Kestner, August

LAWYER, DIPLOMAT, ARCHAEOLOGIST, ART COLLECTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 28 Nov 1777, Hannover, Niedersachsen - DIED 5 Mar 1853, Roma, Lazio
GRAVE LOCATION Roma, Lazio: Cimitero Acattolico, Via Caio Cestio 6 (Zona Vecchia, 1.23 (464))

August Kestner was the son of Johann Christian Kestner and Charlotte Buff, who was once loved by Goethe. He was rejected by his mother several times and suffered from it. Kestner studied law at Göttingen between 1796 and 1799 and immediately aftwards he became a judge at the court in Hanover.

In 1803 he became a secret office-secretary in the civil service and between 1818 and 1849 he was an official envoy and minister to the court in Rome. He also served in Naples. He collected ancient art and in 1829 he founded the "Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica" together with Theodor Panofka and Otto Magnus von Stackelberg. This would become the German Archaeological Institute in later years, of which he became the secretary-general in 1838.

After he retired he continued living in Rome until he died in 1853. In Hanover the Kestner Museum was named after him.

Family
• Mother: Kestner-Buff, Charlotte
• Brother: Kestner, Georg
• Brother: Kestner, Theodor

Related persons
• was a friend of Kümmel, Heinrich

Images

The grave of Augustus Kestner at the Cimitero Acattolico, Rome.
Picture by Androom (23 Jan 2010)

 

Sources
August Kestner - Wikipedia


Kestner, Georg

Published: 13 Jun 2010
Last update: 06 Aug 2023