Vita and Opus

1821

Since 1821 Johannes Schilling’s father Julius Schilling worked as a company officer, authorised to sign, for Gottlob and Traugott Dietze, Mittweida. Together with his wife Anna Schilling he lived in Rochlitzer St. 9.

1828

On 23 June Johannes was born, the fifth and youngest child in the family. On 6 July he was christened by the deacon in the Lutheran church of Mittweida. He grew up with his sister Marie, three years his senior.

1829

The family moved to Dresden, because Julius Schilling became a managing director in the Dresden Gasworks.

1834-1842

He attended Böttcher’s Private School in Dresden.

1842-1850

Student at the Royal Saxon Academy of Arts, Dresden. In 1845 he changed from the drawing class to the modelling class of Ernst Rietschel.

1851-1852

Studies in the studios of F. Drake and C. D. Rauchs in Berlin.

1851

Trip to Copenhagen: visit of the Thorvaldsen-Museum.

1852

Return to Dresden.

1853

Started to assist in the studio of E. J. Hähnel in Dresden.

1854

After completing his studies in Hähnel’s and Reise’s studios, he went on a trip to Rome. In Munich he met F. Pecht and M. von Schwindt.

1855

The Dresden Acadamy of Arts granted him a scholarship to study in Rome. In Rome friendship with A. Wittig and H. Wislicenus.

1856

Opening of his studio in Dresden.

1857

Marriage to his childhood friend Louise Isidora Arnold.

1858

Birth of his eldest daughter, Katharina Susanna.

1859

Birth of his eldest son, Georg Rudolf Schilling, later architect (Schilling-Museum) and government building officer in Dresden.

1860

Schilling won the competition held for sculptures on the terrace in Dresden. In 1871 “The Four Times of Day” group was set up on Brühl’s Terrace.

1862

Birth of his second daughter, Anna Sophie.

1864

Birth of his third daughter, Clara Elisabeth, whose facial features he had in mind when he made “Germania”. King Johann of Saxony made Schilling an honorary member of the Royal Saxon Academy of Arts.

1868

Winner of the competition held for a monument in memory of Emst Rietschel (inaugurated 1876). Appointment as Professor and director of sculpture at the Dresden Academy of Arts.

1870

Winner of the competition held for the monument in memory of the Emperor Maximilian (inaugurated 1876) in Triest and the Schiller-Monument in Vienna (inaugurated 1875).

1871

Commission for the Panther Quadriga on Semper’s second Court Theatre (inaugurated 1877).

1872

Winner of the competition held for the monument in memory of the soldiers of Hamburg who were killed in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 (inaugurated 1877).

1872-1874

Participant in the competition held for the Niederwalddenkmal. Schilling’s third design was accepted.

23.6.1877

He was awarded an honorary citizenship by the city of Mittweida.

1879

By his offer to build the “Germania” figure ten metres in height without extra charge Schilling got in financial trouble.

1880

Schilling’s wife Louise Isidora died. In deep mourning he made the bust of his wife. Schilling made portrait busts of his children.

1881

Because of his financial problems he accepted a commission for fourteen statues of scholars in Strasbourg University (put in place in 1884).

1882

The Emperor Wilhelm I visits Schillings’s studio in Dresden.

3.9.1883

Inauguration of the Niederwalddenkmal in Rüdesheim am Rhein.

The German Emperor gave a present of 30,000 Mark. With this money they started to build the Schilling-Museum in Dresden.

He was awarded an honorary citizenship by the City of Dresden.

18.10.1883

A torchlight procession of the Dresden Arts Association, students and citizens of Dresden in honour of Schilling.

Inauguration of the Monument to the memory of the Reformation in Leipzig.

1888

Tomb monument in memory of Richard Hartmann in Chemnitz. Inauguration of the Schilling Museum in Dresden. Marriage to Minna Auguste Natalie Neubert.

1889

The inauguration of the King Johann Monument on the theatre square in Dresden is the climax of the celebration of the 800^th anniversary of the House of Wettin.

1892

Inauguration of a monument in memory of Gottfried Semper in Dresden.

1893

Erection of the tympanum above the entrance of the “Kunstausstellungsgebäude” (exhibition building) in Dresden.

1894

Birth oh his second son, Heinrich.

1895

The four statues, Research, Truth, Love and Justice in the Reichstag building in Berlin.

1898

Three large female Art Nouveau statues were made. The Danaide is shown at the Great Exhibition in Berlin. - 23 June: His native town Mittweida sends congratulations on Schilling’s seventieth birthday.

1899

Working in polychrome and polymorphous statue.

1900-1901

He builds his own house in Dresden-Klotzsche.

1903

Inauguration of the Wilhelm I Monument in Hamburg.

1906

Publication of his book "Künstlerische Sehstudien", a critical summary of Schilling’s studies of the artist’s way of seeing, that had kept him busy over decades. Exploration of the limits and possibilities of photography. Retirement.

23.3.1910

Johannes Schillings dies of a stroke in his house in Dresden-Klotzsche. Burial in Dresden, later the coffin was transferred to the Schilling family vault in Meissen-Zscheila.