The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Launitz

LAUNITZ. I. Nikolaus Karl Eduard Schmidt von der, a German sculptor, born at Grobin, Courland, Nov. 23, 1797, died in Frankfort, Dec. 12, 1869. He studied at Rome under Thorwaldsen, whom he assisted in restoring the Æginetan marbles. He spent his last 40 years chiefly in Frankfort, where he executed the Gutenberg monument and other notable works. For the villa Torlonia in Rome he made several statues, and other works of his are at the Hague. II. Robert Eberhard, nephew of the preceding, born in Riga, Nov. 4, 1806, died in New York, Dec. 13, 1870. He studied under Thorwaldsen in Rome, settled in New York in 1828 as a sculptor of tombstones, and was the first instructor of Thomas Crawford. He executed the Battle monument at Frankfort, Ky.; Pulaski monument at Savannah, Ga.; the monument to Gen. George H. Thomas at Troy, N. Y.; and other similar works. He has been called the father of monumental art in America.