Adolf Friedrich von Schack

Born in 1815 at Brüsewitz near Schwerin, Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack became known as a German poet and translator of Oriental classics. He studied in Halle and Frankfurt, and his literary interests grew alongside a wider curiosity about history, languages, and travel.

Schack is especially associated with Munich, where he built an important art collection and supported painters whose work he admired. That collection eventually formed the basis of the Schack Gallery, helping secure his place not only in literary history but also in the cultural life of 19th-century Germany.

He died in Rome in 1894. Today, he is remembered as a figure who moved easily between literature and the visual arts, bringing together poetry, translation, patronage, and collecting in one unusually wide-ranging career.