August Wittig

(b Meissen, 23 March 1823; d D?sseldorf, 20 Feb 1893). German sculptor. From 1843 to 1849 he studied under Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel at the Kunstakademie in Dresden. From 1849 to 1864 he was in Rome, where he developed his classical style. He produced reliefs and sculpted groups, preferring themes from Classical mythology and the Bible, though much of his work has been lost. The remaining examples include the romantic Siegfried's Farewell from Kriemhild (bronze, 1850; Dresden, Skulpsamml.) and the bronze relief of the Entombment for the tomb of the Schoeller Family (1850; D?ren, Evangel. Cemetery). Contemporary critics received his works favourably, particularly because of their emotional expression, and with their support he became Professor of Sculpture at the K?nigliche Preussische Kunstakademie in D?sseldorf in 1864. There he created a museum of casts of Classical and other sculptures as a teaching aid and primarily used the works of Pheidias, Michelangelo and Peter Vischer (ii) as examples for his pupils. His love of Classical sculpture was reflected in his suggestion to his students that a version of the Venus de Milo (Paris, Louvre) should be reconstructed with Venus holding the shield of Mars before her like a mirror, though the project was never carried out. In 1869 he created a life-size bronze bust of the Director of the Kunstakademie, Wilhelm Schadow (D?sseldorf, Schadow-Platz), to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the institution's refounding. Wittig's last work was the model (1892) for his own grave (D?sseldorf, North Cemetery), which is decorated with a bronze Piet?.

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