Adolf von Hildebrand (6 October 1847 – 18 January 1921) was a German sculptor.

Life

Hildebrand was born at

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

, the son of Marburg economics professor

Bruno Hildebrand Bruno Hildebrand (6 March 1812 – 29 January 1878) was a German economist representing the "older" historical school of economics. His economic thinking was highly critical of classical economists, especially of David Ricardo. His ''magnum opus' ...

. He studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg The Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg) was founded in 1662 by Jacob von Sandrart and is the oldest art academy in German-speaking Central Europe. The art academy is situated in Nuremberg. Classes ...

, with

Kaspar von Zumbusch Kaspar lemens EduardZumbusch (23 November 1830 – 27 September 1915), as of 1888 Ritter von Zumbusch (a nobiliary particle), was a German sculptor, born at Herzebrock, Westphalia, who became a pre-eminent sculptor of neo-Baroque monuments in Vi ...

at the

Munich Academy The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

and with

Rudolf Siemering Rudolph Siemering (10 August 1835, Königsberg - 23 January 1905, Berlin) was a German sculptor, known for his works in both Germany and the United States. Biography He attended the art academy in Königsberg and then became the pupil of Gustav ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. From 1873 he lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in the St Francesco Monastery, a secularized sixteenth-century monastery. A friend of

Hans von Marées Hans von Marées (24 December 1837 – 5 June 1887) was a German painter. Initially specialising in portraiture he later turned to mythological subjects. He spent the last years of his life in Italy. Life Marées was born into a banking family ...

, he designed the architectural setting for the painter's murals in the library of the German Marine Zoological Institute at Naples (1873). He spent a significant amount of time in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

after 1889, executing a monumental fountain there, the Wittelsbacher Brunnen. He is known for five monumental urban fountains and for the

Bismarck monument From 1868 onwards, Bismarck monuments were erected in many parts of the German Empire in honour of the long-serving Prussian minister-president and first German ''Reichskanzler'', Prince Otto von Bismarck. Today some of these monuments are on the ...

in Bremen, unveiled in 1910. Hildebrand worked in a Neo-classical tradition, and set out his artistic theories in his book ''Das Problem der Form in der Bildenden Kunst'' ("The Problem of Form in Painting and Sculpture"), published in 1893. He was ennobled by the King of Bavaria in 1904. He died in Munich in 1921.

Family

In 1877 he married Irene Schäuffelen. They were parents of the painter Eva, Elizabeth, sculptor Irene Georgii-Hildebrand, Sylvie, Bertele, and Catholic theologian

Dietrich von Hildebrand Dietrich Richard Alfred von Hildebrand (12 October 1889 – 26 January 1977) was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and religious writer. Hildebrand was called "the twentieth-century Doctor of the Church" by Pope Pius XII. He was a leading ...

Critical opinion

In 1917, the American sculptor, conservative critic and author

Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for decad ...

, while bemoaning the direction the German sculpture was moving in, described Hildebrand as:

a master of the old school and Florentine tradition, whose example has been a constant gospel of good taste and sanity. Even today, when the whole world has gone after false gods, his influence continues to be felt and I wonder if the fact that in the midst of this revolution German sculpture, however fantastic, remains essentially sculpture, is not due largely to the life long precept and practice of this admirable representative of the craft.Taft, Lorado, ‘’Modern Tendencies in Sculpture: The Scammon Lectures at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1917’’ University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1922 p. 53-54

References

World Wide Art Resources
* ''Dietrich von Hildebrand: the Soul of a Lion'', by Alice von Hildebrand (Ignatius, 2000)

* ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Vol. 11, pp 491–492 (1971)

External links

Problem of Form 1901/1918

''Double Portrait of the Artist's Daughters'' in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrand, Adolf Von 1847 births 1921 deaths Modern sculptors

Adolf Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

People from the Electorate of Hesse People from Marburg Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg alumni 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century male artists German male sculptors German untitled nobility 19th-century sculptors Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)

Life

Family

Critical opinion

See also

References

External links