Porträt Christian Wolff (1679-1754)

Portrait of Christian Wolff. The German universal scholar is shown here as a half figure to the left, the head facing to the right. His gaze goes to the right leaf margin. The right hand rests on a semi-open, standing book on a table in which he keeps two fingers bookmarked. He wears wig, an open jacket from which a jabot quills, and a cape above the left arm that seems to continue on the right arm. The depicted one sits in front of a large curtain, behind which there is a bookcase on the right. A six-line Latin inscription with some of Wolff’s activities as well as his correct life data appears under the figurative rectangle. Christian Wolff is one of the most important philosophers of German rationalist early education. He first studied theology, physics and mathematics in Jena. In 1702 he habilitated and gave private lectures in Leipzig. In 1707, on the recommendation of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, he became professor of mathematics and philosophy at the University in Halle. A few years later he became a member of the Royal Society and the Berlin Academy of Sciences. After a “speech on the practical philosophy of the Chinese,” he was attacked by the pietists as a religious enemy and a “determinist” and expelled from Halle in 1723 by order of King Friedrich Wilhelm I. Frederick II of Prussia called him back to Halle in 1740. He was once again employed as a professor here, this time of nature and international law, three years later he became chancellor of the university. This leaf is a very fine copper engraving, which Leipzig’s engraver Johann Martin Bernigeroth executed. A template is not known. Other copies of the paper are in the art collections of the Veste Coburg, the Duke August Library in Wolfenbüttel and the Berlin State Library. The paper was used in 1755 as a frontispiece of the book “Historical Praise of the Weiland High and Well-Drilled Lord Christians, the H. R. Freyherrn von Wolf,” which the Hallenser Johann Gottfried Renger moved. Signature: J. M. Bernigeroth sc. Lipsiae 1755. Caption: CHRISTIANVS L. B. DE WOLF, S.R.M. BORVSS. A CONS. SANCT. ACAD. HAL. CANCELLAR. NEC NON IVR. NAT. ET. MATH L.P.O. ACAD. GASOLINE. PROF. HONORAR. SOCC. R.R. LOND. PARISIN. BEROL. ET BONON. ADSCRILIUS. Nat. A: 1679.d. Jan 24 Denat. A. 1754. d. 9 Apr. Source: Gottsched, Johann Christoph: Historical credit of the Weiland High and Well-Drilled Lord Christians, of the H. R. Freyherrn von Wolf (...), Halle (Saale) 1755, Frontispiz. (Stiftung Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)