London, Lisbon, Athens, Italy,
Switzerland, Austria (briefly), Germany
5 April - 15 May 2023

Itinerary

Itinerary

It's a sign of good writing, (social) scientific or otherwise, to give the reader a short summary of what to expect right at the beginning. (Remember "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . ." --Dickens -- ?) So, here is what you can expect when (if) you continue in this blog.

• This is a travelblog. While some of the pictures may approach being artistic - whether by skill or just dumb luck - the photos included here basically are little more than snapshots.
• The 'signature' Angel-type in my travels and photo collections is the Thanatos Angel, so you will see various images of an Angel - sometimes without wings - with a downturned torch and perhaps also a wreath, usually in a mourning pose or attitude.
• I've included some grave inscriptions and other photos which, to the American eye, are humourous, even though the Europeans who live with them every day would not likely find them amusing, and in some cases might even be offended that a guest in their land like me would make fun of them. To anyone so inclined, I apologise in advance, but in some cases (as you will see) I just can't help myself. Funny is funny to those who find it funny. For the deceased involved in any of this frivolity, I offer a sincere Requiescat in Pace.
• Photographic grave sculptures - funerary art - especially images of Angels, is the raison d'être for this whole trip, and is basically all I did other than eat a couple of meals each day and sleep at night - and ride trains, trams, buses and taxis from one place to another - for six weeks! The grave sculptures that I've included in this blog are not representative of the hundreds of pictures I took, many of which I've uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for the world to contemplate. The sculptures shown below are included because of some intrinsic interest or oddity apart from their 'membership' in my overall project of collecting funerary art. I'll try to explain that as I go along.

London, 6-9 April

The Radha Krishna Temple just off Oxford Street near Soho Square Gardens has this mini-sculpture in the window. It's sort of a time-lapse, circle-of-life version of the famous drawing that shows simians, followed by cave men, then modern man. (Extensions and spoofs show further evolution, including a humanoid robot, or a man hunched over a computer terminal). I find this progression interesting because it depicts death at the right-hand side, immediately followed by a new-born baby to complete the cycle, a reference to what I would call reincarnation. The text in the lower middle of the diorama confirms this idea.

The new cemetery and churchyard adjacent to St John's Hampstead is a pretty standard - I might say boring - burial ground, except for the touching tribute of the Hammersley family to their daughter Eve Mary, who died in 1902 at age 11. The Angel, gently kissing the girl's head to comfort her - and her grieving family - was sculpted by John Henry Monsell Furse (1860-1950).

Lisboa [Lisbon], 9-11 April

This monument, raised in 1902 to commemorate Alfonso de Albuquerque, was on my list of sculptures to find and photograph in Lisbon, because of the Angel figures on the base. (Sculptor: António Augusto da Costa Motta [Tio] [1862-1930]) It turns out that it was just a few hundred yards from the hotel I had booked.

Lisbon's main cemetery is the Prazeres, and one of its most important artworks is this monument to Antonio Augusto de Aguiar (1838-1887) by sculptor J.P. Lima Santos (birth/death dates unknown). It is doubly interesting to me: First because the Angel at the top is the virtual twin brother of the Angel atop the Palacios Alvarado Family tomb in Quito, Ecuador - some 8200 km away, and on a different continent!
(In case this comparison is also interesting to you, please visit
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angel_Cementerio_San_Diego_tumba_Palacios_Alvarado.jpg
where you can judge for yourself. Remember that both of these Angels were sculpted by [different] artists before 1905, when travel between continents was extremely difficult, which makes the similarity of sculptures all the more interesting.)

The second point of interest has to do with the little Angel at the lower right of the monument. The next photo offers a closer view.

On close examination, one notices something sticking out of this little guy's chest. It could be some larger 'feature' of the sculpture that has broken off in the 130 or so years it's been around, or it could be something significant as‑is. What it is not - I feel sure - is a mistake. Artists don't make mistakes, especially in sculpture; however, I have no theory as to what this is, or was. Perhaps it's my lack of experience with sculpture or Angel-ology - I'm certainly no art historian. This one remains a mystery.

