who had won the previous competition, the definitive order for the model of the Winkelried monument in 1859 . In addition, he bought or ordered a bust of Christ from Schlöth in 1862, before 1874 a marble copy of the Molossian dog in the Vatican including a mirror-inverted counterpart and in 1881 two marble vases with allegorical-mythological reliefs.

The Merian-Iselin Hospital in Basel goes back to a generous donation from Rudolf Merian's widow Adelheid Merian-Iselin of 100,000 francs in 1901.

Works

  • An attempt at a firing theory for Swiss infantry and cavalry officers, dedicated to the officers of the 4th Swiss Army Division in memory of their former division commanders. 1877, third edition 1880.

literature

  • Hans Adolf Vögelin: Rudolf Merian-Iselin, eidg. Colonel In: Basel Army Leader from the Sonderbund War to the Second World War. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1963, pp. 44–54.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Benno Schubiger: Johann Georg Müller. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 11, 2007 , accessed May 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Stefan Hess : Between Winckelmann and Winkelried. The Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891). Berlin 2010, pp. 36, 39, 74, 186, 222, 224.
personal data
SURNAME Merian, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merian, Rudolf Johann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss officer
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1891
Place of death Basel