Carl Gustav Carus
Carl Gustav Carus (3 January 1789 – 28 July 1869) was a German physiologist and painter, born in Leipzig, who played various roles during the Romantic era. A friend of the writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe, he was a many-sided man: a doctor, a naturalist, a scientist, a psychologist, and a landscape painter who studied under Caspar David Friedrich.
Also recorded as K. G. Carus · C. G. Carus · Karl Gustav Carus · Carus Dr. Karl Gustav
Carl Gustav Carus
![The head of a baby (?), enclosed within the skin of a pig's head, with details showing bones and organs (?). Stipple engraving by Gottschick after Carus, ca. 1820., [1820?], by Carl Gustav Carus](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/V0010375/full/1280,/0/default.jpg)
Carl Gustav Carus · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection · Public Domain Mark
- Name
- Carl Gustav Carus
- Born
- 3 January 1789
- Died
- 28 July 1869
- Known for
- Painting
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Saxony
- Occupation
- botanist · painter · psychologist · anatomist · university teacher · philosopher · writer
- Fields
- landscape painting
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Documentary summary
Carl Gustav Carus (3 January 1789 – 28 July 1869) was a German physiologist and painter, born in Leipzig, who played various roles during the Romantic era. A friend of the writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe, he was a many-sided man: a doctor, a naturalist, a scientist, a psychologist, and a landscape painter who studied under Caspar David Friedrich.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q61987 · wikipedia · Carl Gustav Carus
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Carl Gustav Carus • Born — 3 January 1789 • Died — 28 July 1869 • Known for — Painting
Life and work
Life and work
• Illustration — Carl Gustav Carus – Ruine Eldena mit Hütte bei Greifswald im Mondschein In 1811 he graduated as a doctor of medicine and a doctor of philosophy. In 1814 he was appointed professor of obstetrics and director of the maternity clinic at the teaching institution for medicine and surgery in Dresden. He wrote on art theory. From 1814 to 1817 he taught himself oil painting working under Caspar David Friedrich, a Dresden landscape painter. Subsequently, he studied under Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld at the Oeser drawing academy. When the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus II, made an informal tour of Britain in 1844, Carus accompanied him as his personal physician. It was not a state visit, but the King, with Carus, was the guest of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Windsor Castle, and Carus was able to visit many of the sights in London and the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, and meet others active in the field of scientific discoveries. They toured widely in England, Wales and Scotland, and afterwards Carus published, on the basis of his journal, The King of Saxony's Journey through England and Scotland, 1844. • Illustration — The grave of Carl Gustav Carus, Trinitatisfriedhof, Dresden He is best known to scientists for originating the concept of the vertebrate archetype, a seminal idea in the development of Darwin's theory of evolution. In 1836, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Carus is also noted for Psyche (1846). He developed a theory of landscape painting whose objective was the visualisation of the inner workings of geological phenomena, which he called "Erdlebenbildkunst" (pictorial art of the life of the earth). Carl Jung credited Carus with pointing to the unconscious as the essential basis of the psyche. • Although various philosophers, among them Leibniz, Kant, and Schelling, had already pointed very clearly to the problem of the dark side of the psyche, it was a physician who felt impelled, from his scientific and medical experience, to point to the unconscious as the essential basis of the psyche. This was C. G. Carus, the authority whom Eduard von Hartmann followed. (Jung [1959] 1969, par. 259) Carus died in Dresden. He is buried in the Trinitatis-Friedhof (Trinitatis Cemetery) east of the city centre. The grave lies in the south-west section, against the southern wall.
Family
Family
His daughter Charlotte Carus married the artist Ernst Rietschel.
