Ludwig Mack

Helios relief by Ludwig Mack (detail), Stuttgart, Rosenstein Castle

Ludwig Mack (the Younger) (born October 22, 1799 in Stuttgart , † August 8, 1831 in Stuttgart) was a classicist Württemberg sculptor of regional importance. The artist, who died early, was the son of Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig Mack , who was also a sculptor.

life and work

Ludwig Mack was the older son of the court plasterer Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig Mack (the elder). He received his first training as a sculptor from his father. Then he was a student with Johann Heinrich Dannecker in Stuttgart. From the beginning of 1822 until the autumn of that year he studied at the Art Academy in Dresden with the archaeologists Karl August Böttiger and Heinrich Hase (1789–1842) and stayed for a few weeks in Berlin.

Back in Stuttgart he created a relief with an allegory of retribution under the name The Last Judgment , for which the government donated a travel grant to Italy. From September 1824 to November 1825 he traveled to Rome and Naples to study and touched Munich on the return trip. The bas-relief Amor and Psyche , created in Rome, was bought by the Württemberg Art Association . At the raffle, it went to Johann Heinrich Dannecker , who gave it back to the Kunstverein.

Grave of Ludwig Mack and his son Rudolph in the Hoppenlaufriedhof in Stuttgart.

In 1827 Mack married a daughter of pastor Rudolf Magenau , who became known as a writer, in Hermaringen near Heidenheim. The marriage resulted in two daughters and the son Rudolph.

In 1829 Mack published a portfolio with contour drawings (Mack 1829), which Rudolf Lohbauer (1802–1873) lithographed for printing. The folder contained u. a. the relief Cupid and Psyche created in Rome . In 1830 he completed the Helios relief for Rosenstein Castle in Stuttgart based on a design by Johann Friedrich Dieterich .

meaning

Unlike his father and comparable contemporary artists in Stuttgart, Ludwig Mack, who died at the age of 31, no longer had the chance to be appointed court plasterer or court sculptor. Mack did not belong to the first rank of the artists of Swabian Classicism like Dannecker and Scheffauer , at least the few works of his own left behind do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about an independent artistic meaning. His technical and artistic skills are undisputed.

Works

No image available	The Last Judgement literature ADB; Mack 1834. year 1822-1824 description Possibly identical to The Resurrection . Bas-relief with an “Allegory of Retribution under the Name of the Last Judgment” (Mack 1834, ADB). place Whereabouts unknown
Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann	The resurrection literature Mack 1829, plate 1, poem "The Resurrection" (after plate 1); Mack 1830, pp. 189-190; Schorn 1824, page 350. year 1824 description Possibly identical to The Last Judgment . Bas-relief, 12 feet = 2.86 meters high. Two angels with trumpets and the cross, floating in the sky, announce the day of retribution for those who have risen from the dead. A female figure, virtue, kneels joyfully and waits on the ground. A sinful old man turns away fearfully, back to his grave. place Whereabouts unknown
Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann	Cupid and Psyche literature Bach 1900, pages 109-110; Czigens 1977; Huett 1993; Mack 1829, plate 2, poem "Amor und Psyche" (after plate 2); Mack 1830, page 190; NN 1834, page 28. year 1824/1825 description Bas-relief in marble, 34 × 60 cm. The naked psyche, with butterfly wings, shines with the oil lamp to contemplate the naked, winged Cupid, who lies in his sleep on a kline , forbidden. place Stuttgart, State Gallery , inventory number P 573
Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann	The Fates literature Mack 1829, plate 3, poem "Die Parcen" (after plate 3); Mack 1830, page 190. year between 1824 and 1829 description Clay sketch of a group of figures. Clotho (the first Parze on the right) spins from a huge distaff, the human thread of fate, Lachesis, the second measures the thread and Atropos, the third cuts it. At the feet of the two younger Parzen, a grief-faced larva reminds us of the seriousness of life and at the feet of Atropos a mocking-faced mask of the changeability of fate and the transience of life. place Whereabouts unknown
Detail: The judgment of the dead. Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann	The underworld literature Mack 1829, plates 4, 4a – 4c, poem "Die Unterwelt" (after plate 4c); Mack 1830, page 190. year between 1824 and 1829 description Clay sketch of a bas-relief (for more pictures see gallery ). Charon , the ferryman of Hades, lies with his three-headed hellhound Cerberus on the bank of the Styx River and blocks the way back to the upper world for the weeping dead ("shadow") waiting for the judgment of the dead . The judges of the dead Minos , Aiakos (with the scepter) and Rhadamanthys sit on the throne and question the shadows about their lives and deeds. Happy are the shadows that have entered the Elysion , like the three graces dancing happily and those who dreamily and peacefully listen to the lyre. place Whereabouts unknown
Photo from 2010	Female figure with inverted torch literature Pfeiffer 1912, page 142, 144, figure 4. year 1830 description Bas-relief in sandstone, 86 × 45 cm. “Female figure with an inverted torch in the left hand, the right elbow resting on a barely recognizable pillar, the hand with part of the ventilated upper garment pressing against the lowered face; Main hair uncovered, lush body shape. "(Pfeiffer 1912, page 144) place Stuttgart, Hoppenlaufriedhof , tomb of Chief Tribunal Councilor Karl Härlin called Tritschler (1749–1830). The inscriptions are no longer recognizable.
	Helios relief literature Grüneisen 1830; Seyffer 1831. year 1830 description Allegory of the sunrise with the sun god Helios , high relief in sandstone, 2.38 m high, 12.06 m wide, executed after a design by the painter Johann Friedrich Dieterich place Stuttgart, Rosenstein Castle , gable field above the main portico of the northeast facade
No image available	An old man and his genius literature NN 1834, page 31. year before 1832 description Bas-relief (?) In marble. place Whereabouts unknown

gallery

• 

  The underworld, general view.
  Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann

