GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER'S WORKS - MARTIN LUTHER STATUE - HANNOVER

Martin Luther by Carl Dopmeyer

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Hermann Wilhelm Boedeker by Carl Dopmeyer

Ámong Carl Dopmeyer's most famous works is the heroic statue of Martin Luther standing on the Southside of the Tower of the Marktkirche, Hannover. This Market Church of St.George and St. Jacob stands on the Market Square and its 97 Metres high Tower is a city landmark. The church dates from Catholic times, having been opened around 1336. The Square in front of the church saw the gathering held to inaugurate the new religion of Luther in 1533, and in 1536 the church was taken from the Catholic Church and made a Lutheran church.

One does not have to be an art critic to appreciate the power of this piece. It is heroic in every sense except the subject matter. It is a propaganda work, bearing no resemblance to the real ex Priest Martin Luther. But in Germany Martin Luther of popular myth has nothing to do with the reality of the man. It was Adolph Hitler, the Fuhrer himself who said :

"I do insist on the certainty that sooner or later - once we hold power - Christianity will be overcome and the German Church, without a Pope and without the Bible, and Luther if he could be with us, would give us his blessing."

Why was the Fuhrer so enamoured of Martin Luther? They shared three things in common :

.  a consuming hatred for the Catholic Church. 
.  a  consuming hatred for Jews.
.  an intense devotion to the German nation.

SO MUCH INFORMATION

It has been quite a while since my Great Great Grandson has had more information about my life and works to place before you.

However, thanks to the keen interest of his wife Robyn seen below, an amount of information amazing and surprising to them both has come to light. I am glad that you will be able to see what  I dedicated my life to, more fully.

                                                             Robyn Barbara Dixon

Firstly it would be good to get my full name on the record: I was baptised Carl Julius Christoph Eberhard Dopmeier, and I married Johanne Margarethe Streidt.Our daughter Ernestine Johanne. Margarethe Dopmeier was born in 1854. She, in turn, married Conrad Ludwig Beckmann and they are the Great Grandparents of my Great Great Grandson.

My GGGrandson is assuming that Dopmeier and Dopmeyer are simply alternative spellings.

But now, he is insisting on telling you more about me because he has formed the very clear opinion that I was a very important artist in my time.

I was born as you already know, on 24th October 1824 and by age 14 years in 1838, I was training with the Sculptor August Hengst in Hannover. and I later moved on to train under the sculptors Professor Schonlaub, and Hauser in Munich. From 1851 -1856 I studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich funded by a grant from the King of Hannover. In 1856 I returned to Hannover to work as a sculptor, becoming a Member of the Association of Artists and in due course in 1888, I was awarded the title of Professor by the Kaiser Wilhelm I.

I was fortunate in forming a good association with the prominent and successful architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase and we developed a very close collaboration. In fact my house and studio at No.7 St.Andrew Street, Springe adjoined the home of Hase at No.8 "Hasenburg". Both properties were built in 1860-1861 to designs by Hase. Over the years I completed a vast number of statues, reliefs, Altars and church furnishings and Pulpits for Hase projects.

Here is a link to a list (in German) of all of my main works:  

http://www.glass-portal.privat.t-online.de/hs/a-f/dopmeyer_carl.htm

You will note numerous Lutheran churches, Royal Castles and the fact that from 1880 to 1883 I was working at Wernigerode Schloss on the Reliefs, Altar, Pulpit etc. we have already dealt with in this Blog.

It is a sizeable body of work which received good and favourable recognition in its own time.

                                                  LANDESMUSEUM HANNOVER


My GG Grandson has found that upon my death in 1899, a Commemorative Exhibition was held in Hannover in 1900. The following year the works remaining in my studio were auctioned in Hannover. And after 1902, some of my works in the new Provincial Museum (Landesmuseum) have been shown as permanent exhibits and may still remain there.

