Robert Diez (20 April 1844 in

Pößneck Pößneck (also spelled ''Poessneck'') is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 19 km east of Rudolstadt, and 26 km south of Jena. History Pößneck, which is of Slavonic origin, passed about 1 ...

– 7 October 1922 in

Loschwitz Loschwitz is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters (''Stadtteile''): Loschwitz is a villa quarter located at the slopes north of the Elbe river. At the top of the hillside is the quar ...

) was a German sculptor.Stadtwiki Dresden: Biography
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Life

He was the son of Pößneck's Mayor. His artistic inclinations began to emerge at his grandparents home in

Sonneberg Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home to ...

, the center of the German toy-making industry. During his years at the Gymnasium in

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).

, he lived with his uncle

Samuel Friedrich Diez Samuel Friedrich Diez ( 19 December 1803 – 11 March 1873) was a German portraitist and court official. He served as court painter to Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. An influential artist in royal courts across Europe, he was made Honorary Des ...

, the Court Painter, who strongly encouraged Robert to pursue a career in art. He began his artistic training in 1863 at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the product o ...

. From 1867 to 1870, he was a pupil of

Johannes Schilling Johannes Schilling (23 June 1828 in Mittweida – 21 March 1910 in Klotzsche near Dresden) was a German sculptor. Life and work Johannes Schilling was the youngest of five children. A year after his birth, his family moved to Dresden, where he g ...

. After his father died and he lost his means of support, he went to work in Schilling's studio. By 1872, he was able to open a studio of his own and take the traditional study trip to Rome. He was made an honorary member of the Academy in 1881. He succeeded

Ernst Julius Hähnel Ernst Julius Hähnel (9 March 1811, Dresden – 22 May 1891, Dresden) was a German sculptor and Professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. He is especially remembered for his public statuary. His works of art can be admired throughout Germ ...

at the Master Studio for Plastic Arts and became a member of the Academic Council in 1891. He was named a full Professor shortly thereafter.

Ernst Barlach Ernst Heinrich Barlach (2 January 1870 – 24 October 1938) was a German expressionist sculptor, medallist, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in the war made him c ...

and were among his best-known students. He became a member of the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

in 1895. In 1912, he received an appointment as a

Geheimrat ''Geheimrat'' was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the ''Geheimer Rat'' reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic r ...

Major works

*Dresden ** ''Gänsediebbrunnen'' (Goose-thief Fountain). It received a gold medal at the Internationalen Kunstausstellung in

München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

(1878). The fountain is now in the "Weiße Gasse", a pedestrian mall. ** Twin fountains ''Stille Wasser und Stürmische Wogen'' (Still Water and Stormy Waves, 1883–1894) on the Albertplatz. ** ''Bismarck Monument'', Seestraße (1903). Parts of the monument were melted down for military use in 1944 and the remainder was removed by the Soviet administration in 1946. The granite pedestal and stairs were recycled in 1949. *Braunschweig ** ''Heimkehr des Kriegers'' (Return of the Warrior), figure group that makes up part of the ''Siegesdenkmal'' (Victory Monument), begun by

Adolf Breymann Adolf August Wilhelm Breymann (16 June 1839, Bockenem - 1 September 1878, Wolfenbüttel) was a German sculptor. Life Breymann's father was a pastor who, along with his fellow preachers, provided Adolf's earliest education. When his father was ...

. The design was by Diez and the figures were executed by

Hermann Heinrich Howaldt Hermann Heinrich Howaldt (5 January 1841, Braunschweig - 2 December 1891, Braunschweig) was a German sculptor, metal caster and repoussé artist. Life He was the fifth child of sculptor, metal caster and Professor Georg Ferdinand Howaldt an ...

. *Meiningen ** ''Bechsteinbrunnen'' (Bechstein Fountain), in the "English Garden" (1909), dedicated to the poet

Ludwig Bechstein Ludwig Bechstein (24 November 1801 – 14 May 1860) was a German writer and collector of folk fairy tales. He was born in Weimar, the illegitimate child of Johanna Carolina Dorothea Bechstein and Hubert Dupontreau, a French emigrant who disappe ...

. Many of his original casts and designs were in the Pößneck Heritage Museum, which was destroyed in 1945.

References

External links

Robert Diez website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diez, Robert 1844 births 1922 deaths People from Pößneck People from Saxe-Meiningen 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors 19th-century sculptors Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)

Life

Major works

References

Further reading

External links