Adolf von Donndorf
Encyclopedia
Adolf von Donndorf was a German
sculptor.
, the son of a cabinet-maker. Starting in 1853 he was a student of Ernst Rietschel in Dresden
. After Rietschel's death in 1861 he and Gustav Adolph Kietz completed the Luther monument in Worms
. Donndorf contributed several statues including standing figures of Reuchlin and Frederick the Wise, seated figures of Savonarola, Peter Waldo
and the allegorical city of Magdeburg
as well as reliefs. His talents as a sculptor were recognized on 12 November 1864 when he was named an honorary member of the Dresden Academy of Arts
and in 1876 he was appointed professor of sculpture at the Stuttgart Academy of Arts.
Adolf von Donndorf was an honorary citizen of Weimar and Stuttgart and was ennobled
in 1910 allowing him to add "von
" to his name. A museum created in his honor in 1907 by the city of Weimar was destroyed at the end of World War II
.
His son Karl August Donndorf (1870–1941) was also a sculptor and one of his father's students.
Adolf von Donndorf died in Stuttgart.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
sculptor.
Life
Adolf Donndorf was born in WeimarWeimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, the son of a cabinet-maker. Starting in 1853 he was a student of Ernst Rietschel in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. After Rietschel's death in 1861 he and Gustav Adolph Kietz completed the Luther monument in Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
. Donndorf contributed several statues including standing figures of Reuchlin and Frederick the Wise, seated figures of Savonarola, Peter Waldo
Peter Waldo
Peter Waldo, Valdo, or Waldes , also Pierre Vaudès or de Vaux, is credited as the founder of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions of southern Europe...
and the allegorical city of Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
as well as reliefs. His talents as a sculptor were recognized on 12 November 1864 when he was named an honorary member of the Dresden Academy of Arts
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden
The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts , often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany...
and in 1876 he was appointed professor of sculpture at the Stuttgart Academy of Arts.
Adolf von Donndorf was an honorary citizen of Weimar and Stuttgart and was ennobled
German nobility
The German nobility was the elite hereditary ruling class or aristocratic class from ca. 500 B.C. to the Holy Roman Empire and what is now Germany.-Principles of German nobility:...
in 1910 allowing him to add "von
Von
In German, von is a preposition which approximately means of or from.When it is used as a part of a German family name, it is usually a nobiliary particle, like the French, Spanish and Portuguese "de". At certain times and places, it has been illegal for anyone who was not a member of the nobility...
" to his name. A museum created in his honor in 1907 by the city of Weimar was destroyed at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
His son Karl August Donndorf (1870–1941) was also a sculptor and one of his father's students.
Adolf von Donndorf died in Stuttgart.
Work
- Equestrian statue of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in Weimar, 1867–1875
- Luther Monument on the Nikolaiplatz in EisenachEisenachEisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
, 1889-1895. With accompanying figures of Savonarola, Mourning Magdeburg, Frederick the Wise, Peter Waldo and Reuchlin - Angel of the Resurrection at Rheineck Castle, 1877
- Bronze bust of Ferdinand FreiligrathFerdinand FreiligrathFerdinand Freiligrath was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator.-Biography:Freiligrath was born in Detmold, Principality of Lippe. His father was a teacher. He left a Detmold gymnasium at 16 to be trained for a commercial career in Soest...
(cast by Georg Ferdinand HowaldtGeorg Ferdinand HowaldtGeorg Ferdinand Howaldt was a German sculptor.-Biography:Howaldt was born in Braunschweig as the son of the silversmith David Ferdinand Howaldt. he learned silversmithing and went to Nuremberg, where he became friends with the sculptor Jacob Daniel Burgschmiet, who convinced him to change to...
) in the Uff-Kirchhof in Bad Cannstatt (StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
), 1877–1879 - Peter von CorneliusPeter von CorneliusPeter von Cornelius was a German painter.Cornelius was born in Düsseldorf.His father, who was inspector of the Düsseldorf gallery, died in 1799, and the young Cornelius was stimulated to extraordinary exertions...
statue in DüsseldorfDüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, erected and unveiled 1879 - Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
marble grave monument in the Old Cemetery in BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, 1880 - Kesstner family monument, Dresden.
- Figural group of mother and two children:
-
- Union Square Drinking Fountain also called the James Fountain, Union SquareUnion Square (New York City)Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
, New York City, 1881. A standing draped female figure combining common iconic representations of Charity and of Temperance holds an infant and empties a ewer with her left hand, aided by a boy. Lion-mask spouts on the block base spit water into basins. - Maternal Love Fountain, Zwittau, 1892
- Donndorf Fountain, WeimarWeimarWeimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
1895 - Pauline Fountain, StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
1898 (destroyed during World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, restored in 2008)
- Union Square Drinking Fountain also called the James Fountain, Union Square
- Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
statue in EisenachEisenachEisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
, originally (1884) on the marketplace in front of the Georgenkirche, since 1938 on the Frauenplan adjacent to the Bachhaus
- BurschenschaftBurschenschaftGerman Burschenschaften are a special type of Studentenverbindungen . Burschenschaften were founded in the 19th century as associations of university students inspired by liberal and nationalistic ideas.-History:-Beginnings 1815–c...
Memorial in JenaJenaJena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, 1877–1883 - Busts of MoltkeHelmuth von Moltke the ElderHelmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was a German Field Marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter 19th century, and the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field...
and BismarckOtto von BismarckOtto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
for the Alte NationalgalerieAlte NationalgalerieThe Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin is a gallery showing a collection of Classical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist artwork, all of which belong to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The museum is situated on Museum Island, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site.- Founding...
, Berlin, 1889 - Kaiser Wilhelm IWilliam I, German EmperorWilliam I, also known as Wilhelm I , of the House of Hohenzollern was the King of Prussia and the first German Emperor .Under the leadership of William and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the...
equestrian statue and companion figures at the Kaiser Wilhelm I Memorial on the Hohensyburg in DortmundDortmundDortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, 1897–1902 - Friedrich SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
Monument at the Württembergischen Staatstheater in StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, 1913 - Bust of Otto von BismarckOtto von BismarckOtto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
on the Bismarckplatz in HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of... - Monument for Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern in SigmaringenSigmaringenSigmaringen is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district....
, 1890 - Goethe Monument in KarlsbadKarlovy VaryKarlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
, 1883 - Luther statue in front of the Dresden FrauenkircheDresden FrauenkircheThe Dresden Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden, eastern Germany.Built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. It has been reconstructed as a landmark symbol of reconciliation between former warring enemies...
, 1885