Princesses group
The princess group , also known as the princess memorial , is a sculpture by the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow . It shows the Prussian Crown Princess and later Queen Luise together with her younger sister Friederike . Schadow first made portrait busts of the sisters. The life-size group was created between 1795 and 1797, first in a plaster frame, then in marble. Today the plaster version is in the Friedrichswerder Church , which has been rededicated as the Schinkel Museum . The original of the marble group is shown in the entrance axis of the Alte Nationalgalerie .
The double statue was celebrated by experts and the public, but was little appreciated by Luise's husband and almost forgotten for around 90 years as a result. Today it is considered a major work of early Berlin classicism , similar to Schadow's Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate from 1793. The group of princesses is widespread in many copies of various sizes and quality as an art object, decorative object and Berlin souvenir.
prehistory
On December 24, 1793, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (III) and Princess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were married in the Berlin City Palace . Two days later, Prince Louis and Princess Friederike, the younger siblings of the Crown Prince couple, married in the same place . The two couples lived in buildings next to each other on Unter den Linden , in the Kronprinzenpalais and what later became known as the Prinzessinnenpalais .
The Prussian Minister of State Friedrich Anton von Heynitz (in old texts mostly: Heinitz ) suggested to his King Friedrich Wilhelm II that the sisters Luise and Friederike, then 17 and 15 years old, be portrayed by Schadow. Heynitz, actually Minister of Mining, also became curator of the Academy of the Arts, which was then in need of reform , in 1786 and also headed the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (KPM). Until his death in 1802, he remained the determining personality of Prussian art life as a capable organizer and through skillful appointment of suitable artists. He first became aware of Schadow after he had won one of the award medals at the prestigious art competition of the Accademia di San Luca during his stay in Rome from 1785 to 1787 . After the sculptor's return in November 1787, Heynitz arranged a number of larger commissions for him, thus accelerating his career. In 1793, the year of the double wedding, Schadow was head of the court sculptor's workshop. According to the minister, he “now deserved first place among all sculptors in Europe”.
The king adopted the proposal of his minister as his own; he himself had been most impressed by the beauty and youthful charm of the princesses since he first saw them in March 1793; thereafter he had strongly encouraged the marriage of his sons. In his memoir , Schadow described the first step that ultimately led to the creation of the group of princesses: “The Minister of State von Heinitz requested [at court] a meeting for his modeler” (ie for Schadow); "He immediately received a written order stating where, how and when he had to pose and that it was hoped that he would present something worthy of the next exhibition in the academy."
The portrait busts
The subject of the commission was initially only two portrait busts made of baked clay. Schadow was assigned a work space in the side wing of the Kronprinzenpalais. Friederike, who was now called Princess Louis (or Ludwig), often came over from the neighboring building to model him. The contacts with Luise were more formal, they were mostly limited to the fact that Schadow was present at the official audiences of the Crown Prince couple in a corner of the room. In his memoirs, however, the sculptor also described how the Crown Prince after the end of the ceremony "now imitated the gestures and exaggerated friendliness of some and repeated their poetic phrases".
In the years 1794 and 1795, two portrait busts were created, first that of Friederike, then that of her sister. Friederike's clay bust is still in its original form, Luise's only in plaster and paper mache molds . Schadow saw a particular challenge in this work. In another context he had written: “Female busts are one of the most difficult tasks in art; I've always made an incredible effort to solve these. To combine resemblance with grace [...] requires a delicate sense of art and, I would almost say, a spirit of observation that borders on cunning. "
In 1798 a variant of Luise's portrait bust was created. Schadow changed the position of the head and the direction in which the sculpture was looking so that it acted as a counterpart to a portrait bust that he had made of the Crown Prince in 1797. On the occasion, he also corrected the deep cleavage of the first version upwards. A commission fee for the portraits has not been proven. From Schadow's business records, however, it emerges that by selling a few dozen plaster casts of the portraits of Luise, Friedrich Wilhelm and Friederike, he received income that was far higher than any fee customary at the time.
The plaster statue
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The portrait busts were completed in 1795. Schadow now began to work on a life-size double statue of the princesses. This group, to be executed in plaster, was to serve as a model for a series of smaller copies in porcelain - a project of which it is not clear whether it was suggested by Minister von Heynitz or Schadow himself. In addition, the life-size sculpture was to be presented in the art academy's exhibition in September 1795.
