Arens, Johann August

views updated

Arens, Johann August (1757–1806). Hamburg-born architect, he studied with Harsdorff and de Wailly. Through Goethe he was called to Weimar to rebuild the Schloss (Castle—1789–92), but his most remarkable building there is the so-called Roman House in the Park, with its primitivist Doric columns at the lower level supporting a temple-like structure (1790–2). Much of his output is in Hamburg, where, with C. F. Hansen, he practised a refined and mature Neo-Classicism of which he was one of the most distinguished exponents of his time in Northern Germany.

Bibliography

Grundmann (1957);
Watkin & and Mellinghoff (1987);
Wietek (1972)

More From encyclopedia.com