The New International Encyclopædia/Müller, Eduard

MÜLLER, Eduard (1828-95). A German sculptor, born at Hildburghausen. His first occupation was that of a cook in the ducal kitchen at Coburg, and he practiced his trade subsequently in Munich and Paris, and thence went to Antwerp, where, on the advice of the sculptor Geefs, he proceeded to study at the Academy in 1850. Two years afterwards he continued his studies in Brussels, and in 1857 settled permanently in Rome. Masterly composition, great truthfulness to life, and a high degree of technical perfection are the chief characteristics of his ideal figures and mythological groups, the best known of which include: “Nymph Kissing Cupid” (1862); “Faith, Love, and Hope” (1869), Schröder Mausoleum, Hamburg; “Satyr with the Mask” (1870); “The Faun's Secret” (1874); and “Eve with Her Children” (1880). His masterpiece is the group in heroic size, “Prometheus Bound and the Oceanids” (1874-79), National Gallery, Berlin, chiseled out of a single block of marble.