The New International Encyclopædia/Kinkel, Gottfried

KINKEL, kĭṉ'kel, Gottfried (1815-82). A German poet and art critic. He was born at Oberkassel, near Bonn, August 11, 1815, studied theology at Bonn, and was for some time a distinguished Protestant preacher. He lectured at various times, beginning with 1836, in the University of Bonn, first on ecclesiastical history and later on poetry and the history of art. Becoming involved in the revolutionary movements of 1848, he was imprisoned in the fortress of Spandau, whence, however, he escaped, with the assistance of Carl Schurz. Kinkel then came to America, but soon after returned to London, where he resided as a public teacher. He died at Zurich, November 13, 1882. His principal works are two volumes of Gedichte (1843, 7th ed. 1872); Otto der Schütz, eine rheinische Geschichte in zwölf Abenteuern (1846, 73d ed. 1894), a narrative poem; Die altchristliche Kunst (1845), which forms the first part of the unfinished Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den christlichen Völkern; Die Ahr, Landschaft, Geschichte und Volksleben (1845); Nimrod, ein Trauerspiel (1857); Mosaik zur Kunstgeschichte (1876); Tanagra, Idyll aus Griechenland (1883). — Kinkel's wife, Johanna Kinkel, born at Bonn, July 8, 1810, a distinguished musician, wrote Acht Briefe über den Clavierunterricht (1852); and together with her husband, Erzählungen (1849). She died in London, November 15, 1858. Her novel, Hans Ibeles in London, was published posthumously.