Michel Lock, originally Hubert Michael Lock (27 April 1848,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

- 20 February 1898,

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 ...

) was a German sculptor.

Life and work

His father was a merchant. He had sixteen siblings, and began an apprenticeship as a wood carver at the age of twelve. Most of his works were small decorative sculptures for churches. After completing his traditional

wanderjahre In a certain tradition, the journeyman years () are a time of travel for several years after completing apprenticeship as a craftsman. The tradition dates back to medieval times and is still alive in France, Scandinavia and the German-speaking c ...

, he returned to Cologne and worked for the sculptor,

Wilhelm Albermann Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Albermann (28 May 1835, Werden, Essen, Werden an der Ruhr – 9 August 1913, Cologne) was a German sculptor. Life and work His father was a cabinet maker. He attended the in Werden until he was sixteen, then served an ...

; creating ornamental works for the homes of the wealthy. In 1866, he relocated to

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

, and found employment in the workshops of , where he was allowed to create his first independent works. In 1868, when he was twenty, he accepted an invitation from a

plasterer A plasterer is a tradesman or tradesperson who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been u ...

named Rössemann, and went to Berlin. When Rössemann died in 1871, Lock was hired by the firm of "Zeyer & Drechsler", as a supervisor for their forty assistants. He had a falling out with them three years later, and decided to take a study trip to Italy. When he returned, he went back to Berlin, doing modelling and stonework for the new

Nationalgalerie The National Gallery (german: Nationalgalerie) in Berlin, Germany, is a museum for art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is part of the Berlin State Museums. From the Alte Nationalgalerie, which was built for it and opened in 1876, its ex ...

. He was permitted to use the workshop in his spare time, so he had another opportunity to create independent works. By 1877, he was able to establish his own studio; taking commissions for work on public and private buildings. In 1884, his statue of

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...

, holding

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...

in his arms, received a gold medal at an exhibition in Brussels. He was awarded two more gold medals, in 1890 and 1896; both at the

Große Berliner Kunstausstellung Große Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), abbreviated GroBeKa or GBK, was an annual art exhibition that existed from 1893 to 1969 with intermittent breaks. In 1917 and 1918, during World War I, it was not held in Berlin bu ...

. Some of his larger works were done in collaboration with ; notably a figure of

Berolina Berolina is the female personification of Berlin and the allegorical female figure symbolizing the city. One of the best-known portraits of Berolina is the statue that once stood in Alexanderplatz. Statue In 1871, emperor William I ordered an B ...

, created for a state visit by King

Umberto I of Italy Umberto I ( it, Umberto Rainerio Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoia; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination on 29 July 1900. Umberto's reign saw Italy attempt colo ...

. His most familiar work is "" (I have no time to be tired, 1891), which depicts Kaiser

Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

, in his armchair, with the Angel of Death by his side. The title is taken from one of Wilhelm's favorite sayings. After Lock's death, a full-sized marble copy was created by Franz Tübbecke (1856–1937) and displayed at the Hohenzollern Museum in

Monbijou Palace Monbijou Palace was a Rococo palace in central Berlin located in the present-day Monbijou Park on the north bank of the Spree river across from today's Bode Museum and within sight of the Hohenzollern city palace. Heavily damaged in World War ...

. It was lost when the palace was destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Biography of Franz Tübbecke
@ Die Geschichte Berlins

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lock, Michel 1848 births 1898 deaths German sculptors Artists from Cologne

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links