Carl-August-Wilhelm Sommer German, 1839-1921

This fascinating work by the Coburg sculptor, August Sommer, represents the god Beelzebub who was venerated in the Philistine city of Ekron and whose name became a synonym for Satan (2 Kings 1:1-16). Initially known as Beelzebul (meaning Lord of Baal), his practices became so horrible that his followers changed his name to Beelzebub, a deliberate and derogatory slurring to mean 'Lord of the Flies'. A cast of the same subject was formerly in the Coburg Rathaus and is now in the Heimatmuseum. No other examples are known to us.

While undoubtedly a highly original and vigorous composition, it is nonetheless unusual within his œuvre, which was mainly concerned with commissions for monuments, fountains and memorials that owe a debt to Greek art and mythology. His Centaur im Kampf mit der Schlange was made for a fountain erected in Bremen and he contributed the two bronze figures of Schreck and Idylle for the Herzog-Alfred-Brunnen in his native Coburg. Sommer's most prominent commission was for the Prinz-Josias-Denkmal in the Theaterplatz which cost 28,000 Marks and took him three years to complete. The figure was cast by the G. Lenz foundry in Nürnberg.

Sommer studied at the Fine Art Academies of Stuttgart and Munich and spent periods in Rome, Vienna and Budapest. In the latter two cities, he executed medallions for the Opernhaus and figures for the university library respectively. He also exhibited at the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893. His atelier was located at Lange Gasse Nr.4 in Coburg, where he died on 15th September 1921.

RELATED LITERATURE
E. Eckerlein, 'Carl August Wilhelm Sommer, ein vergessener Coburger Künstler', in Coburger Heimat, vol.3, 1982, pp.69-72; Benezit vol.13, p.17; Thieme-Becker, vol.31