Adolf Friedrich von Schack

Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack (2 August 1815-14 April 1894) was a German poet and historian of literature.

Background

He was born at Brüsewitz near Schwerin. Having studied jurisprudence (1834-1838) at the universities of Bonn, Heidelberg and Berlin, he entered the Mecklenburg state service and was subsequently attached to the Kammergericht in Berlin. Tiring of official work, he resigned his appointment, and after travelling in Italy, Egypt, and Spain, was attached to the court of the grand duke of Oldenburg, whom he accompanied on a journey to the East. On his return he entered the Oldenburg government service, and in 1849 was sent as envoy to Berlin. In 1852 he retired from his diplomatic post, resided for a while on his estates in Mecklenburg and then travelled in Spain, where he studied Moorish history.

In 1855, he settled at Munich, where he was made member of the academy of sciences, and here collected a splendid gallery of pictures, containing masterpieces of Bonaventura Genelli, Anselm Feuerbach, Moritz von Schwind, Arnold Böcklin, Franz von Lenbach, etc., and which, though bequeathed by him to the Emperor William II, still remains at Munich and is one of the noted galleries in that city. He died at Rome in April 1894.

Works

Novels and Poems

Lyric poems

"Gedichte" (1867, 6th ed., 1888).

Novels in Verse

"Durch alle Wetter" (1870, 3rd ed., 1875) and "Ebenbürtig" (1876).

Dramatic Poems

"Helidor" (1878).

Tragedies

"Die Pisaner" (1872) and "Walpurga and Der Johanniter" (1887).

Political Comedies

"Der Kaiserbote" and "Cancan" (1873).

Other Aspects

Art and Literature History

"Geschichte der dramatischen Literatur and Kunst in Spanien" (3 vols. 1845-1846, 2nd ed. 1854), "Poesie and Kunst der Araber in Spanien and Sicilien" (1865, 2nd ed. 1877), which are valuable contributions to literary history.

Translations

"Spanisches Theater" (1845), "Heldensagen des Firdusi" (1851) and "Stimmen vom Ganges" (1857, 2nd ed. 1877).

Catalogue and History of Personal Picture Gallery

"Meine Gemaldesammlung" (7th ed., 1894).

Collected Works

"Gesammelte Werke", were published in six volumes (1883, 3rd ed. in to vols. 1897-1899). "Nachgelassene Dichtungen" were edited by G. Winkler (1896).

Other Information

See his autobiography, "Ein halbes Jahrhundert, Erinnerungen and Aufzeichnungen" (3 vols. 1887, 3rd ed. 1894). Cf. further the accounts of Schack by F. W. Rogge (1883), E. Zabel (1885), E. Brenning (1885), W. J. Mannsen (from the Dutch, 1889), and also L. Berg, "Zwischen zwei Jahrhunderten" (1896).

References

*1911

Persondata
NAME=Schack, Adolf Friedrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Count Schack;Graf Schack;Adolf Graf von Schack
SHORT DESCRIPTION=German poet and historian of literature
DATE OF BIRTH=2 August 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH=Brüsewitz near Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH=14 April 1894
PLACE OF DEATH=Rome