DANHECKER, JOHANN HEINRICH. 



DAXTAN, JEAN PIERRE. 



.,., 



ia batteries of tko ordinary description, and pointed out an 

 mogement by whioli a powerful and continuous currant of voltaic 

 electricity may be maintained for an unlimited period. The import- 

 of tbi* di*coery wan racogniaed immediately by the whole 



scientific world, and in appreciation of iu merit, the Royal Society, in 

 7, awarded him the Copley mrdaL In 1839 he published bii 



Introduction to Chemical Philosophy,' an admirable treatise on the 

 action of molecular forcea in general, though it modestly professes to 

 give little more than a simple introduction to the discoveries of 

 Faraday, and their applications to chemistry. Ha continued hit 

 researches in the same department of science till the time of his 

 decease, oommuuicating the results of his experiments to the Royal 

 Society. For two of these papers, bearing most essentially on the 

 theory of salts, he received, in 1842, one of the Royal medals. 



In 1848 the University of Oxford conferred upon him the honorary 

 degree of D.C.L., and in the same year he published the second edition 

 of his 'Introduction to Chemical Philosophy.' For more than thirty 

 yean be was a zealous and active member of the Royal Society, and 

 for the last tiz years he held the honourable office of foreign secretary 

 to that learned body. Besides his professorship in King's College, he 

 held the post of lecturer to the East India Company's military 

 seminary at Addisoombe, and was examiner in chemistry to the 

 University of London since the opening of that institution. 



On the 18th of March 1846 Mr. Darnell, while attending a meeting 

 of the council of tho Royal Society, and having just spoken on a point 

 under consideration, apparently in perfect health, was seized with an 

 apoplectic fit In five minutes from the commencement of the attack 

 he was dead. A subscription was formed at King's College for the 

 purpose of having a bust executed, and for the" establishment, in 

 connection with the college, of a Daniell Scholarship in the science of 

 which he was so distinguished an ornament. 



It is worthy of remark, as illustrating the extent and diversity of 

 his attainments, and the importance of his discoveries, that he is the 

 only individual on whom all the three medals in the girt of the Royal 

 Society were ever bestowed. The following is a list of his most 

 important essays, with their dates: 1816, 'On some Phenomena 

 attending the process of solution,' in ' Quarterly Journal of Science,' 

 voL i. 1817, 'On the mechanical structure of iron, developed by 

 solution, and on tho combination of sil.-x in cast-iron,' ditto, vol. ii. 

 1818, ' Observations on the theory of spherical atoms, and the relation 

 which it bears to the forms of certain minerals,' ditto, vol. iv. 1818, 

 ' On the strata of a remarkable chalk found in the vicinity of Brighton 

 and Nottingham,' ditto, vol. iv. 1819, 'On the Formation and 

 Decomposition of Sugar, and the Artificial Production of Crystallised 

 Carbonate of Lime,' ditto, vol. iv. 1819, 'On the Acid formed in the 

 alow Combustiou of Ether,' ditto, vol. vi. 1820, 'On a new Hygro- 

 meter,' ditto, ToL viii. 1821, ' Description of a new Pyrometer,' ditto, 

 ToL zi. 1821, 'Experiments to ascertain tho effects of the great 

 Eclipse in September, 1820.' 'On the Gaseous and Aqueous Atmo- 

 spheres,' ditto, vol. x. 1822, 'Inquiry, with Experiments, into the 

 Nature of the Products of the slow Combustion of Ether,' ditto, 

 voL xii. 1822, 'Comparative Remarks (with three table') on the 

 Weather, and Seasons of the yean 1819, 1820, and 1821,' ditto, vol xii. 

 1822, "On the Correction to be applied iu Barometrical Mensuration 

 for the Effects of Atmospheric Vapours by means of the Hygrometer,' 

 ditto, voL xiii. 1 828, ' Meteorological Essays,' first edition, the second 

 edition was published in 1827. 1824, 'Essay on Climate considered 

 with regard to Horticulture,' in ' Horticultural Transactions,' 1824. 