Αθηνα [Athens], 11-14 April

As I've noted in other blogs, not all 'residents' of cemeteries are deceased. That goes for this one too, the First Cemetery of Athens, or Πρωτο Νεκροταφειο Αθηνων. (I include Greek text, well, because I can!)

You don't see this very often, though I've seen it in South America as well as various places here in Europe - the sculptor is blatantly advertising on this grave site. (The sign translates as, "MADE [by] G.I. KARYSTINAIOS, TEL.[EPHONE] 9220559.) My question is, in 100 years, what good will this do him?

Mourning Spirit [Πενθουν πνευμα], made by Ioannis Bitsaris (1843-1892) in 1872 for the Koumeli family, is important enough as artwork that a plaster cast of it is displayed in the National Gallery in Athens. Apparently, it has been restored recently. To me, it looks virtually new, despite the fact that it has been in this location for over 150 years.

This strikes me as quite unusual - a mourning angel not with a downturned torch or flowers or a wreath, but with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Layers of meaning, apparently. The sculpture is by Nikos Stergiou (1888-1919). The inscription identifies the families for which the tomb was made.

The function of this Angel is somewhat ambiguous, in my view. Is he - or she - a Guardian, or a Guiding Angel about to show the young man the way to Heaven? Either way, the young man, depicted very much alive here, is a schoolboy named Antonakis. Tributes from his pals and his family are inscribed below his feet, in French and Greek. The sculptor was Demosthenes Papagiannis (1890-1945), who made the monument in 1924.

One of the 'prestige' monuments around the court at the cemetery's main entrance is this tomb for Georgios Averoff (1815-1899). The sculptor's signature, along with his city and the date he made the statue (1904) is on the base under the great man's chair.

The views around town are not your average mini-malls nor playgrounds.

Milano [transit stopover only], 14 April

(nothing in the airport nor hotel was worth photographing)

Roma [Rome], 15-19 April

I revisited Rome's Protestant Cemetery (Cimitero Acattolico, literally the Non-Catholic Cemetery) to photograph this Angel for myself, perhaps the most often-copied cemetery sculpture in the world. It is certainly one of the top three, the other two being Monteverdi's Oneto Angel (Genova Staglieno) and Pampaloni's Bimbo inghinocchiato orante (Genova Nervi Galleria d'Arte Moderna). William Wetmore Story (1819-1895) sculpted his Angel of Grief as a memorial for his beloved wife, Emelyn (1820-1895) just months before he died in the same year; both are buried at this spot.

Abutting the Acattolico is the ancient tomb of Gaius Cestius (Piramide di Caio Cestio) which has stood on this site since a decade or so before the birth of Christ. This kind of longevity simply astounds me, having grown up in a country where the oldest buildings are only a few hundred years old. By comparison to the Piramide, the Porta San Paolo (at the right) dates only (!) from the III century CE. As an old friend from the '70s used to say, "Nutt-n' but a baby!"

If at first glance you thought this was the Colosseum, you would be wrong, but the mistake would be understandable. This is the Teatro Marcello, built at roughly the same time as Cestius's Piramide (see above). Construction of the Colosseum was begun several decades later, and architectural styles had not changed that much in the interim!

Speaking of the Colosseum, it - or what's left of it! - can be seen in this view from the SouthEast balcony of the Vittoriano Monument in central Rome. The ancient Forum is somewhat to the right of this view.

[To see the photographs above, you may have to scroll to the right and/or enlarge your browser.]
Since photographing this Bernini sculpture on my first visit to Rome in 2005, I have run into references time and time again as to just how important this work was to Renaissance art. This Ecstasy of St Teresa (1647-1652) is the centrepiece of the Cornaro Family chapel in this relatively small church, the Basilica of Santa Maria della Vittoria. At the sides of the chapel, shown here in slightly detached photos, members of the Cornaro family seem to watch the spiritual scene from theatre box seats. In my view, no photograph could do justice to this entire tableau without the distortion of a wide-angle lens. It's too narrow and angular. It's one of those things you just have to go and see for yourself. (BTW, the golden rays spreading out from the top are illuminated by natural light coming through a strategically-placed skylight in the ceiling, a 'feature' that I was not aware of before this trip.)

