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Encyclopedia Britannica



LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR (17411801)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 291 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LAP-LEO
LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR (17411801) , German poet and physiognomist, was born at Zurich on the 15th of November 1741. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town, where J. J. Bodmer and J. J. Breitinger were among his teachers. When barely one-and-twenty he greatly distinguished himself by denouncing, in conjunction with his friend, the painter H. Fuseli, an iniquitous
magistrate
 , who was compelled to make restitution of his ill-gotten gains. In 1769
Lavater
  took orders, and officiated till his death as deacon or pastor in various churches in his native city. His oratorical fervour and genuine depth of conviction gave him
great
  personal influence; he was extensively consulted as a casuist, and was welcomed with
demonstrative
  enthusiasm in his numerous journeys through 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
work
  on physiognomy, Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beforderung der Menschenkenntnis and Menschenliebe (1775-1778). The fame even of this book, which found enthusiastic admirers in France and England, as well as in Germany, rests to a
great
  extent upon the handsome style of publication and the accompanying illustrations. It left, however, the study of physiognomy (q.v.), as desultory and unscientific as it found it. As a poet, Lavater published Christliche Lieder (17761780) and two epics, Jesus Messias (1780) and Joseph von Arimathia (1794), in the style of Klopstock. More important and characteristic of the religious temperament of Lavater's age are his introspective Aussichten in die Ewigkeit (4 vols., 27681778); Geheimes Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seiner
LAVELEYE
  291
selbst (2 vols., 17721773) and Pontius Pilatus, oder der Mensch in
alien
  Gestalten (4 vols., 17821785). From 1774 on, Goethe was intimately acquainted with Lavater, but at a later period he became estranged from him, somewhat abruptly accusing him of superstition and hypocrisy. Lavater had a mystic's indifference to historical Christianity, and, although esteemed by himself and others a champion of orthodoxy, was in fact only an antagonist of rationalism. During the later years of his life his influence waned, and he incurred ridicule by some exhibitions of vanity. He redeemed himself by his patriotic conduct during the French occupation of 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
body
  by an infuriated grenadier; he died after long sufferings borne with great fortitude, on the 2nd of January 18ot.
Lavater himself published two collections of his writings, Vermischte Schriften (2 vols., 17741781), and Kleinere prosaische Schriften (3 vols., 17841785). His Nachgelassene Schriften were edited by G. Gessner (5 vols., 18oi1802) ; Samtliche Werke (but only poems) (6 vols., 18361838) ; Ausgewahlte Schriften (8 vols., 18411844). See G. Gessner, Lavaters Lebensbeschreibung (3 vols., 18o218o3); 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).


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