Acclaimed Viennese Sculptor. From 1867-72 he studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) with K. Radnitzky, J.N. Geiger and C. Wurzinger. In 1892 he became a member of the house of artists. In 1893 he was selected to be one of eight sculptors to represent Austria at the World's Columbian Exposition, commonly known as the "Chicago World's Fair", to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering the New World. The Columbian Exposition was the largest before or since, with an estimated 12 million different visitors visiting its 200 specially constructed "Beaux Arts" and "French Neoclassical" buildings, designed by the most prominent architects of the time, over the course of its six month duration. This was an amazing number of visitors, considering the entire population of the United States at the time was 63 million. Of the fourteen sculptures displayed by the Austrian contingent, three were Weigl's, and these pieces were truly iconic of Austria and Vienna, in particular: Beethoven, Mozart and Old Vienna Waltzers. The Beethoven and Mozart bronze statuettes created by Weigl were accorded particular respect, being displayed in Alcove 103 in the offices of the Austrian section. What was to become Weigl's most famous work, a full length bronze statue titled "Beethoven als Spaziergänger ('Beethoven as Stroller') (1899) was shown at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition as part of a group of composers including Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. Weigl's unique sculptured vision of Beethoven depicted the composer during one of his many summer walks in the woods around Vienna, such as Heiligendstadt, where he stayed at various times in his life, and purportedly would compose and take musical notes as he walked. It was in Heiligenstadt, during his stay in 1802, that Beethoven nearly committed suicide, but overcame his demons and penned the famous "Heiligenstadt Testament", an incredibly moving insight into Beethoven's struggle with his tragic hearing loss while striving for perfection, and his deep concern for humanity, while knowing his sentiment was misunderstood by many. Weigl's Beethoven, with hat and walking stick held behind his back, long coat and pants stiffened in the wind, and with music notes stuffed in his pocket, as though the viewer had just encountered him passing by on one of his strolls, reflects the naturalistic ideas of the mid-19th century and was influenced by a lithograph of Martin Tejcek (1780-1847) that shows Beethoven on one of his frequent walks, making it extremely realistic. Not long after Weigl's death at the age of 50, Fritz Heinlein was commissioned by the Association of Male Choirs of Vienna to create a marble sculpture of Beethoven, modeled after Weigl's "Beethoven strolling". The statue was dedicated in 1910 and can be seen in Heiligenstadt Park. As a testament to Weigl's artistic vision that many consider the definitive sculpture of Beethoven, Weigl is buried directly behind Beethoven's tomb in the Vienna Zentralfriedhof. Among his other notable works, were a statue for the nature-historical museum (' Cosmos Alexandrinos'), a marble bust of the authoress Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach in Zdislawitz, Mähren, a marble relief of the empress Elisabeth, floating in clouds, and a bust and bronze statuette of Franz Schubert in the Viennese Schubert Museum.