• 

  The underworld, section in the middle: The judgment of the dead.
  Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann

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  The underworld, detail left: The Elysion.
  Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann

• 

  The underworld, detail on the right: Charon and the weeping shadows. Lithograph by Rudolph Lehmann

• 

  Female figure with inverted torch. Photo from 1912

• 

  Female figure with inverted torch. Photo from 2010

literature

Life

• Max Bach: Stuttgart Art 1794-1860. Stuttgart 1900.
• Hyacinth Holland :  Mack, Ludwig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 12 f.
• Ludwig Mack, sculptor . In: Morgenblatt für educated readers, Kunst-Blatt , 1834, Volume 28, No. 67 of August 21, 1834, Page 267 books.google.de , Nekrolog.

Works

• Ilse Czigens (editor): 150 years of Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart 1827–1977 . Stuttgart 1977, page 15 (Amor and Psyche, with illustration).
• Karl Grüneisen: About the works of art of the royal country house Rosenstein near Stuttgart . In: Morgenblatt für educated estates, art sheet No. 73 of September 14, 1830, pages 289–290 books.google.com .
• Michael Hütt: Cupid and Psyche . In: Christian von Holst (Ed.): Swabian Classicism between ideal and reality . Catalog. Stuttgart 1993, pages 437-438 (with illustration).
• Christian von Holst (ed.): Swabian classicism between ideal and reality . Catalog. Stuttgart 1993.
• Ludwig Mack; Rudolph Lohbauer (illustrations): work by Ludwig Mack, sculptor in Stuttgart: drawn in contours by Rudolph Lohbauer. With poems by Rudolph Magenau, Ludwig Neuffer, Gustav Schwab. 1st issue . Stuttgart 1829, PDF .
• Lithographic works. Works by Ludwig Mack ... (Review by Mack 1829). In: Morgenblatt für educated readers, Kunst-Blatt , No. 48 of June 17, 1830, pages 189–191, books.google.com .
• Accountability report of the administrative committee of the Württemberg Art Association by Martini 1830–1833 . Stuttgart 1834.
• Bertold Pfeiffer: Classicist sculptures on grave monuments in and around Stuttgart. Reprint from the commemorative publication of the K. Altertümersammlung in Stuttgart . Stuttgart 1912, PDF .
• Ludwig Schorn: Art exhibition in Stuttgart, September 1824 . In: Morgenblatt für educated estates, Art Gazette No. 88 of November 1, 1824, pages 349–351, books.google.com .
• Ernst Eberhard Friedrich von Seyffer : Description of the royal country house Rosenstein . Stuttgart 1831, pages 29-31, books.google.de .

Web links

Commons : Ludwig Mack  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

1. ↑ The names of Ludwig Mack and his father Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig Mack are sometimes given the nickname “the younger” or “the older” in literature, because both probably followed the nickname Ludwig.
2. ↑ According to the tombstone on the Hoppenlaufriedhof (see illustration) and according to Mack 1834 and ADB, Mack was born on October 22nd. The date of birth "27. October “in Bach 1900, page 109, is wrong.
3. ↑ The easiest way to find the grave is to go from Rosenbergstrasse to the grave of Johann Heinrich Dannecker (No. 35 on the information boards). Mack's grave is then around the bend on the right.
4. ↑ Rudolph (* October 7, 1829, † July 14, 1831) died a month before his father, not quite two years old. One of the two daughters was no longer alive in 1834.
5. ↑ Christian von Holst (born 1941), the former director of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart , counts Mack one of the “only limited talents that z. B. had to decorate Rosenstein Castle: among the sculptors it was Dannecker's former assistant Friedrich Distelbarth (1768–1836) and his younger students Konrad Weitbrecht (1796–1836) and Ludwig Mack […] ”(Holst 1993, page 68).
6. ↑ 1 foot = 0.286 meters.
7. ↑ The relief was bought by the Württembergischer Kunstverein for 300 guilders and went to Johann Heinrich Dannecker in the raffle in 1831 .
8. ↑ Title of the work by Pfeiffer 1912, page 142. Attribution to Mack also by Pfeiffer 1912, page 144: “The author will ... be one of Dannecker's younger students, such as Ludwig Mack the Elder. J. (1799-1831) ". In footnote 2 on the same page, Pfeiffer refers to Mack 1829 for comparison.
9. ↑ In the same quadrant as the grave, which is indicated on the notice boards as No. 1.
10. ↑ The work was purchased by the Württembergischer Kunstverein for 275 guilders and was raffled off to a member of the association in 1833.