DANNECKER, JOHANN HEINRICH, a celebrated modern sculptor, was born at Stuttgart, October 15, 1758, of parents in humble circumstances. While still an infant, he exhibited a love for imitative art in delineations of men and flowers, traced on a scrap of paper, or on a smooth stone. In 1771, he was by the duke entered as a pupil in the school at Ludwigsburg, for the children of the retainers of the court of Württemberg, where his talents were speedily developed; and he gained the prize for a model of Milo destroyed by the Lion, which led the way to his appointment as sculptor to the duke, with a salary of 800 florins. In 1781 he was sent to Paris, and studied in the school of Pajon for four years. He then accompanied Scheffauer to Rome, where he enjoyed the friendship of Canova, Herder,
and Göthe. He remained at Rome until the troubles of Italy in 1790, and there executed his first works in marble. These chiefly consist of busts, in which he has been excelled by none of his contemporaries: but his Bacchus and Ceres, now at Stuttgart, his Ariadne reclining on a leopard, and several of his other groups and statues, proclaim him a master in the highest walks of sculpture. His colossal bust of Schiller, the busts of Lavater and of Glück, as well as of several princes of the family of Württemberg, are considered among his finest works. He was appointed, soon after his return home, professor of sculpture in the academy of Württemberg; where he died December 8, 1841. (T.S.T.)