193 



RUGENDAS, GEORG PHILIPP. 



RUHNKEN, DAVID. 



Rufus would not have written anything so full of popular superstitions 

 and absurdities. The fragment treats of thirteen different plants in 

 as many chapters, in which, says Haller, "Medicarum virium adest 

 farrago verarum et falsarum." 



RUQENDAS, GEORG PUILIPP, a celebrated German battle-paintei-, 

 was born at Augsburg in 1666. He was the pupil of Isaias Fisches, 

 an eminent historical painter in his time; but Rugeudas devoted him- 

 self at an early age almost exclusively to battle-painting, in which he 

 was partly confirmed by the admirable battle-pieces of Bourguignon, 

 Lembke, and Tempesta, which he studied on his journey to Vienna, 

 Venice, find Rome. At Rome he entered the famous Flemish Schilder- 

 Jlcnt, or Society of Painters, iu which he was received, from his pre- 

 dilection for battle-painting, under the nickname of Schild : all the 

 members of this society were known only by nicknames. 



In 1G95, after an absence of five years, he returned to Augsburg, 

 and had the opportunity of witnessing its siege in 1703, and of thus 

 studying from nature what he had hitherto only acquired from his 

 imagination, and from the pictures of others. He lost a great portion 

 of his property through this siege ; but what he lost in substance he 

 more than gained by the excellent opportunities he found of perfecting 

 himself in the line of art which he had adopted, and he acquired 

 extraordinary excellence as a battle-painter. He became distinguished 

 also for his etchings of battles and skirmishes : he excelled in the 

 manner in which he represented smoke, and made use of it in separating 

 and arranging his groups. There is, or was, a large picture of the 

 siege of Augsburg in the Stetten collection at Aiigsburg. Rugendas 

 was made director of the Academy of Augsburg in 1710 : he died at 

 Augsburg in 1742. His pictures are very numerous, and there are 

 not many collections without one or more examples of his style. He 

 painted, besides battles and skirmishes, horse-markets and horse- 

 exercises, and he generally introduced many objects into his pictures. 

 His design is vigorous and bold, but his colouring is unequal, some- 

 times being high and warm, and at others heavy and monotonous ; 

 and though his light and shade is often well studied and effective, 

 many of his pictures are now black and obscure. Owing to an illness, 

 he painted many years with his left hand. There is a picture of the 

 battle of Blenheim by Rugendas. He was the ancestor of a numerous 

 family of painters and engravers, sons and grandsons. A life of him 

 by J. C. Fiiasli was published, together with a life of Kupetzky, by 

 the same writer, 'Leben Georg Philipp Rugendas und G. Johann 

 Kupetzky,' Zurich, 1758. 



CHRISTIAN RUGENDAS, his second son, engraved about sixty of his 

 father's designs in a very spirited manner, chiefly in mezzotinto. His 

 own etchings, of which there are about thirty, are also much prized. 



RU'HNKEN, DAVID, was born in 1723 at Stolpe, in Poinerania. 

 His parents, who were in good circumstances, soon discovered the 

 promising talents of the boy; and, after a course of elementary 

 instruction, they sent him to the gymnasium of Konigsberg (Collegium 

 Fridericianum, or Friedrichs-Collegium). Here he commenced his 

 acquaintance with the classical writers of antiquity, and conceived 

 that love for them which distinguished his whole life. He also made 

 great progress in the fine arts, particularly in music and drawing. 