This monumental bronze - and here I mean large, as well as being a grave monument; I'd guess it's the better part of 12 feet from nose to toes - caught my eye because it looks like some of the later, heroic works by Luigi Brizzolara in São Paulo, Brasil (Machado Family, 1921) and Lavagna, Italy (Parma grave, 1928). It was made by Enrico Tadolini (1884-1967) to memorialise Arrigo Saltini dei Remingardi, who, according to the inscription under the sculpture, was a 'tenente pilota - aviatore' (pilot lieutenant - aviator) who died at age 23 in 1918, 'caduto per la patria' (fallen for his country) in World War I.

I place this graceful statue in the category of "androgynous angels", combining female and male characteristics during a period of transition from the XIXth century (and earlier), when virtually all sculptural Angels were assumed to be male, to the XXth century and beyond, when Angels became decidedly female in appearance. This graceful work stands over the grave of Ettore Ponteggi (1874-1907) and family.

This Angel, sculpted for the grave of Maria Russo, who died in 1876, probably should be considered male because it was made some 30 years before the Ponteggi Angel just above, at a time when virtually all sculptural Angels were male. Here the Angel either is comforting the youngster, or preparing to take her to Heaven. Note that the young deceased person is attended by an only slightly older-looking Angel. Age-matching is common in Angel-human depictions such as this.

Near-exact copies of this Angel statue crop up everywhere. I first saw two of them in the Pragfriedhof in Stuttgart, then this one and another one later (see below) in the Friedhof Hörnli in Basel, Switzerland. This is the grave of Alfredo Santini (1875-1922) and family.

Sculptor Cesare Fossi dedicated this sarcophagus to his mother in 1924.

Adriano Schiavetti (1914-1923) seems unaware that this Guiding Angel has come to take him to his new home.

Elsewhere in this blog I noted that sculptors don't make mistakes - but engravers do. Here we find a completely impossible Roman Numeral: MDCCCLXL . I don't see any way around it. This is an eternal mistake.

Genova [Genoa], 19-22 April

Piazza Ferrari, Genova. Ironically, there are no cars (of any brand) around the fountain.

Down the road (XX Settembre) from the Piazza Ferrari is this allegory made by Arnaldo Fazzi (1855-1944) around 1910. On the left is teenage hero Ballila (born Giovan Battista Perasso), who, according to local legend, started the 1746 revolt against the Habsburgs when they invaded Genova during the War of Austrian Succession. On the right is Mercury, the Roman god of Commerce, certainly the patron deity of this part of town.

The view from my hotel room is a popular feature of my travel blogs - at least, I like it! I've stayed in this hotel in the corner room with this view at least three times, and the Piazza Principe never looked so good. It's obviously had one of its periodic 'cleanings' recently, and it seems they're still working on the railway station façade at the right. That's Christopher Columbus at the left, another local hero.

This graffito is based on the theory that COVID-19 was transmitted to humans from bats. Like much graffiti, this is pretty inventive art, IMHO.

On the other hand, this graffito - in English in an Italian city, I hasten to point out - seems completely inscrutable to me. Am I missing an obvious pun or metaphor here?

I went to Staglieno to see the finished restorations of two cippi - funeral stones with bas-relief sculptures - recently done by local restoration artisans. While there, I visited many other areas of the huge necropolis, including the Porticato Superiore a Ponente. There, I saw this curious 'hole' in the back of an Angel sculpture by Giovanni Battista Cevasco (1817-1891), sculptor of many of the monuments at Staglieno. It wasn't until days later that I realised this is where his right wing used to be.

Practical features in a XIXth century cemetery often are most welcome. I've commented before that this 'waystation' probably dates to the turn of the century - and the water is still running.

Here are some more relics of the XIXth or early XXth century, forbidding smoking and spitting. Very old - and not well maintained - stations in the New York Subway system, seen on my first visit there in the late 1960s, also had 'vintage' signs forbidding spitting. I thought at first they were attempts to make patrons more polite, but now I think the anti-spitting provisions were public health measures taken during the time of the Influenza pandemic (c.1918).