New sessions with the princesses were necessary for the double portrait. In his own words, Schadow worked “with quiet enthusiasm [...]; he took the measures according to nature; the high ladies gave what he chose from their wardrobe, and so the fashion of the time had its influence on the clothes. ”The arrangement of the two sisters within the group was not only determined by artistic considerations, but also largely by the hierarchy of the two . Luise, the older and higher rank, is on the right according to the rules of heraldry , Friederike also stands slightly behind her sister.
On September 25, the king's birthday, the Academy exhibition opened in 1795. The catalog described the prominent group of princesses as follows: “A life-size group, your royal. Introducing the Crown Princess and Princess Ludwig, who leaned against each other, both embracing sisterly. ”The vast majority of the visitors were enthusiastic about Schadow's work. In retrospect, the sculptor did not find this surprising:
“If you put yourself back in those days and in the midst of the many weak artifacts that were standing around, this explains the impression made by this group [...]. One could compare nature with sculptures on a daily basis, and at court too the voices agreed that this work deserved to be done in marble. The minister received orders to conclude the contract with the artist. "
The marble statue
Order and execution
Von Heynitz had drawn the king's attention, who apparently had not seen the exhibition in 1795, to the double statue and arranged an audience with Schadow. On January 5, 1796, Heynitz wrote to the king that well-known personalities and experts had praised the sculpture and had spoken out in favor of a marble version; Such a marble sculpture is suitable to prove to posterity that something truly perfect could arise under the king's reign; In addition, Schadow's claim for a fee of 5,000 Reichstalers for a working period of 18 months and the procurement of the necessary white Carrara marble was quite moderate; and he, Heynitz, could pay this amount from the porcelain factory's cash register, so the king's own cash register would not be debited. The costs for the portrait busts of the princesses, for the plaster work for the group and for the preparation of the porcelain work were also billed to KPM. On January 6th, the king approved. A contract between Heynitz as curator of the academy and Schadow dates from January 16; it contains the scope of work, costs and payment modalities in accordance with the preliminary agreements. 1500 Taler were to be paid out in January of the same year, another 1500 in October and 2000 after the group was completed.
For a contractually agreed fee of 1300 Reichstalers, Schadow handed over the execution of the marble group to Claude Goussaut, who had been working in the court sculptor's studio since around 1760, “distinguished himself through his great practice in marble, and in the Königl. Sculptor's studio long served as a model in this talent ”(Schadow in his obituary for Goussaut 1799). The work was finished on July 12, 1797, about two and a half months later than planned. Nevertheless, Schadow was so satisfied that he paid Goussaut a bonus of 100 Reichstalers. He himself worked on the final details until the beginning of August.
In several details there were slight changes compared to the plaster version, mostly careful stylistic corrections from the individual to the general one, in the direction of the ideal "Greek style". A new addition was a base made of gray marble with two octagonal white inscription panels in which the names and rank of the princesses are mentioned.
exhibition
The 1797 Academy Exhibition began again on September 25th. Schadow's marble group was shown in the exhibition catalog as: “The group of the Crown Princess and Princess Ludewig KH [Royal Highnesses] in life size. The corresponding pedestal made of Silesian marble, decorated with two rosaries made of white marble. ”Again the audience was enthusiastic. The Weimar scholar Karl August Böttiger had previously seen the finished work in Schadow's workshop and noted: “During my existence, everyone spoke of Schadow's latest artistic creation, the heavenly beautiful group of the two sisters, the Crown Princess and Princess Luis, which are now completed in Schadow's artist workshop was on display, and was supposed to make the main bowl for the exhibition feast on September 25th for the king's birthday. "
The art of portraits as a representation of individual nature was actually much less valid at the time than “pure” art, the visual representation of ideal ideas. In the case of the princess group, both now met. Their purpose was the concrete portraits of the two sisters. These, however, have long been considered examples of perfect human beauty in their environment, so that the artist was able to create the ideal work of art with the individual at the same time. In this sense, Böttiger also expressed himself, with a slightly critical undertone:
“One must admit that Schadow could hardly have gotten a more popular subject from the king than to form the group of two sisters who, through their beauty and unaffected condescension, are the goddesses of the public [...] He succeeded in combining these youthful slim figures in one Pleasant drapery [...] and with a portrait resemblance to each other, so the [...] public was satisfied and admired the work of art with a love of the original. "
Rating by Friedrich Wilhelm III.