 After finishing his studies at the gymnasium, it was the wish of his 

 parents that he should become a student of theology ; but this was 

 contrary to his own inclination, and he obtained permission to go to 

 Gb'ttingen, where he anticipated great benefit from the instruction of 

 J. M. Gesner. On his journey thither he passed through Wittenberg, 

 and the kindness and hospitable reception which he experienced in 

 the houses of two distinguished professors of that university, Berger 

 and Ritter, induced him to stay at Wittenberg, where he remained 

 two years, and applied most indefatigably to the study of ancient 

 literature, history, and jurisprudence. On the occasion of taking his 

 degree he published his inaugural dissertation, 'De Galla Placidia 

 Augusta ' (Witteub., 1743), a work which raised the greatest expecta- 

 tions of the young scholar. Ernesti, who happened to be at Wittenberg 

 at the time, advised Ruhnken to go to Leyden, and finish his studies 

 under the auspices of the great Hemsterhuis. This advice coincided 

 with Ruhnken's own wishes ; and, having provided himself with letters 

 of introduction, he went to Leydeu. To Hemsterhuis he had no intro- 

 duction ; but he nevertheless, immediately after his arrival, paid a 

 visit to that renowned scholar, who received him with the utmost 

 kindness. Ruhnken now began his studies afresh, following the 

 suggestions and advice of his great master, and continued his studies 

 under him for six years, during which he read almost all the Greek 

 writers with the greatest care and attention. But notwithstanding his 

 severe application, he was fond of amusements: musical entertainments, 

 the conversation of ladies, and hunting, were now, and remained during 

 his whole life, his favourite recreations; and often, after returning 

 from hunting, he would sit down all night at his writing-table, and 

 make up for the time spent on his amusements. Hemsterhuis had 

 from his first acquaintance with him discovered the great abilities of 

 his pupil, and was anxious to keep him fit Leyden ; but as there was 

 at the time no prospect of a professorship becoming vacant in the 

 university, he advised him to resume his former study of the Roman 

 law. Ruhuken, who was accustomed to follow the advice of Hem- 

 sterhuis like that of a father, complied with his request, and soon 

 made such progress as to gain a considerable reputation as a jurist. 

 But he did not neglect his favourite pursuits, and made preparations 

 BIOG. DIV. VOL. V. 



for a new edition of Pluto. With this view he collected the scholia 

 on Plato, and published a very valuable edition of Timzeus, ' Lexicon 

 Vocum Platonicarum,' with a commentary, Leyden, 1754 (a new and 

 much improved edition appeared in 1789). But as he had no appoint- 

 ment in Holland, his friends in Germany urged him to return and 

 apply for a professorship in some university in his own country. His 

 attachment however to his friend and master, and hia love of the mode 

 of life at Leyden, induced him to wait there until a vacancy should 

 occur. In 1755 he went to Paris, where he spent a whole year in 

 examining the manuscripts of tho Royal Library and those of the 

 library at St. Germain. About tho time when he was preparing to 

 set out for Spain, he received the intelligeo'-e that Hemsterhuis had 

 succeeded in gaining for him the appointment of lector (reader) iii tho 

 University of Leyden. In this capacity he was the assistant and 

 colleague of his former master. Ruhnken returned to Holland, and ia 

 October 1757 he opened his course of lectures by a discourse, ' De 

 Grsecia Artiutn et Doctrinarum Inventrice' (printed at Leyden in 1757, 

 4to). Ruhnken filled this place for four years, and his zeal, his success, 

 and his erudition, soon gained him the reputation of being one of the 

 most eminent scholars of Holland. 



In 1761 Oudendorp died, and Ruhnken was appointed his successor 

 as professor of eloquence and history. In the same year J. M. Gesner 

 of Gottingen died, and Ruhnken was invited to take his chair ; but he 

 refused this honourable offer, and recommended Heyne in his htead. 

 This proof of his attachment to tho University of Leyden waa 

 rewarded by a considerable increase of his salary. At the age of forty 

 Ruhnken married a beautiful and accomplished young lady, with 

 whom he lived very happily ; but in the year 1769 his wife began to 

 suffer from apoplexy, which first deprived her of speech, and after- 

 wards also of sight, and in this deplorable state she survived her 

 husband. In 1767, two years before this calamity, Hemsterhuis had 

 died, and Ruhnken, then rector of the university, delivered a noble 

 eulogiuni on his late friend and patron. This culogium is known 

 under the name of 'Elogium Tiberii Hemsterhusii,' printed at Leyden 

 in 1768, iu 8vo ; a second edition, accompanied by two letters of R. 