Firenze [Florence], 22-25 April

Turn a corner on a narrow street in Firenze (Florence), and suddenly a sight like this dominates your view. That dome, Brunelleschi's masterwork, was completed in 1436 and is still the largest masonry vault in the world.

The Duomo (Cathedral) is the physical, as well as spiritual, centre of the city, and they keep it in pretty good shape.

On the Sunday I was in Firenze, I walked from my hotel down along the Arno, on my way to see my local art-historian friend at the small church where she assists the priest with Mass each week. I paused to snap this touristy view of the Ponte alla Carraia, a view to the West. (An Internet search offers several other views from this same vantage point which are far superior to mine; at least I can say I have good taste in vantage points.)

I would have had some of Sophia Loren's favourite food - pasta - here, but they weren't serving meals until dinner time, and it was only mid-day. I wasn't in the mood for just pizza and sodas.

The building above La Loren's restaurant has some interesting detail. Lotsa buildings in this Renaissance-inspired city have interesting features.

How do I explain this? Or, more to the point, Do I explain this? Suffice to say that if this bus, with this destination, were travelling around Tijuana or Mexicali, or even extreme Southern California, it would raise some eyebrows, and may well offend some people. It isn't completely clear to me what this place name means in Italian, but one online dictionary indicates 'verga' is the word used for the sceptre held by the pope ('verga papale'). 'Viale' means street or avenue or boulevard.

More inscrutable graffiti. Note, again, how it's English in an Italian city. Note also the little yellow cat commenting at the bottom. What's the meaning? The artist's motivation? The purpose?

Lucca, day trip 22 April

PBS travel guru Rick Steves is absolutely right about Lucca being a fascinating place, not least because of the strong, ancient wall that still encircles the entire central city, with gates like the Porta San Donato seen here.

The wall and its charming environs continue to the left of Porta San Donato. (In these pictures, we are on the outside, looking in, as it were.)

Basel, 25-28 April

In front of the Swiss railway station in Basel, Switzerland, is a beloved and well-maintained Denkmal (monument/memorial) for the assistance the Swiss gave to the civilians of Strasbourg (then a Prussian city, roughly 140 km or 80 miles North of Basel) during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871. The detailed sculpture was created by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904), who also created La Liberté éclairant le monde, better known (to Americans) as the Statue of Liberty.

In my constant obsession with double-entendres (in any language), juxtapositions like this are like candy. Imagine this as an amalgam of English and Yiddish, and you have something way more interesting that plain German. (In fairness, I must tell you this is a simple watch and jewelry store.)

Way back in Rome's Campo Verano Cemetery (above, this blog) I mentioned that the Angel on the Santini grave (c.1924) had a virtual twin in Basel's Friedhof Hörnli. Here he is, on the grave of architect Gino Zabotto-Nyfeler (1917-2003). My guess is that the statue was repurposed from another grave somewhere in the world, not created just for this grave.

Basel's massive Friedhof Hörnli is relatively modern, and very - very - well-manicured.

Schaffhausen, day trip 26 April

Since my first visit to Yosemite National Park when I was 7 (in the middle of the last century), I've been fascinated with waterfalls. I've made a point to travel to some of the world's biggest, in Africa and South America, for example. Coming upon one unexpectedly, then, is a special treat.

The train from Basel to Schaffhausen offers these picturesque views of the Rheinfall, small (by comparison to Niagara, for example) yet fascinating for its stubborn rock 'island' in the middle.

Many cemeteries have sculptures like this that defy the 'rules' of gloom and doom. This sculpture on the graves of Bachmann (d.2001) and Amsler (d.2003) welcomes you into his world at the Waldfriedhof Schaffhausen with a friendly, "Hi, there!" or, perhaps, "Hallo dort!"

Almost . . . Unfortunately, the second name doesn't fit the song quite right.

I don't know what to say about this strangeness. There is no inscription that I could see, so I don't know if it's a grave marker, a mistake of some sort, or a joke. But then, it's not for me to judge.

