Hopfgarten, Emil Alexander

Sculptor

born: 08.04.1821 in Berlin

died: 12.09.1856 in Biebrich

The son of a Berlin ore caster, Hopfgarten studied sculpture at the Berlin Academy of Arts and in Ludwig Wichmann's studio. As a freelance artist, he moved to Italy in 1840 and returned to Berlin in 1844, having gained lasting impressions of Rome, Naples and Florence.

In 1848, the Nassau regent engaged Hopfgarten, whereupon he set up his studio in the Mosburg in Biebrich. In the same year, he was commissioned to create a tomb for the Russian Grand Duchess and Duchess Elisabeth of Nassau, the young deceased wife of the Duke of Nassau. He found a contemporary model in Christian Daniel Rauch's much-praised monument to Queen Luise.

Hopfgarten's masterpiece immortalizes the 19-year-old deceased in white, Carrarian marble without any attribute of sovereignty. The artistic intention was aimed at an apotheosis of earthly love - personified by Eros. The sculptural ornamentation subtly adheres to symmetry and balance. The connection between the storage place and the cenotaph refers to Lessing's credo that death and sleep are twins.

Hopfgarten pursued his second major project, the semi-circular cycle of figures of the colossal statues of Christ and the Evangelists in the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden, which was under construction at the time, with equal ambition and aplomb. He was inspired by a current model that he had developed further on his own, the figure of Christ as conceived by Bertel Thorwaldsen for the Frauenkirche in Copenhagen. Hopfgarten died while working on this ensemble. His pupil Scipione Jardella completed the monumental work until its installation in the choir in 1892. Hopfgarten was also involved in the design of the high altar in St. Boniface. A model of the Loreley dates from the year of his death, and there were also ideas for a mighty equestrian statue of King Adolf zu Nassau and a monument to the Greek freedom hero Ypsilanti.

Hopfgarten found his final resting place in Biebrich cemetery.