Goethe-Schiller Monument (Milwaukee)
| Goethe–Schiller Monument | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel |
| Year | 1908 |
| Type | bronze |
| Dimensions | 370 cm × 790 cm (144 in × 312 in) |
| Location | near 4500 W. Washington Blvd., Milwaukee |
| 43°03′10.33″N 87°58′12.26″W / 43.0528694°N 87.9700722°W | |
The Goethe–Schiller Monument is a public artwork by German artist Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel located in Washington Park, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The bronze sculpture from 1908 depicts two men, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller, one holding a laurel wreath and the other a scroll. The 12 foot artwork rests upon a 26 foot long granite base. The bronze sculpture is a recasting of the statue incorporated into the 1857 Goethe-Schiller Monument in Weimar, Germany.
The Goethe-Schiller Monument consists of two men standing side by side. One of the men, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe passes a laurel wreath to the younger man, Friedrich von Schiller, who holds a scroll in his proper left hand. Goethe is attired in a knee-length coat, a shirt with a ruffled collar, a vest and leggings. Schiller is attired in a mid-calf length coat, a vest and leggings. The sculpture stands atop a tiered granite base containing an exedra. The sculpture has three inscriptions. On the lowest left side of the sculpture it says: RIETSCHEL, ERNEST F. On the front of the plinth, in incised letters, it says: GOETHE SCHILLER. On the front of the base it says: GOETHE SCHILLER. The granite base contains three plaques. The plaque on the left side reads:
These are lines from Goethe’s Faust I.i, “That which you inherit from your fathers / You must earn in order to possess.”—Goethe’s Faust, trans. Randall Jarrell, p. 35 (1976).
The plaque on the right side reads:
These lines are from Schiller's Wallenstein: "Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing."
The plaque in the center reads:
The Goethe-Schiller Monument is administered by the Milwaukee County, Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller were both highly influential German poets, dramatists and writers that became friends in Weimar, Thuringia. The Germans that came to the United States after 1848, as well as the German thinkers who came after 1870, brought Goethe and Schiller's ideas with them.
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