 If 25, 'Observations and Experiments of Evaporation,' in 'Q. J. ol 

 Science,' xvii. 1825, 'On the Horary Oscillation of the Barometer,' 

 jb. xvii. 1825, ' Observations on the Radiation of Heat in the Atmo- 

 sphere,' ib. xvii. 1826, Two papers ' On the Barometer,' followed by 

 poodenors, ' Q. J. of Sc.,' vols. xix. and xxi. 1830, ' Ou certain 

 Phenomena resulting from the Action of Mercury on different Metals,' 

 in 'Royal Institution Journal,' vol. i. 1830, 'On New Register 

 Pyrometer for measuring the Expansion of Solids, and for determining 

 the higher degrees of Temperature upon the Common Thermometric 

 HcaU,' ' FhiL Trans.,' 18*0. 1831, 'On tho Relation between the 

 edral and Spheroidal Theories of Crystallization, and the Con- 

 nexion of tho latter with the Experiments of Professor Mitscherlich, 

 in' Royal Institution Journal,' vol. ii. 1831, ' Further Experiments 

 on a New Register Pyrometer for measuring the Expansion of Solids, 

 in ' Phil. Tran V 1831. 1882, ' On the Water Barometer erected in the 

 Hall of the Royal Society,' in 'Phil. Trans.,' 1832. Several japers 

 Voltaic Combinations (the Constant Battery),' in ' Phil. Trans.,' 

 1680, 1839, and 1842. 1889, ' Introduction to Chemical Philosophy; ' 

 2nd od., 1844. Three letters 'On the Electrolysis of Secondary 

 Compounds,' 1839. 1840, and 1S44. 1S41, On the Spontaneous 

 Evolution of Sulphuretted Hydrogen in the Waters of the Western 

 Coast of Afiica, and of other Localities,' in ' PhiL Mag.,' vol. xix. 



1'A . .10MANN IIKI.SHICH, was born at Stutgardt, 



()ct. 1... 1 7. -. His father was a groom employed in the stables of the 

 Duke Karl of Wiirtemberg, at Htut*ardt, where his particular business 

 was with the mules ; and young Dannecker was brought up iu a very 

 humble manner. In 1704 his father was removed to Ludwigsbnrg, 

 and here Duii"< kor, though then only six years of age, evino 

 of that talent f>r art for which he was afterwards soemiiiM. 

 ticguished. His first essays were flowers and soldiers, which he drew 



on any scrap of paper that came Into his hands, or he scratched 

 upon stones. In 1771, in his fourteenth year, Dannecker entered, by 

 the duke's desire, but against his father's wish, the school esteV. 

 at Ludwigsburg for the education of the children of the court-servants. 

 He was first placed iu the dancing-school, in which he met with four 

 fellow-pupils who became the most celebrated of his country! 1 ; 

 their respective lines the sculptor Sheffauer, the engraver J. Q. 

 Miiller, the musician Zumsteeg, and the poet Schiller. He mad'* such 

 progreass in drawing in two years as to be removed from the dancing- 

 school and placed in the school of plastic de-ign, under direction of 

 the sculptors Bauer and Le Jeune, the modeller Sonnenscheiu, and tho 

 winters Harper and Quibal. In this school he remained three years, 

 when, in 1780, in his eighteenth year, he obtained the prize for the 

 >est model of Milo of Croton destroyed by the lion ; upon which he 

 was appointed sculptor to the duke, with a salary of 300 florins per 

 annum. In 1783 he went with Scheffauer on foot to Paris, ami there 

 studied under Pnjou ; after a two years' stay in Paris, the two friends 

 departed together, a -ain on foot, for Rome, where Dannecker remained 

 until 1790, and contracted a friendship there with Herder, Oothe, and 

 ,'anova. A 'Ceres and Bacchus' which he executed iu Rome were 

 Dannecker'a first works in marble : they are now in the palace at 

 Stutgardt. 



