Ernst Herter

Who was Ernst Herter?

Ernst Gustav Herter was a famous German sculptor who worked in Berlin. He specialized in creating statues of mythological figures. Among his most famous works is Sterbender Achill, created in Berlin in 1884. The statue was acquired by the Empress of Austria and became the centerpiece at her palace Achilleion in Corfu, Greece.

On the 8th of July 1899, Herter was present in New York when his Heinrich Heine memorial sculpture, known as the Lorelei Fountain, was unveiled in the Bronx, New York. The Lorelei Fountain was originally intended for Heine's city of birth, Düsseldorf, to mark the centennary of his birth. This project was squelched due to the antisemitic and nationalistic sentiment that pervaded the German Reich at that time.

Herter studied at the Academy of Arts in Berlin and later also as apprentice of Ferdinand August Fischer, Gustav Blaeser and Albert Wolff. In 1869 he created his own studio. In 1875 he made a study trip to Italy. Professor Herter was a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts.