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Wredow, August (Julius)
(b Brandenburg an der Havel, 5 June 1804; d Berlin, 21 Jan 1891). German sculptor. He studied under the sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch from November 1823 and at the Akademie in Berlin under Johann Gottfried Schadow. Among his early sculptures are Anatomy (ex-Berlin, Akad. Kst.; destr.) and the Wounded Philoctetes. In 1827 he moved to Rome where he was in close contact with the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and achieved recognition with his statue of Ganymede as a Shepherd Boy (marble, 182830; Potsdam, Schloss Charlottenhof). This nude figure combines classical austerity with the more sentimental and naturalistic approach derived from the Berlin tradition of sculpture; with its soft flesh tints and supple structure, it effectively humanized the accepted sculptural style. Wredows approach was similar in Paris Arming Himself for Battle (marble, c. 18334) and in Praying Boy (18312; both Potsdam, Orangerie) and other classical figures. During the preparation of these works he spent most of his time in Italy (Carrara and Rome) and stayed there until he settled permanently in Berlin in 1841. When Wredows design for a cycle on the theme of the wars of 181315 against Napoleon was rejected in 1842, he joined other sculptors of the Rauch school to work on one of the eight groups for Karl Friedrich Schinkels Schlossbrücke. Wredows contribution, not completed until 1857, shows Iris Carrying the Fallen Warrior up to Olympus (marble; in situ).
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