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LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR (1741—1801)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 291 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR (1741—1801) , See also:German poet and physiognomist, was See also:born at See also:Zurich on the 15th of See also:November 1741. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native See also:town, where J. J. See also:Bodmer and J. J. Breitinger were among his teachers. When barely one-and-twenty he greatly distinguished himself by denouncing, in See also:conjunction with his friend, the painter H. See also:Fuseli, an iniquitous See also:magistrate, who was compelled to make restitution of his See also:ill-gotten gains. In 1769 Lavater took orders, and officiated till his See also:death as See also:deacon or pastor in various churches in his native See also:city. His oratorical fervour and genuine See also:depth of conviction gave him See also:great See also:personal See also:influence; he was extensively consulted as a casuist, and was welcomed with See also:demonstrative See also:enthusiasm in his numerous journeys through See also:Germany. His mystical writings were also widely popular. Scarcely a trace of this influence has remained, and Lavater's name would be forgotten but for his See also:work on See also:physiognomy, Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beforderung der Menschenkenntnis and Menschenliebe (1775-1778).

The fame even of this See also:

book, which found enthusiastic admirers in See also:France and See also:England, as well as in Germany, rests to a great extent upon the handsome See also:style of publication and the accompanying illustrations. It See also:left, however, the study of physiognomy (q.v.), as desultory and unscientific as it found it. As a poet, Lavater published Christliche Lieder (1776—1780) and two epics, Jesus Messias (1780) and See also:Joseph von Arimathia (1794), in the style of See also:Klopstock. More important and characteristic of the religious temperament of Lavater's See also:age are his introspective Aussichten in See also:die Ewigkeit (4 vols., 2768—1778); Geheimes Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seiner See also:LAVELEYE 291 selbst (2 vols., 1772—1773) and Pontius See also:Pilatus, See also:oder der Mensch in See also:alien Gestalten (4 vols., 1782—1785). From 1774 on, See also:Goethe was intimately acquainted with Lavater, but at a later See also:period he became estranged from him, somewhat abruptly accusing him of superstition and See also:hypocrisy. Lavater had a mystic's indifference to See also:historical See also:Christianity, and, although esteemed by himself and others a See also:champion of orthodoxy, was in fact only an antagonist of See also:rationalism. During the later years of his See also:life his influence waned, and he incurred ridicule by some exhibitions of vanity. He redeemed himself by his patriotic conduct during the See also:French occupation of See also:Switzerland, which brought about his tragical death. On the taking of Zurich by the French in 1799, Lavater, while endeavouring to appease the soldiery, was shot through the See also:body by an infuriated See also:grenadier; he died after See also:long sufferings See also:borne with great fortitude, on the 2nd of See also:January 18ot. Lavater himself published two collections of his writings, Vermischte Schriften (2 vols., 1774—1781), and Kleinere prosaische Schriften (3 vols., 1784—1785). His Nachgelassene Schriften were edited by G. See also:Gessner (5 vols., 18oi—1802) ; Samtliche Werke (but only poems) (6 vols., 1836—1838) ; Ausgewahlte Schriften (8 vols., 1841—1844).

See G. Gessner, Lavaters Lebensbeschreibung (3 vols., 18o2—18o3); U. Hegner, Beitrage zur Kenntnis Lavaters (1836) ; F. W. Bodemann, Lavater nach seinem Leben, Lehren and Wirken (1856; 2nd ed., 1877); F. Muncker, J. K. Lavater (1883); H. Waser, J. K. Lavater nach Hegners Aufzeichnungen (1894); J. K.

Lavater, Denkschrift zum zoo. Todestag (1902).

End of Article: LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR (1741—1801)

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