1842.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



25 



Grattan (Dublin, 1826); Canning (Town Hall, Liverpool, 1832, Westminster 

 Abbey); Nelson, Dr. Dallon. Bishups Ileber. (St. Paufs), Balliursl (Nor- 

 wich. 18-n). and Ryder fLichneld, I84I); William Roscoe (Tovm Hall, 

 Liverpool, 1840); Watt (Westminster); Nollckcis (1810); Sir Joseph 

 Banks (British Muselun, 1827); Sir J. Malcolm (Westminster, 1837); Sir 

 Howard Klphinstone (1833) ; Sir Edward Hyde Kast (Court House, Calcutta, 

 1829); Dr. Cyril Jackson (Oxford Cathedral, 182*); Countess of Liverpool 

 (Kingston Church) ; Lady l»uisa Russell (Wubum Abljey, 1817); Dr. An- 

 derson (Madras, 1819) ; Marianne, daughter of Mr. Johnes of StafTold ; Mr 

 Babington (Bombay, 1827); Sir Charles Forbes (Bombay, I&IO). 



Monuments: — Sleeping Children (Lichfield, 1817); Majors General Gore 

 Skerritt, Bones, and Hugbton, and Colonel Cadogan (St. Paul's) ; Matthew 

 Baillie (Westminster Abbey); Admiral Bickcrt.n (Bath Abbey Church)' 

 Mrs. El«in (Bristol Cathcdnil); Kirke White, Porson, and Fox Townsend 

 (Cambridge). 



Busts, see Statues, Also William IV. ; Queens Victoria (1840) and Adelaide ; 

 Duke of Sussex ; Princess L.ouisa of Saxc Weimar (1833) ; Duke of Suther- 

 land (1829); Marquis of Ix)ndondery (1821); Earl Spencer (1819) ; Lady 

 Nugent (1820) ; Viscount Melbourne; Lord St. Vincent; Southey (1837) ; 

 Scott; Sir Jeffrey Wyatville (1637); Sir John Soane(1830); Horace Hay- 

 man M~ilson (Asiatic Society, 1837); Mrs. Somervile (Royal Society, 1837)5 

 John Raflacl Smith; Wordsworth; Sir W. Curtis (1828); W. Manning (1819). 

 Sir B. Hobhouse ( 1819) ; John Fuller, (1820) ; Sir Charles Clarke (1840) ; Dr.' 

 Mill (Asiatic Society, Calcutta, l&W). 



The Waterloo Vase in the National Gallery is also by Chantrey. 



DANNECKER THE SCULPTOR. 



0>- the 8lh October last, died at Stutgard, after a short illness, the well- 

 known John Helnrich Danneckor, the Nestor of German sculptors. He had 

 but a short time previously completed bis 84th year. Stutgard was his native 

 town, where he was Iwm on the 13th of October, 1758, of poor parents. In 

 spite of the disinclination of bis parents, he determined, when very young, 

 to turn his attention to the plastic arts.and by a personal application to Duke 

 Charles of Wurtemberg, in u hose sluil his father was employed, he succeeded 

 in gaining admission, in 1771, to the military artisiical academy at the " Soli- 

 tude," a Royal castle near Stutgard, where pupils were instructed free of ex- 

 pense in music, [.aiming, and sculpture. The instruction he received here, 

 hoiiever, was but a faulty one. It was in his Ifitli year that he carried oil 

 the prize for a model of Milo of Cortona. He next executed the Caryatides 

 and other statues which at present adorn parts of the Royal residence at 

 Sttitgaril. It was while studying in this academy that he made the acquaint- 

 ance of his fellow-townsman Scliiller, and of this friendship a lasting monu- 

 ment remains in the statue, which he afterwards took from life, of the illus- 

 trious poet. He left the academy in 1780, at the same time as the poet, and 

 attained the situation of Court sculptor, with the paltry salary of 300 llorins, 

 or about 25/. per annum. The following year he was permittdl to visit Paris, 

 receiving, however, no further pecuniary assistance than that his salai-y was 

 raised in the second year of bis absence, to 400 florins. 



At Paris he met with the sculptor Scheffauer. and became a pupil of Pajou. 

 While in the French metropolis he devoted himself more to the study of na- 

 ture than that of the antique models. In 1785 he left Paris with ScbefTauer. 

 with whom he travelled to Rome, where he became known to the immortal 

 Canova, whose friendly instruction bad a very beneficial influence on the 

 youthful artist. It was here, too, that be made the .acquaintance of Go(>the 

 ami Ilenler, then residing there in order to become acquainted with thcstoros 

 of art whirh sere contained In the Papal capital. 



Whilst in Italy his excellent marble statues of Ceres and Bacchus first 

 raised him to a greater reputation, and caused the academics of Mil.an ami 

 Bologna to cho<.se him a member of their bodies. He sub.«eqiiently returned 

 to Stutgard, and was engaged for a long time modelling various subjects fur 

 Duke Carl. It w.is not till 1796 that be again began to work in marble, 

 when he executed his celebrated Sappho, the original of which is now at 

 Monrepos. After this and other ideal cflorts he turned his attention to the 

 taking of busts, and now it was that he took the likeness of Schiller before 

 alluded to. a colossal copy of whirh graced hii atelier. The then Crown 

 Prince of . Bavaria, now King Louis, rmploynl him in vanous work.s, among 

 which his bust of the celebrated composer Qluck is one of ihe most remark- 

 able, i'he performance by which he is most known to the English lover ol' 

 art is bis delicious Ariadne as the bride of Bacchus, borne on a panther, which 



is to be seen in the house of the banker Bcthman, of Frankfort. His Eros at 

 the moment that Psyche is pounng on his shoulder drops of burning oil, ac- 

 cording to the well-known Mj thus of Apuleius. is also a Ijeautiful piece of de- 

 sign. His best bust is supjxised to be that of the physiognomist Livater. 

 But the rliff-rl'ccurre of the artist is his statue of Christ, for the idea of which 

 hu is said to have been indebted to a nocturnal dream. The completion, 

 which took place in 1824, has cost him eight years of study and lalxiur. It 

 was then sent to the Empress Maria Feodorouna, of Russia, who afterwards 

 made a present of it to the Emperor Alexander. The successful manner in 

 which he succeeded in exhibiting Christ as the Mediator, and the divine ex- 

 pression w hich he imparted to the forehead of the statue, have often been ilie 

 theme of praise. Tliorw al.lsen, w ho saw the model in the artist's workshop, 

 expresseil his opinion that the desi,;n of representing the .Saviour as fully 

 clothed w ould be a failure ; undeterred by tliis, however. Dannecker main- 

 tained his original idea, deeming Ibis as the most fit manner of treating the 

 subject, and he succeeded in giving to the flowing drapery which envelopes 

 the form a degree of lightness and truth seldom w iinessed. 



Dannecker's style was formed principally on the antique. His composi- 

 tions are full of truth, life, and nature. His most distinguished pupil is Mar- 

 tin vor Wagner, Secretary to the Academy of the Fine [Arts, at Munich. 

 For some years he had ceased from all active employment, and had fallen 

 into a state of second childhood and oblivion. 



DR. BIRKBECK. 



WmLE recording the death of .Sir Francis Chantrey, we litll ■ expected to 

 have so soon to chronicle in our obituary, the name uf a professor of the use- 

 ful arts. In Dr. Birkbeck we have lost a man who has greatly contnbutetl 

 to the progress of education among working men. Although several indivi- 

 du.als preceded him in the attempt, Birkbeck must certainly be considered as 

 the founder of Mechanics' Institutions. 



William Birkbeck was a member of an opulent and respectable family of 

 the north of England, belonging we believe to the Society of Friends, but 

 whch they afterwards left. He was the son of a merchant and banker, and 

 bom at Settle in Yorkshire, in 1776. Having studied for the medical profes- 

 sion in the first instance at Leeds, he came to London and became a pupil of 

 Dr. Baillie, afterwards removing to Edinburgh to complete his education. At 

 that university he became the friend of Brougham, Jefl"rey, Horner and Scott, 

 and having distinguished himself by his attainments, he was appointed in his 

 22nd year Professor of Natural Philosophy, in the Andersonian Institution 

 of Glasgow. It was while fulfilling the duties of this appointment that Dr. 

 Birkbeck laid the foundation of the system of Mechanics' Institutions, and in 

 1822 be founded the Loudon Mechanics Institution, of which be w, as for 

 nearly twenty years the President, and which he aided both by his influence 

 and his purse. He did on Wednesilay the 1st of December, of a severe pro- 

 tracted illness, lamented ,and honoured by men of all parties and all ranks. 

 He was twice married anri has left behind him a widow and five children, 

 three sons and two daughters, one by the first, and four by the second wife. 

 As a physician he enjoye<l much reputation and considerable practice, but as 

 a philosopher and a mechanic his abilities were not less eminent. Dr. Birk- 

 Ijeck's mortal remains were interred in the General Cemetery at Kensal 

 Green, and were attended to the grave by the members of the Mechanics In- 

 stitution and many hundred people. 



MR. THOMAS STEVENSON'S IMPROVEMENTS ON LEVELLING 

 INSTRUMENTS, 



Sir — In last month's Journal I perused with interest Mr. Townsend's ob- 

 servations on my improvements on Levelling Instruments. His remarks are 

 in general judicious, but he appears to hav« mis.ipi reheiided the main object 

 which I had in view, and in some places h« bas entirely mistaken my mean- 

 ing. 



The rod is only 121 feet long, and not 23 feet is Mr. Townsend supposed, 

 and is divided as the old rodh used to be divided in Scotland, tn lOtlis, lOlltbi, 

 and either by vernier or appreciation to louuths. Tlic object aimed at by 

 me therefore was not to attain greater accuracy in the graduation of the slid- 

 ing vane rod, but simply to -iwe time in tb^ u>c of that intirument. " Kor," 

 (as Mr. Simins observes in bis excellent Treatise on ln>lriimcnl>), " it not 

 unfreqiicntly happened in using the old ita'cs that when by a succession of 

 signals the slalT bolder had nearly Imnigbt the wire of the vane to coincide 

 with that of the telesropr, he would i*i hi* attempt to jwrfect it, remove the 

 vane further from coinciiloiice than at (Uit,' To obvule thij defect, as I 

 formerly mentioned in my commanicalioD to the lastitution of Civil Engi- 



E 



