Reinhold of the best of the contemporary sculptors of Germany is Reinhold Begas, who was horn at Berlin in 1831, where he is now professor of sculpture at the Academy; he has received many medals. He studied with Rauch and Ludwig Wichmann (1785-1859). Begas belongs to the new school, making no pretence of following the antique. One of his most important works is the Schiller monument in Berlin—a work on which he might safely rest his fame. His Rape of the Sabines is another beautiful example of the excellence attained by the recent realism of German sculpture.
Johannes Schilling, born at Mittweida in 1828, is a sculptor who is highly ideal in his conceptions, while belonging to the modern school as opposed to those who follow the antique. His groups of Evening and Night at Dresden are attractive works, while the national monument in the Niederwald is one of the most important creations of modern sculpture. This monument was unveiled in 1883, and represents Father Rhine attended by nymphs and other symbolic figures gracefully arranged and showing careful study. We give from this monument Germania (p1. 44, Jig. I")• Emil Wolff, born at Berlin in 1802 and died in 1879, president of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome, was a pupil of Schadow and an imitator of the style of Thorwaldsen. He showed no especial grandeur or origi nality, but had some success in his representations of feminine beauty, of which his Judith is a favorable example.—His son, Albert Wolff, is one of the most promising sculptors now in Germany. He is a professor in the Academy of Berlin, and designed the noble bronze equestrian monu ment to Frederick William III. which was completed in 1876. In breadth of design and general effect it seems to surpass the celebrated equestrian monument to Frederick the Great by Rauch.
Rudolf Siemering, born at Konigsberg in 1835, is one of the most prominent of the monumental sculptors of Germany. He has executed, among other works, the monuments of Frederick the Great at Marien burg, of Von Graefe at Berlin, of Luther at Bisleben, and the bronze statue and groups for the Washington monument erected by the Society of the Cincinnati at Philadelphia. An equestrian statue of Washington Neill surmount a square granite pedestal, on the sides of which will be bas reliefs illustrative of the principal events of the American Revolution, while on the base will be placed groups and figures typical of American life.
The monument at Leipsic in commemoration of the Franco-German war is one of the largest and most magnificent monumental compositions of the century. At the corners of the superstructure are colossal eques trian statues of the crown-prince of Germany, of the former crown-prince —now King Albert—of Saxony, of Chancellor Bismarck, and of Marshal von Moltke. In a niche of the facade is a statue of Emperor William enthroned, while between the equestrian statues, on three sides, are groups of German warriors, with flags and standards. The statue of Germania (pl. J; 2 ) crowns the monument. Siemering has adopted in the pro duction of his monumental works a method of varying the monotonous metallic lustre of the bronze by a treatment with a coating which deadens the surfaces, and furthermore by gilding and polishing certain parts of the subject. On this statue of Germania he has made extensive use of these expedients, with the result of producing a striking and artistic effect.
Rudolf Sarweinits, born at Charlottenbnrg in 1839, studied at the Berlin Academy under Professor Schievelbciui (q. v.). In 1863 he visited Paris and Italy, and subsequently the North of Europe. Among his works are the soldiers' monument for Gera, eight colossal groups for the royal bridge at Berlin, monument to Frederick William III. at Cologne, nine reliefs for the balcony of the city-hall at Berlin, and a group of Fine Arts in the National Gallery at Berlin. Besides mammy imposing monu mental groups, he has produced a number of charming imaginative pieces, among which is the Endangered cupid (p1. 43, jig-. 1).
Hugo Ili/helm F•iederiM .Schaper, born at Alsleben in 1841, began life as a stone-cutter in a marble-yard at Ilalle, but his natural talents soon developed, and at eighteen he entered the studio of Albert Wolff to per fect himself in the sculptor's art. Schaper has attained a foremost posi tion in the rank of contempotary sculptors in monumental art. Among his more notable works are the Uhland Memorial, for which he received the commission over a number of competitors, the statue of Bismarck at Berlin, which gained him wide recognition, and his latest work, the statue of Lessing (fig. 4) for the city of Hamburg, which has added greatly to his reputation as an artist of the first order.