The further fate of his work was a serious disappointment for Schadow. Shortly after the end of the exhibition in 1797, his client, King Friedrich Wilhelm II, died. His son and successor, Friedrich Wilhelm III, a sober and thrifty man, tried to demonstratively distance himself from his father's loose and lavish regime. He disliked the actual advantages of the statue of his wife, now the Queen of Prussia, and her sister - the lack of any majestic pose and the lifelike, natural depiction, which under wrinkled robes still revealed the body shapes of the young women. In addition, the nineteen-year-old Friederike, known to be revealing, had become pregnant in the first year of her widowhood and, married “in a hurry”, had to acquire her reputation as the “most gallant lioness of the century” since 1798, far from the Prussian court and Berlin. In any case, the king judged the sculpture briefly and clearly in his own formulaic language: "Fatal to me!"
Locations
The order for the statue did not specify where it should be placed. Schadow had it transported back to his workshop and, through Heynitz's mediation, suggested several suitable locations to the king in representative rooms of the Berlin Palace. The king avoided making a decision for three years, then had the work brought to a guest room in the castle. There it was, as Schadow complained in his memoir, in unfavorable light close to a wall, so not visible all around. The sculptor had also designed the back of the sculpture with particular care and was expressly praised for it.
The group was not seen in public for around 90 years and was therefore almost forgotten. For the creation of legends about Queen Luise, which was promoted by art and literature, took on anthemic forms in the 19th century and lasted into the 20th century, the lifelike work, which had disappeared from the public for decades, was of little importance.
Only gradually did the group regain the focus of the public and art viewing. In 1886 it was shown for a short time at an anniversary exhibition at the Berlin Art Academy, and in 1906 at the National Gallery 's exhibition of the century . It found a new place in the picture gallery of the Berlin Palace in 1893, then in 1921 in front of a front wall of the Parolesaal, at one of the locations that Schadow had once suggested; After the end of the monarchy, the room was part of the palace museum and was now called “Schadow-Saal” in the museum's catalogs. The statue in the cellar vault of the Berlin Cathedral survived the Second World War .
Striking details
The collar
An unusual fashionable detail had already been noticed in the portrait bust of Luise and was adopted for her statue: a narrow scarf tied around the head and neck. Schadow explained that it should cover a swelling that had developed on Luise's neck, but later disappeared again. Karl August Böttiger had seen the marble group at Schadow's atelier and heard his explanation for the neck tie, after which he noted: “Indeed, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard this. Oh, the poor, pitiable art, which in its ennobling business, which strives towards the ideal, must not even put itself over a thick neck. "
But the makeshift quickly became a fad. As early as 1796, the accessory can be found on an illustration in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden , as well as on various pictures and drawings made by Luise during those years. In the later 19th century, the chin strap served as an indispensable mark in almost every image of the almost ritually revered Luise.
The flower basket
The intended use as a porcelain figure had caused Schadow to add the decorative element of a flower basket to his statue of the Crown Princess in the plaster version. As early as the exhibition in 1795, this detail was criticized by art connoisseurs who saw in it, at least in the case of the large-scale sculpture, a stylistic break, a deviation from the classical Greek ideal. The king later stated in his approval for the marble version that the figure could be changed on this point. Schadow now joined the concerns and corrected the plaster of paris, even before it had been made smaller for the KPM, so that not only the marble statue, but also the porcelain version was made without the basket. Instead, the Crown Princess now held a loosely falling cloth in her right hand, the folds of which complemented the existing folds of the clothing. Apart from a minor correction of the hand position, the actual composition remained unchanged.
The copies
marble
A second marble version of the group of princesses exists in Berlin, made by the Berlin sculptor Albert Wolff (1814–1892), a student of Christian Daniel Rauch . This copy, the exact date of which it was made, was commissioned for the house of the Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , the Luises and Friederikes family. Wolff worked according to the original plaster of paris, but also took into account a few different details of the marble group. The sculpture stood in Neustrelitz Castle , it was destroyed in World War II. A first version has been preserved, which Wolff did not deliver to the ducal house due to late detection of defects in the marble, but passed it on privately. The Berlin-Charlottenburg district acquired the group in 1932, and since 1953 it has been on permanent loan in the Eosander staircase of Charlottenburg Palace . Due to considerable damage, it had to be taken to the depot in 1999; the extensive restoration was completed in 2007. In the meantime, the sculpture has been set up again in the Charlottenburg Palace, now in the vestibule of the New Wing, right next to the former apartment of Friedrich Wilhelm III. and Queen Luise.
Another replica, the so-called Queen's Monument, has stood on the edge of the Eilenriede city forest in Hanover since 1910 . The copy, enlarged by about a third compared to the original, was made by Valentino Casal , a specialist born in Venice; In his workshop in Berlin-Friedenau , numerous plaster or clay models from Berlin sculptors have been transferred in marble, including twelve of the 32 groups for Siegesallee in Berlin.
