Karl Beck

Karl Beck, a German poet, born at Baja, Hungary, May 1, 1817. He is the son of a Jewish merchant, studied in Pesth, Vienna, and Leipsic, and has since 1848 chiefly resided in Vienna.

His first poems appeared in 1838 and 1839, and his reputation was established by his novel in verse, Janko, der ungarische Rosshirt (Leipsic, 1842). Among his principal succeeding works are: Lieder vom armen Mann (Berlin, 1846); Aus der Heimath (Dresden, 1852); Mater Dolorosa (Berlin, 1853); Jadwiga (Leipsic, 1863); and Elegieen (Vienna, 1869). He wrote a drama entitled Saul (Leipsic, 1841), not adapted for the stage. Many of his works, especially Janko, are remarkable for their delineation of Hungarian characteristics. A collection of his poems (Gesammelte Gedlchte, Berlin, 1844) has passed through many editions.

Karl Begas

Karl Begas, a Prussian painter, born at Heins-berg, near Aix-la-Chapelle, Sept. 30, 1794, died in Berlin, Nov. 24, 1854. He studied first under Philippart, and in Paris under Gros. One of his early works, a copy of the Madonna della Sedia, attracted the attention of the king of Prussia, who appointed him painter to the Prussian court. His productions comprise historical, genre, and portrait paintings, of which the most important are "Henry IV. at the Castle of Canossa," the "Sermon on the Mount," "Christ on the Mount of Olives," the Lorelei, and the portraits of Humboldt, Schel-ling, Ritter, Rauch, Cornelius, and Meyerbeer.

Karl Bernhard

Karl Bernhard, the pseudonyme of a Danish novelist named Saint Aubin, born about 1800, died in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 1865. Among his works are: " Pictures of Life in Denmark," "Christian VII. and his Court," "Christian II. and his Times," and the "Chronicles of the Time of King Eric of Pomerania." Bernhard excelled in sketches of domestic life, and in delineations of Danish society. Two complete editions of his works have been published in German at Leipsic.

Karl Christian Fricdrkh Krause

Karl Christian Fricdrkh Krause, a German philosopher, born in Eisenberg, May 6, 1781, died in Munich, Sept. 27, 1832. He was educated at Jena, where he was tutor from 1802 to 1804. He then renounced teaching to devote himself to his philosophical studies, and resided successively in Rudolstadt, Dresden, and Berlin, made several journeys through Germany, France, and Italy, and lectured at Gottingen from 1824 to 1831, when he retired to Munich. The aim of his speculations was to represent humanity as an organic and harmonious unity; and he conceived the scheme of an association of all mankind, which should labor for a uniform and universal development. The germ of such a union he thought he found in freemasonry. His works include Vorlesungen uber das System der Philosophie (Gottingen, 1828; new ed., Leipsic, 1874), and Vorlesungen uber die Grundwahrheiten der Wissenschaft (Gottingen, 1829).

Karl Eduard Vehse

Karl Eduard Vehse, a German historian, born in Freiberg, Saxony, Dec. 18, 1802, died near Dresden in June, 1870. From 1825 he held office in the department of archives at Dresden, and became its chief in 1833. In 1828 appeared his Geschichte Kaiser Otto's des Grossen (2d ed., 1865), and in 1834 his Tafeln der Welt- und Culturgeschichte. He accompanied the separatist Stephan to the United States about the beginning of 1839, but returned home at the end of that year, and after travelling in Europe settled in Berlin. He was imprisoned six months and expelled from Prussia for disparaging the royal family in his Geschichte der deutschen Hofe seit der Reformation (48 vols., Hamburg, 1851-'8; partly translated into English by Demmler, 1854-'6). He became a naturalized Swiss in 1857, and during his last years lived alternately in Italy and Saxony.