Innsbruck, day trip 28 April

I went to Innsbruck and put up with the hordes of tourists just to see, and photograph, this unique grave sculpture. It appears to be a kleiner Engel playing with his shoe. I continue to believe there is always some meaning to grave sculptures, however obscure or symbolic or personal that might be. This one escapes me, though it does sort of relate to some well-known sculptures that depict mythological figures adjusting their sandals. (Why, I don't know; what it means, is beyond my ken.) There is one a bit later in this marathon journey which I'll point out when we get there.

München [Munich], 28 April - 2 May

Munich's Alter Nordfriedhof (Old North Cemetery) is pretty typical of German city burial grounds. Many people come here to stroll and rest. I can understand why.

These are perhaps the tiniest Thanatos Angels I've seen yet.

Internet sources list this as a "private" war memorial (Gefallenen-Denkmal). I think what that means is that an individual family had it built as a memorial to their own members who didn't come back. The relief here was sculpted by a sort of Thanatos Angel specialist, Heinrich Waderé (1865-1950) and is in the 'other' Nordfriedhof in Munich, sometimes called Neuer [New] Nordfriedhof.

The Freytag mausoleum at Nordfriedhof is a large, long room with an open front. The inscription walls and Angel are deep inside, under a golden apse.

This ultra-modern sculpture is in a quite unusual setting - not a museum, but an otherwise traditional Catholic church adjacent to the Nordfriedhof. It is titled Vom Traum, alles hinter sich zu lassen [The dream of leaving everything behind] (2016), and is by Andreas Kuhnlein (born 1953).

Well, what do you want from me. I can't resist. I repeat: no disrespect to either the deceased, their name, nor their relatives. I'm exploiting the difference between our cultures for a little smile. Sorry. RIP.

And again. Is it Anny Wunder that I'm so mixed up when the Universe keeps putting puns like this in front of me?

As if the previous wasn't enough of a stretch, this probably takes the cake. Get ready. I'm going to share with you the caption I added when I sent this off to a friend in eMail: 'His friends called him Dick.' OK, I see it - I've gone too far. I'll try to make up for it soon.

One more jab at the German language, and this one is fairly pleading with us to make fun. It's just a good thing for us hicks to have the English along with the German, to remind us that their expressions aren't really rude, they just look like it.

This is a jab not at the language, but at German advertising. These grinning travelers are telling us that the Rail&Fresh WCs in the Bahnhofs (railway stations) are "Sparkling clean, friendly and refreshing." What's weird is that this advertising poster is inside the facility, where you only see it after you pay to get in.

Dresden, 2-4 May

When I saw this somber group of statues in the Streisener-Friedhof in Dresden, I thought it must be a memorial to victims of COVID or maybe a local tragedy. Instead, it's a sort of promotional program to encourage people to have their ashes group-buried with one of these human figures as their markers. After contemplating it for some time, I came to feel it is not only appropriate, but touching and beautiful.

Nothing bespeaks one-time wealth like Baroque architecture. This kind of building cannot be ignored.

Hannover [Hanover], 4-6 May

This very old cemetery is unique so far in my experience - an actual burial ground with walls removed, now used as a public park and walkway in the centre of the city.

The Abedin grave in Hannover's Engesohde Friedhof is another first for me - a single date with both birth (*) and death (+) symbols framing it. It apparently marks the resting place of an infant whose visit to his loving family was all too short.

Mosaics aren't all that common in cemetery art, espeially on the scale seen here in the Ebeling Mausoleum at Engesohde Friedhof.

Stöckener Friedhof in Hannover is as much an expansive park as it is a cemetery.

Large lakes crossed by bridges . . .

grave sites seen across the water . . .

and the inevitable swan.

Josef Faßnacht (1873-1954) provided a sculpture in 1916, apparently not even a grave marker, to keep watch over Stöcken's natural wonderland.

Düsseldorf, day trip 6 May

Once again we have the phenomenon of English, here in the form of posters, in a German-speaking country. Without dwelling on it, let me just say that the influence of American culture is seen all over the place, in many different forms. It's bloody tragic!

Here, the posters - mostly bumper-stickers, as it appears - are more political, except for the enigmatic "Gays R Gay". What could this mean? Is it supportive, or a put-down? There don't seem to be any clues one way or the other.