My GGGrandson has concluded from all of the foregoing that it must have been my connections that facilitated for him the obtaining of the commission to paint the grand murals in the Banqueting Hall at Schloss Wernigerode. This work was carried out in the wake of the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf of Chancellor Bismarck from 1871 to 1878 and the murals depict the Duke's reception of Lutheran teachers and depriving of the Catholics of their ancient Monastery and their efforts to regain it which ultimately failed.

                                        MY GREAT GREAT GRANDSON TONY DIXON

AN INVITATION

The glasses alone, give it away.

To all my readers at:

http://vexilla-regis.blogspot.com/

http://portafidei.blogspot.com/

http://butnought.blogspot.com/

http://edwardbeckmann.blogspot.com/

http://conradbeckmann.blogspot.com/

http://carldopmeyer.blogspot.com/

THANK YOU FOR READING, AND, if you choose to read another of my Blogs than your regular one, I would be very happy.

If you chose to “FOLLOW” any one of them via Networked Blogs or Google I would be delighted!

God Bless you, all!

MY WORKS AT SCHLOSS WERNIGERODE

Schloss Wernigerode seen from the main entrance high above the town.

Two years ago to-day, on 6th September, 2009, my Great Great Grandson and his wife arrived in Hannover Germany, travelling by train from Wernigerode, trying to expand knowledge of his German ancestry. It was here in Hannover that I met my Son-in-Law Conrad Beckmann – who married my poor daughter Ernestine who was to die after a very long illness and great suffering from an internal growth.

Both Conrad Beckmann and I worked on commissions from Count Otto Von Stolberg to enhance Schloss Wernigerode. For my part, I carved the Altar and Pulpit in the Chapel in marble and friezes around the inner courtyard at first and second floor levels, in wood. The commission was, therefore, a varied one, and of great interest, and I believe most folk find the works quite pleasing, as did the Count. My G.G. Grandson found it quite interesting that the altar is designed after a medieval French style, and, if it were not for the lack of an operating Tabernacle and the absence of the Corpus (or figure of Christ) on the Cross, and the disproportionate size of the Pulpit in relation to the Altar, says it would perfectly conform with Catholic practice.

The Altar

The Altar  almost Catholic but....



The Altar is modest in size, but sound in proportion to the Chapel as a whole, save for the Christless cross which is somewhat over – large. The whole composition is rather pleasing particularly at floor level, as opposed to gallery level.

The Pulpit

The Super-sized Pulpit

The Pulpit is well- proportioned in itself and, carved in its upper section are four deep relief panels depicting : King David, Saint John, Mosesand Christin Majesty receiving a symbolic Church at the hands of a child. The Pulpit is enormous in contrast to the Altar, and to the Chapel as a whole, reflecting a very Protestant emphasis on preaching, and without regard for the sacrifice of the Mass, or in this case, aesthetic effect.

The Pulpit overwhelms the Altar and the Chapel in typical Protestant fashion, struggling to emphasise the Word at the expense of the Sacrifice (had the Lutherans had valid Orders - which they do not.

CHRIST IN MAJESTY

SAINT JOHN

MOSES

KING DAVID

WOOD CARVED FRIEZES IN THE INNER COURTYARD

The Friezes I carved at the first and second floor levels of the inner courtyard are, in parts highly decorative and interspersed at regular intervals with profile heads of people in period costume. My GGGrandson has as yet been unable to find out their identities. Here are some photographs which illustrate my work in this part of the commission:



It was there, in Wernigerode that my G.G.Grandson first learnt of my Christian name, and of my art, whilst at the same time, with the delightful Frau Eva Hasert drawing these things to his attention, he was also shown my signed photo portrait. I believe he would say he was “overwhelmed” at such a huge and detailed leap in knowledge of his ancestry - so much so that his wife Robyn had to underline the fact that they had "discovered" his Great Great Great Grandfather!

My GGGrandson

My GGGrandson's lovely wife Robyn who took the better ones of these photos with her Lumix Camera

Your humble servant and artist for to-day.

It was a very happy day in a very beautiful place. It is nice to get to know one's descendants.