 Beutley to Hemsterhuis, appeared in 1789. About this time Ruhnken 

 conceived the plan of making a new and complete edition of the great 

 works of Fabricius, the Bibliotheca Grsoca and Latina, but this plan 

 was never realised, and other works, of which we subjoin a list, 

 occupied almost all his attention. In 1774 Ruhnken succeeded Gro- 

 novius in the office of librarian to the university, in which capacity 

 he enriched the library with a great many valuable books and 

 manuscripts. 



_ The life of Ruhnken henceforward presents scarcely any incidents : 

 his time was divided between the discharge of his official duties and 

 his literary occupations, by which he acquired a reputation equal to 

 that of his master Hemsterhuis. To his suffering wife he always 

 showed the greatest affection, and all the leisure hours which he could 

 spare he devoted to her. The only thing which in some degree 

 interrupted his quiet pursuits were the disturbances which broke out 

 in Holland in the year 1787. He died on the 14th of May, 1798, 

 leaving two daughters, the younger of whom had from her childhood 

 always been in bad health. The city of Leyden purchased his 

 valuable library, and granted to hia widow an annual pension of 500 

 lorins. 



Ruhnken was one of the most eminent scholars and critics of the 

 18th century. With a refined taste and great acuteness, he combined 

 au extraordinary memory and immense erudition. His critical 

 sagacity and his grammatical knowledge were not inferior to those of 

 any modern philologist, and his works are still an inexhaustible source 

 of information, though it has, perhaps not unjustly, been observed, 

 ;hat Ruhnken, as a critic, is more refined and elegant than profound. 

 As a Latin writer Ruhuken has scarcely been excelled by any modern 

 author. In teaching he was very successful ; the most distinguished 

 among his pupils was Daniel Wyttenbach, to whom we are indebted 

 ? or an eloquent Life of his master (Leyden, 1799, 8vo.). This Life 

 was reprinted at Leipzig in 1822, and edited by Lindemann, together 

 with the Elogium. Hemsterhusii, under the title ' Vitso duuui Virorum 

 Tib. Hemsterhusii et D. Ruhnkenii.' 



Besides his edition of the Lexicon of Timajus, Ruhnken wrote, in 

 1 754, a commentary on the title in the Digest and Code, ' De Postu- 

 ando, sive de Advocatis et Procuratoribus.' He also edited the 

 second volume of Alberti's Hesychius, with notes and emendations, 

 lieyden, 1766, fol. ; Rutilius Lupus, 'De Figuris Sententiarum et Elo- 

 cutionis,' Leyden, 1768 (a new edition of this work was published at 

 Leipzig in 1831 by Frotscher) ; Velleius Paterculus, 2 vols. Leyden, 

 .779 (a separate edition of Ruhnken's commentary was published at 

 lanover, in 1815, by Cludius) ; 'Hoineri Hymnus in Cererem,' with a 

 latin translation and Commentary, 1780 (a second edition appeared 

 n 1782, in which a fragment, until then unknown, was added); 

 Mureti Opera,' 4 vols. 8vo, Leyden, 1789. Besides these editions of 

 ancient authors by Ruhuken himself, he communicated to Ernesti his 

 remarks on Callimachus (Leipzig, 1761), and on Xenophon's 'Memo- 

 rabilia' (Leipzig, 1773), and to Schweighuuser those on Polybius and 

 Appian. Besides his three original compositions already mentioned 

 viz. on 'Galla Placidia Augusta,' 'De Grsecia Art. et Doctr. Inventr.,' 

 ind the ' Elogium Hemsterhusii '), Ruhnken wrote ' Epistola? Critical : 

 >rima in Homeridarum Hytnnos et Hesiodnm' (Leyden, 1749); ' se- 