Finally, the ultimate politial-social statement of our time - corporate interests asserting control over the populace virtually from birth. Freedom to purchase and consume is a hollow victory, a supremely questionable 'perk' in a 'free' society.

Düsseldorf's Nordfriedhof has an area informally dubbed Millionenhügels [literally Million Hill], the highest elevation of the cemetery where there is a particularly large number of architecurally complex burial sites. I suppose we might dub it "Millionaire's row".

Just off Millionenhügels is this relatively simple grave sculpture, which appears Art Deco to me, but as it dates from 1917, is a bit early for that genre. The frame around the angel is also the outline of his wings. He was created by Josef Körschgen (1876-1937) for Christian Kröner (1838-1911) and his family.

Federico Fabiani (1835-1914) had a signature style in which Angels escorting mortals into heaven seemed to be floating. Here, a woman floats towards a heaven full of wingless cherubs on the 1909 grave of Pasquale Faccenda (1840-1894). As viewers, we know how the figure of the woman is attached to the structure, but the illusion of floating is still effective.

Köln [Cologne], 6-9 May

The first-time visitor arriving by train to Köln (Cologne) is almost shocked to see just how close, and big, the Cathedral appears as you leave the station. At least that was my reaction.

Köln's Melaten-Friedhof has some very old graves, such as this Thanatos Angel from 1821, in the middle of Flur (Section) 16, by Peter Joseph Imhoff (1768-1844) on the grave of Caspar Hamm (1779-1818).

Flash forward a couple of centuries, give or take, and here is another first for me: a sculpture of what appears to be a pregnant Angel (grave of the Hunold family, sculptor and date unknown).

Some sculptures, Angels or otherwise, have quirky facial expressions, such as this Thanatos Angel on the Hort family grave site.

Easily the most famous, or at least the most mentioned, sculpture on Köln's Melaten-Friedhof is Der Sensenmann [The Reaper] (1902) created by sculptor August Schmiemann (1846-1927) for the grave of Johann Müllemeister (1851-1902). A true 'Angel of Death'.

The tiny plaque below the model car encased in this grave stone identifies it as a "Porsche . . . Winner Le Mans 1979 . . . Limited Edition 500 pcs" (yes, all in English). Herr Kremer's connection to the model car is unclear. Perhaps he was just an avid collector who wanted to belie the old saying, "You can't take it with you."

The boy memorialised here was barely 10-1/2 when this touching monument had to be made for him.

The inscription here was a mystery until I looked it up using a Web browser later. Apparently, in German culture, someone who earns more than one academic Doctorate is entitled to use multiple prefixes before the name. Here, Theodor has three (Professor Dr Dr), while Emma has one. But who's counting?

Remember the strange little Angel fooling around with his shoe in the Innsbruck Cemetery (above)? As promised, here is a more serious sculpture of an athlete (?) adjusting a sandal. This has been going on a very long time. In the Temple of Athens there is a relief of Nike unbinding her sandal in the V century BCE. Art historians undoubtedly will know the significance of this depiction.

You may think this is just another one of my 'couldn't resist' double-meaning family graves. In a way, it is, but it is also a completely authentic memorial for the family of a man who is actually, legally named as shown. The backstory, however un-serious it sounds to me, is that the man - who, by the way, is still alive, having set up this grave in advance for his family - was performing as a pop singer while in the armed forces, and the concert organisers asked him how he wanted to be billed. As he was (and apparently is) a big man, he says he told them to use "Dick" a common Colognese nickname for someone who is fat. (Laurel and Hardy, for example, are known in Germany as Dick und Doof.) Well, maybe that's too much information, but I'm not making this up. It's all explained on the King Size Dick Wikipedia page.

Wiesbaden, 9-12 May

Some cemetery sculptures say it all, such as this Memento Mori (1908) by Ernst Herter (1846-1917) now on the grave of Eduard Bartling (1845-1917) at Wiesbaden's idyllic Nordfriedhof. The obvious message here is, "Time's Up." Death is an Angel of few words.

The John Family grave has gathered its share of moss.

