Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/593

* WIERTZ. 503 WIESNER. and in 1848 at Brussels, where he painted his masterpiece, ''The Triumph of Christ," and where, in 1850, the Governinent Iniilt for him, after his own design, a gigantic studio, now Ivnown as the Musee Wicrtz, in wliieh all his historical, allegorical, and ideal pictures are united, and which he bequeathed to the nation. There he executed the most remarkable of his purely ideal creatiiins and his realistic pictures, the most original and interesting of all his works. There he also carried on chemical experiments, resulting in the discovery of a new process of painting, condiining the advantages of oil and fresco, which he called pehiiurc male, or painting with a dull surface. Always seeking to give visi- ble expression to an idea, Wiortz's undisciplined imagination often indulged in morbid representa- tions, the mere titles of which will indicate their character: "A Second After Death." "The Child Burned." "Precipitate Inhumation," "The Suicide." "Hunger. Kolly. and Crime." "A Scene in Hell," "Thoughts and Visions of a Head Cut Olf." He was about to depict the history of the human race in a series of epic pictures, when death summoned liim from the midst of his labors, while still in the vigor of his power. Among his many literary productions, brought out in swift succession, may be cited L'elof/e dc Ifiibrns (1840), and LU'cole flamande de pcinture {Sii'S), which was crowned by the Royal Academy of Belgium. For his biography, consult: Wattcau (Brussels, ISC')), and Laba'rre (ib., ISfiT) : the sketch in the Art Journal (London. 1809) ; and Atkinson, in the Portfolio (ib., 1875). WIESBADEN, ves'ba-den. A city of Prussia, in the Province of Hesse-Nassau, previous to 1800 the capital of Nassau, six miles north of IMainz (Map: Prussia, C 3). Altitude, 385 feet. It is a charming city and one of the most fash- ionalile and ]iopular summer resorts of Europe, its 30 hot saline springs being visited annually by about 130,000 persons. Its climate is mod- erate. Wiesbaden lies for the most part in a fan shape, the streets of the town proper stretching away from the Wilhelmstrasse, which, in a straight line nearly north and south, separates the town proper from the Kurhaus, the adjacent pleasure grounds, and the attractive residence section on the east. The Wilhelmstrasse is the leading boulevard and the centre of local life. Here, toward its northern end. on the right, is the fine Kursaalplatz. containing two cascades, with the Old Colonnade on the north, the New Colonnade and the splendid modern Royal Theatre on the south, and the Kurhaus on the east. The Kurhaus was erected in 1800-10. It is dignified by Greek colonnades combining both Doric and Ionic features, and contains a handsome main room. In the rear are a large fountain and basin marking the entrance to the beautiful Kurhaus Park. Northwest of the Kur- saalplatz is the modern Trinkhalle. with a pavilion and colonnades. Here is the celebrated Koch- brunnen (temperature 156° F.). Southwest, in the old part of the town, may be seen the frag- ment of a Roman wall — the Heidcnmauer — over 60 feet long. The adjacent Michelsberg is now- crowned by a sightly niedern synagogue. East- ward and adjacent to the Wilhelmstrasse are the market place, where are to be found the modern brick Markt-Kirehe (Protestant), n striking Gothic structure; the royal palace, completed in 1840, with interesting statuary by Schwanthaler; and the line modern late-Renais- sance town hall. The last contains the Fischbach Textile Museum. The Museum, situated near by on the Wilhelm- strasse toward its southern end, contains aiiti(]ui- ties, natural history specimens, the royal col- lections of paintings, and a library of 120,000 volumes. The anihpiities include Roman, Ale- mannian. and Frankish relics. Its note- worthy Jupiter Column dates from a.d. 221. To the southeast of the Museum are the splendid Renaissance Augusta Victoria Baths — a new es- tablishment. The modern Pauline Palace, in the style of the Alhambra, is now in private hands. On the extreme western edge of the city is the new conspicuous Ring Kirche (Protestant). Not far distant, to t!ie southeast of the Neroberg on the north, is a striking Greek chapel — a mauso- leum completed for a Russian grand duchess in 1855. There are in the city an agricultural institute and experiment station, music and architectural schools, special medical schools, and a chemical laboratory. The Nassau Art Union has a per- manent display of paintings. Wiesbaden is pro- vided with a municipal hospital, several cele- brated eye institutions, and a military hospital (in a modern building in the Italian style). The trade in wine is heavy. The population in 1900 was 86,111. Wiesbaden is the Mattiacum of the Romans — a fortress said to have dated from the time of Drusus. Its waters were known to Pliny. WIESELER, ve'zeder. Frtedkich (1811-92). A German archicologist and philologist, born at Alteneelle, Hanover, and educated at Gottingen and Berlin. In 1854 he was appointed professor of archa>ology and philology at Gottingen. Here he became known for his areh.neological seminar, the first of its kind in Germany (1847). His researches took him through many parts of Europe, as well as Asia Minor, and he was the first to date correctly the sil- ver objects discovered at Hildesheim. His publications include: Conjectanea in JEschyli Eumenides (1839) : Ueber die Thymele des grie- chischen Theaters (ISil) ; Das Satyrspiel (ISiS) ; and TheatcrychUude und Denlcmaler des Hiihnen- wesens bei den Oriechen inid Hiimern (1851), but his most comprehensive and valuable contrilmtion to literature is his new adaptation and continu- ation of Karl Otfried Miiller's Denkmaler der alten Kunst (1854-56). . WIESNER, ves'ner, Julius (1838—). An Austrian liotanist, born at Tschechen, near Briinn, and educated there, at Jena, and at Vien- na. He was ap])ointed professor of the anatomy and physiology of plants and director of the in- stitute "of plant physiologj- at the University of Vienna in 1873. He became known through his investigations of chlorophyll, of vegetable cell tissue, of the relation between light and vege- tation, of the laws of plant growth, and the pos- sibilities of plant movement. He wrote: Die technisch verirendeten Giimmiarten, Harze mid Balsame (1869); Die nntiirliche Einrichtung zum Schutze des Chlorophylls (1876); Die Entstehung des Chlorophylls in der Pflanze