Rauch is asteroid #5266 and also known as 4047 T-2. Rauch was discovered during the course of the Palomar-Leiden Survey at the Palomar Observatory. Rauch’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.72 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.13, a period of revolution of 1 637 days, and an inclination of 15.7 degrees.

Rauch is named after Christian Daniel Rauch, who lived from 1777 until 1857 and was a German sculptor. The official naming citation further mentions that he was first servant of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia. Rauch received a grant from the king to become a pupil of Johann Gottfried Schadow. Rauch worked in the classic style in Rome from 1804 to 1811, and his main work is the sarcophagus of Queen Luise of Prussia. [Ref: Minor Planet Circ. 22507] Wikipedia summarizes this as Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor. But serious researchers of the astrological meanings of asteroids have really bad luck here because Rauch’s biography is rich and colourful. I try to give at least the most important points here.

The house, where Christian Daniel Rauch was born, still exists and proves that he grew up in a poor vicinity. His father was a soldier, but as a veteran he became a servant of the king. The father tried to lay a basis for a better life for his children, so they went to an expensive school, where they learned noble behaviour and languages like Latin and French. The father passed away in 1796 and the elder brother Friedrich got their father’s position in service of the king and cared for the family financially. But the elder brother passed away already in 1797. Christian Daniel Rauch had already lost two siblings before and two more had ended their life on the material plane before he was born. After his elder brother was gone, Christian Daniel Rauch got the position of his elder brother, who had already inherited it. He still had a younger brother, Ludwig with name, and their mother. So Christian Daniel Rauch had to care for the family financially.

Christian Daniel Rauch was very industrious. He used to study, plan, and work until late in the night. He was a workoholic and didn’t allow himself any leisure. He also was living very economical. Christian Daniel Rauch was a very passionate artist. He insisted in the best materials, gave advice in how to obtain them, and perfected the most meticulous details. He made little models, which he dressed then like dolls, from plaster cast and then huge models from clay for his statues, so that he didn’t overlook any detail, but could see whether they are realistic and whether their weight would be balanced well. Hence noble people ordered him to build many statues. He had to build so many statues that he needed his students to do most of the work and he soon was only supervising them. Christian Daniel Rauch also used all opportunities to travel around and learn from other artists at every occasion. He also knew many other famous people this way.

After the king too had passed away, Christian Daniel Rauch was so-to-say inherited by queen Luise, who traveled much and took him with her. This were the years, when he learned most. He tried to be laid off from the service for the queen in order to spend even more time on making statues, but she didn’t let him go. But he was laid off when her life on the material plane ended. Christian Daniel Rauch also supported other artists wherever he could.

Christian Daniel Rauch had two daughters, Agnes and Doris. They were born in 1804 and 1812. But he never married their mother Wilhelmine Schulze. He acknowledged his daughters and they lived in his house. He also achieved that his daughters got his family-name, which was very difficult to achieve for illegitimate offspring in that time. It was most likely his greatest deed.

Christian Daniel Rauch lived in Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. He got threatened with getting banned from Italy and once he had to pay ransom to buy himself free. Christian Daniel Rauch’s mother passed away in 1810. Christian Daniel Rauch refused his heritage in order to support the family more, so his mother’s sister got the heritage. The house was bought by the city (Arolsen) in 1856 and wanted to turn it into a retirement home for old and poor people. Christian Daniel Rauch supported this idea with a huge donation. It became a foundation, which worked until 1950, but had to give up then because the foundation wasn’t able to get enough donations from then (the years soon after the Second World War) on. A Rauch museum existed in Berlin until the Second World War, but because of the risk of destruction due to the war had everything been moved to supposedly safer places. The artworks seem to never have returned.

So understanding the astrological force Rauch isn’t easy. The asteroids actually caught my attention because Rauch also is an easily translatable German word. Rauch means smoke. But now I have to suspect that Rauch represents artists really devoted to their art, supporters of arts, and persons doing everything for their family. Rauch of course also represents people named Rauch. On the other hand I don’t see any reason yet to give up the idea that Rauch also represents smoke, in particular when appearing in prominent positions together with representatives of fire, such like Loke or Hestia. Asteroids have the task to cover also unusual phenomena like kapnomancy, which couldn’t be seen by looking at the classic factors only. This is another reason why Rauch should represent smoke, although Tezcatlipoca should be considered for such phenomena too. Smoke usually is moving upward. Christian Daniel Rauch was able to improve his wealth and social position very much by his industriousness. So Rauch finally should also represent an upward motion.