Humboldt, KARL WILHELM VON, the elder brother of the preceding, eminent as a statesman and for his works on philology, aesthetics, and general literature, was born at Potsdam, 22d June 1767, and educated at Berlin, Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and Göttingen. He eagerly studied antiquities, aesthetics, and the Kantian philosophy, as well as law, to which he professedly devoted himself. After travelling in Germany, France, and Switzerland, he acquired the rank of counsellor of legation, but showed little inclination for official employment. In 1791 he married, and for some years resided chiefly on his wife's estate in Thuringia, and afterwards in Jena, associating most intimately with Schiller, and devoting himself to poetry and other literary and scientific pursuits. A valuable memorial of his friendship with Schiller is the correspondence between them. From 1797 to 1799 Humboldt resided partly in Paris and partly in Spain, and in 1801 became Prussian resident at Rome, where he remained for a number of years in this capacity, and in that of minister-plenipotentiary, a most generous patron of young artists and men of science. From Rome he returned to his native country to fill the high place of first minister of Public Instruction. The Berlin university owed its existence to him. In 1810 he went to Vienna as minister-plenipotentiary, and from this time he took part in all the most important political affairs in which his country was concerned. After 1819 he resided chiefly at Tegel, where he laid out fine pleasure-grounds, and formed a noble collection of sculptures by the greatest masters. He died 8th April 1835.
His earliest literary works were collected by himself under the title of 'Aesthetic Essays' (Ästhetische Versuche, 1799). His 'Collected Works' appeared in 7 vols. (1841-52). Humboldt devoted himself with the greatest assiduity to the study of philology, and was the first to make the study of the Basque tongue a scientific pursuit. He also spent much labour on the languages of the East, various questions connected with oriental literature, and the languages of the South Sea Islands. One of his most important works is on the Kawi language in Java (3 vols. 1836-40), published after his death by Edward Buschmann; the introduction to this, On the Variety of Structure in Human Speech, and his reflections on the influence thereof on the intellectual progress of mankind, mark a new era in the science of philology. Letters to a Female Friend (1847; Eng. trans. 1849) exhibit his character in a most pure and amiable light. See the admirable biography by Haym (1856), and his correspondence with Schiller (1830; new ed. 1876), Goethe (1876), Körner (1879), and his brother Alexander (1880).