Botanical reference
Botanical reference
Carus
Written works
Written works
• Illustration — Carl Gustav Carus by Julius Hübner • Illustration — Memory of a Wooded Island in the Baltic Sea (Oak Trees by the Sea) • Zoology, entomology, comparative anatomy, evolution • Lehrbuch der Zootomie (1818, 1834). • Erläuterungstafeln zur vergleichenden Anatomie (1826–1855). • Von den äusseren Lebensbedingungen der weiss- und kaltblütigen Tiere (1824). • Über den Blutkreislauf der Insekten (1827). • Grundzüge der vergleichenden Anatomie und Physiologie (1828). • Lehrbuch der Physiologie für Naturforscher und Aerzte (1838) • Zwölf Briefe über das Erdleben (1841). • Natur und Idee oder das Werdende und sein Gesetz. 1861. • Medical • Lehrbuch der Gynekologie (1820, 1838). • Grundzüge einer neuen Kranioskopie (1841). • System der Physiologie (1847–1849). • Erfahrungsresultate aus ärztlichen Studien und ärztlichen Wirken (1859). • Neuer Atlas der Kranioskopie (1864). • Psychology, metaphysics, race, physiognomy • Vorlesungen über Psychologie (1831). • Psyche; zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Seele (1846, 1851). • Über Grund und Bedeutung der verschiedenen Formen der Hand in veschiedenen Personen (About the reason and significance of the various forms of hand in different persons)(1846). • Über die ungleiche Befähigung der verschiedenen Menschenstämme für höhere geistige Entwicklung (About the unequal aptitude of the different human tribes for higher mental development)(1849). • Physis. Zur Geschichte des leiblichen Lebens (1851). • Denkschrift zum 100jährigen Geburtstagsfeste Goethes. Über ungleiche Befähigung der verschiedenen Symbolik der menschlichen Gestalt (1852, 1858). • Über Lebensmagnetismus und über die magischen Wirkungen überhaupt (1857). • Über die typisch gewordenen Abbildungen menschlicher Kopfformen (1863). • Goethe dessen seine Bedeutung für unsere und die kommende Zeit (1863). • Lebenserinnerungen und Denkwürdigkeiten – 4 volumes (1865–1866). • Vergleichende Psychologie oder Geschichte der Seele in der Reihenfolge der Tierwelt (1866). • Art • Neun Briefe über Landschaftsmalerei. Zuvor ein Brief von Goethe als Einleitung (1819–1831). • Die Lebenskunst nach den Inschriften des Tempels zu Delphi (1863). • Betrachtungen und Gedanken vor auserwählten Bildern der Dresdener Galerie (1867). • Travel • Sicilien und Neapel (1856). • Translations • Carus' translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto I. at academia.edu • Space, Time, and Man (from Natur und Idee), trans. A. Jacob, Virtus Editions, 2025.
Art gallery
Art gallery
• Illustration — The Colosseum in Moonlight • Illustration — The Imperial Castle • Illustration — In Memory of Sorrento • Illustration — View of Dresden at Sunset • Illustration — Barge Trip on the Elbe near Dresden • Illustration — Balcony Room with a View of the Bay of Naples, 1829 or 1830. • Illustration — Italian Moonshine (Rome, St. Peter's in Moonshine) • Illustration — Tintern Abbey • Illustration — Italian Fishermen in Port • Illustration — Sailboat • Illustration — Full Moon near Pillnitz • Illustration — Woman on the Balcony • Illustration — Stone Age Mound • Illustration — The Studio Window
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings K. Carus, Karl Gustav Carus, Carus Dr. Karl Gustav and karl gustav carus. His recorded language was German. He was the child of August Gottlob Carus and Christiana Elisabeth Carus. He married Caroline Carus. One child is recorded: Sophie Charlotte Carus.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Carl Gustav Carus worked in botany. He was employed by TU Dresden. He belonged to Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities, German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Silesian Society for the Culture of the Fatherland and Russian Academy of Sciences. He worked at Dresden.
Identity
Identity
Carl Gustav Carus is recorded as botanist, painter, psychologist and anatomist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1789–1869
The full dated record · 4 entries
1789
Carl Gustav Carus was born in 1789.
1857
Ueber Lebensmagnetismus und über die magischen Wirkungen überhaupt von Carl Gustav Carus (1857) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1866
Vergleichende Psychologie oder Geschichte der Seele in der Reihenfolge der Thierwelt von Carl Gustav Carus (1866) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1869
Carl Gustav Carus died at Dresden.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q61987: Carl Gustav CarusWikimedia Foundation
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Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Work and production. Works recorded as notable number 2: Memory of a wooded island in the Baltic Sea and The studio window. His recorded genre is landscape.
Recognition and collections
Work by Carl Gustav Carus is
Nationalmuseum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Saint Louis Art Museum and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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