After 1790 Dannecicer lived, with the exception of a few short 

 ntcrvals, wholly at Stutgardt ; three of these intervals were occasioned 

 by a visit to Paris, to view the works of art collected together by 

 Napoleon ; by a visit to Zurich to mpdel tho bust of Lavater ; and by 

 another to Vienna, in the time of the congress in 1815, to model the 

 bust of Mettcrnich. He was professor of sculpture, and director of the 

 School of Art, at Stutgardt; and inspector of the Royal Gallery of 

 Ludwigsburg. He was offered iu 1S08 the professorship of sculpture 

 in the Academy of Munich, which he declined. He died on the 8th of 

 December 1841. 



Dannecker's works are chiefly executed in the round; there are few 

 bas-reliefs by him, but thosa few are excellent : a predilection also for 

 representing the female figure is a characteristic of his ta-te. He. was 

 likewise excellent in portraiture ; he had a strong perception of indi- 

 viduality of character, and great facility in expressing it. His works 

 however, during the course of his long career, evince the prevalence of 

 a various taste in design in three different period-. At first his works 

 were not marked by any particular originality of thought or excellence 

 of design, but were conceived and r zee j ted in the spirit of such works 

 as he had access to in Wiirtemberg or at Pari, ami were in the taste 

 of the French school In Rome other styles were revealed to him, 

 both in the works of Canovu and iu the antique, and his own works iu 

 a few years were characterised by a strong expression of the ideal, 

 especially in the female form. The following works arc eminently dis- 

 tinguished in this respect: 'Mourning Friendship,' executed in 1804 

 for the monument raised by Frederic, king of Wiirtemberg, to Ms 

 minister, Count Zeppelin, at Ludwigsburg; the 'Ariadne reclining on 

 a Leopard,' in the garden of M. Bethmann at Frankfurt; and ' ' 

 and Psyche ' in the royal villa of Rogenstein near Stutgardt. His later 

 works were more ideal in character than in form, and hi-i object was 

 to personify religions resignation. Of these his figures of Christ, John 

 the Baptist, and Faith, are the most celebrat d. His male figures 

 however are effeminate, and in his Christ, meekness, more peculiarly a 

 female quality, is the predominant sentiment. 



Dannecker's greatest excellence was in his busts ; he has left many 

 interesting monuments iu this branch of art, and foremost among thorn 

 are the small and colossal busts of Schiller ; the busts of Lavater, 

 Oluok, the kings Frederic and William of Wiirtomberg, and other 

 members of the royal family, and the medallions of Haug and Jung 

 Stilling. 



Dannecker ranks as one of the best of the modern sculptors, and his 

 great merit seems to consist in a proper perception and representation 

 of the finer and more gentle qualities of the soul, and of the more 

 delicate characteristics of the human frame. His forms are true to 

 nature, but uniform in character; and the sphere of his art is very 

 circumscribed. Dannecker never attempted, or at lea-t n-vor accom- 

 plished, the representation of manly vigour or robust masculine 

 beauty ; in the female figure however be was natural, graceful, and 

 unaffected ; but in Irs draperies he was frequently untrue. Instead 

 of the natural and elegant folds which loose draperies assume on tho 

 human figure, be gave way to the conventional affectation of showing 

 the exact form of the body beneath the draperies, as if they were wet, 

 and adhered to it; producing an effect by no means beautiful, nud, 

 except when blown by the wind, unnatural ; and in this cast tho parts 

 not attached to the body must show a corresponding action. 



An account of the life and works of Dauneoker was published at 

 Hamburg in 1841, with -.". lithographic prints of his principal works, 

 from drawings by his pupil Wagner, likewise a celebrated sculptor. 

 Then is also a notice of Dannecker in the first and second numbers of 

 the KututblaU for 1842. 



DANTAN, JEAN PIERRE, a French sculptor, who has acquired a 

 somewhat peculiar kind of celebrity. He was boru at Paris, December 

 23, 1800 ; and received bis professional training, first, in the studio of 

 his father, Antoine Laurent Dantan, a sculptor of high standing, who 

 is still living, and subsequently under liosio. The young Dantan first 

 became known by bis busts and portrait statues, which were admired 



