Museum quality bronze figure of Alexander von Humboldt
Cast bronze with shimmering golden brown natural patina Cast in several parts and screw-mounted. Depicting the scientist leaning casually against a ivy-covered treestump, holding a book in the crook of his arm engraved "COSMOS" on the spine. The front of the plinth engraved "Alexander v. Humboldt." Stamped on the back of the plinth "C. WOLGAST FEC: 1851 C. FISCHER FUD:" With a small breakage on the back right corner, the back of the plinth slightly warped. H 51.5 cm, plinth H 3.9, W 17, D 16.4 cm.
Model by Carl Wolgast, cast by Christoph Heinrich Fischer, 1851.
In the auction of the estate of Alexander von Humboldt, a "Statuette Alex. v. Humboldt's. Bronce. 19 1/2", which is presumably this specimen (see "Alexander von Humboldt's Kunst-Nachlaß, welcher am 17. September 1860 und den folgd. Tagen, täglich von 9-1 Uhr Vormittags zu Berlin, in dem Hause Oranienburger Strasse 67 durch den K. gerichtl. und aussergerichtl. Auctions-Commissarius für Bücher und Kunstsachen Th. Müller, gegen sofortige Zahlung in Preuss. Gelde versteigert werden soll. Berlin 1860."). Among the total of 490 lots were several sculptures, but also drawings, medals, photographs, minerals, utilitarian objects, Humboldt's desk and a collection of 160 diplomas awarded to the researcher.
This important bronze sculpture, created during Alexander von Humboldt's lifetime (1769 - 1859), depicts him unpretentiously as a scholar and teacher, without the orders and decorations he already held at that time. The buttoned frock coat and cape draped over his shoulder refer as attributes to his travels and expeditions to amass further discoveries. The title of the book, Cosmos, gives an indication of his encyclopaedic research and international significance.
The Berlin sculptor Carl Wolgast (1819 - 1876) was represented as a student of Christian Daniel Rauch at the Academy exhibitions from 1844 to 1874. The statuette of Alexander von Humboldt is only mentioned in zinc casts by Thieme/Becker; a bronze example was not known for a long time. The outstanding quality of the depiction also caught the attention of King Frederick IV, as Alexander von Humboldt, in his recently published letter addressed to the Berlin Museum Director Ignaz von Olfers, informed him of the King's wish to have another bronze cast of the statuette made for him (Nelken, Alexander von Humboldt, Bildnisse und Künstler - Eine dokumentierte Ikonographie, Berlin 1980, p. 141):
"The King and Queen liked my statuette by the young sculptor Wolgast (Münzstr. No. 15) as much as a Rauch or Kaulbach. The King has ordered me to request a cast of the statuette in bronze from Wolgast, and to report this to you, dear friend, so that you may kindly indicate the payment at once, I hope for the benefit of the quite excellent artist who worked for Rauch."
Literature
Cf. the same figure cast in pewter in the Stadtmuseum Berlin, inv. no. VII 61/550 y a.
Cf. also a bronze copy in the Science Museum London, obj. no. 1982-1598.