I wasn't quite prepared to understand this bas-relief, created by Ferdinand Leonhard (1865-1955) for the grave of Erich Stenger (1893-1911). The inscription below the marble identifies him as a member of a Field Artillery Regiment, probably a new recruit, as he was 18 at the time. I imagine that's the teen, driving the chariot toward the sun. The part that stumps me is the tiny cherub, flying in front of him with a downturned torch, the likeness of the earliest form of the Thanatos Angel, who actually was Eros/Cupid. Sorry, but this sculpture gives me symbolism overload. I'll have to study it further.

Frankfurt, day trip 9 May

As for artwork, this was the memorial I wanted to see more than others. It features a Thanatos Angel attending a dying man in a complex, three-panel bas-relief. The man is Johann Philipp Bethmann-Hollweg, who died in Firenze in 1812, at the age of 21. He is buried in Livorno. This sculpture, then, is a cenotaph, executed by the influential Danish sculptor Bertil Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), often considered the originator of the neo-classical Thanatos Angel poses. His seated Angel, commissioned in 1820 for the base of the Wlodzimierz Potocki memorial in Wawel Cathedral in Kraków has inspired similar images worldwide. The triptych here likely is even earlier, as it was commissioned for this Bethmann-Hollweg family tomb in Frankfurt Hauptfriedhof not long after Johann Phillip's death in 1812. In this scene, the Angel holds the downturned torch, and presents a small bouquet of poppy heads, a symbol of sleep, while Johann Phillip's younger brother places an oak wreath in the hand of the departed. I knew where to look for the sculpture - it is in the Gruftenhalle, a long row of crypts at the Southern edge of the cemetery - but at first couldn't find Gruft 1. It turns out this is the only one of the 50-some crypts that is closed and locked behind iron doors. Luckily, there are open spaces in the doors just large enough for my camera lens, and the interior is illuminated by a skylight. No doubt, the security around this important work of art has contributed to its preservation and excellent condition. Many, if not most, of the sculptures in the other Gruften, which are completely open, have been damaged by apparent vandalism.

Nature is simple and beautiful, in Frankfurt Hauptfriedhof.

Stuttgart, 12-15 May

The final stop on my six-week trip was Stuttgart, and one of my goals was to visit the elusive Städtisches Lapidarium to see the perfectly-preserved Thanatos Angel made originally for the Harpprecht grave in the city's Pragfriedhof by sculptor Carl August Wilhelm Sommer (1839-1921). (The statue here guarding the entrance gate is not the Thanatos Angel to which I refer. He's inside and up the hill.) I call the Lapidarium 'elusive' because, on my previous visit to Stuttgart in Fall of 2021, it was closed - it is only open three days a week - and this visit had to be scheduled for early May, as it is only open from Spring through Fall. This time my planning paid off, the street access gate was open, and I strolled right in.

The Lapidarium is in a pretty fancy neighborhood, as this family home - the XIXth century Villa Kienlin just across the street - makes obvious.

The Lapidarium houses sculptures and fragments from ancient times through the present, including works of art left in the Villa Berg, the estate which provided the location and buildings for the museum. This poor guy, labeled Pan mit Flöte [Pan with Flute] was found in the dilapidated villa with parts missing. Some smart-aleck visitor changed the little information plaque to read Pan ohne Flöte mit Hund. OK, I give in. That's funny.

I found pictures of this sculpture from Pragfriedhof on the Internet, and I'm gradually more and more curious about why his left hand is in the position it's in, palm facing down in a very non-natural way. It was placed that way on purpose by the (unknown) sculptor. But why? What does it mean?

OK, just a few city pictures on my way out. If there's any kind of typical German shop-business, it's the Bäckerei (Bakery). It seems there are at least two or three such stores in each block of every city, and a minimum of six (a little exaggeration?) in every railway station and underground mall.

Stuttgart demonstrates a creative use of city space, not to mention engineering.

This building almost looks to me like an innovative design, but ends up looking a bit like an overgrown derelict. Perhaps as the plants grow in even more, it will look like the big, rectangular, three-dimensional garden that it probably was intended to be.