On the occasion of the centenary of Queen Luise's death, Kaiser Wilhelm II placed the order for the Queen's Memorial. The close commonality between the former Prussian queen and her sister Friederike, who became Queen of Hanover in her third marriage, should also be understood as a political signal. Ever since Prussia annexed the Kingdom of Hanover in the so-called German War in 1866 and made it a Prussian province, the mutual relationship was considered problematic.
porcelain
Preparations for the porcelain figurines began around the same time as the work on the marble group. In the spring of 1796, the modeller Carl Heinrich Schwarzkopf, who had previously made sculptures from Schadow at KPM, received the order for the scaled-down model of the group of princesses. The two portrait busts were available to him at his workplace, but not the life-size plaster group that was used in Schadow's studio for the transfer into marble.
During his visits to the porcelain factory, Minister von Heynitz expressed dissatisfaction with Schwarzkopf's work several times. The job therefore went to Carl Friedrich Hagemann , whom Schadow described as his most skilful student. In August 1796 the model was completed to the satisfaction of the client and Hagemann was rewarded with 60 Reichstalers from the manufactory's cash register. The first fired copy from the beginning of December 1796 still had considerable technical defects. On December 21st, a qualitatively improved porcelain group was handed over to the court marshal's office.
Originally, the group came under the name of the Crown Prince and Prince Ludwig in the trade, as a group of princesses it is produced by KPM to this day. It is 55 cm high, consists of so-called bisque porcelain - fired twice at temperatures of up to 1400 ° C and not glazed in order to approximate the material character of marble - and is assembled from 88 parts. In September 2010 the price was 21,250 euros.
Other materials and formats
Some copies were, so to speak, authorized through the participation of Gottfried Schadow. Later replicas were mostly based on these early specimens. In addition, copies of various sizes and materials were and are still being made by commercial providers and brought onto the market as decorative items and Berlin souvenirs.
The first impressions using the original plaster of paris began around 1900. Such a cast could also be seen in an extensive Schadow retrospective at the art academy in 1909 . The Berlin fine art foundry Hermann Noack made a replica of gilded bronze for the Hamburger Kunsthalle in 1906 and had plaster casts of the group on offer at a price of 400 marks. The life-size group has been part of the mold inventory of the plaster molding shop of the Berlin State Museums since 1926 . There have only been impressions based on the marble group of the National Gallery since 1994. The original is too sensitive to be transported and therefore cannot be shown in other locations.
The souvenir trade is not limited to the two historically transmitted sizes. At an internet retailer, for example, you can find designs with heights of 15, 20, 22, 35, 57 and 180 cm, at prices between 28 euros and 14,000 euros (October 2016), made from materials such as marble dust and alabaster plaster . Small versions made of chocolate are also available, which can be used, for example, as table decorations.
To the reception
The group of princesses was received with almost unanimous enthusiasm by Schadow's contemporaries, and their disappearance from the public thoroughly regretted. However, there was no shortage of images of the highly revered and early deceased Queen Luise in the 19th century, so that the sculpture was largely forgotten. Theodor Fontane, for example, who wrote very positively about Schadow's work, never mentioned the group of princesses.
In December 1795 the article Modern female statues appeared in the journal of luxury and fashions of the Weimar publisher Friedrich Justin Bertuch , in which the first exhibition of the group of princesses is reported:
“A friend in Berlin wrote to me on November 24th about the following: I wish you could see an excellent group of the two beautiful princesses of Prussia, which our Schadow in Thon [actually: plaster of paris, RFL] made in life size, for yourself . I have almost never seen anything more magnificent of modern statues. They are dabey similar to speaking. Position, execution of Greek drapery, grace - in short everything is excellent. Perhaps the king will have this infinitely beautiful group, which so deserves it, carved in marble in order to perpetuate them. "
An anonymous author wrote under the title The Princely Sisters. A marble group by Schadow about the exhibition of 1797. The text appeared in the yearbooks of the Prussian monarchy under the government of Friedrich Wilhelm the Third :
“The dark feeling that the ideal of beauty was expressed in a portrait was what won this group general approval. Not only the patriot , who has a great respect for his queen and her princely sister in his heart, but also the art lover, art connoisseur and artist left this group with the fullest satisfaction; and it was one of the most pleasant spectacles how both classes of spectators, without knowing it, praised the princesses, now the artist ... "
From an obituary for Schadow published in the Illustrirte Zeitung in 1850:
“At the moment there is this wonderful group, in which our artist has risen to a purely ideal height, uninhibited by petty demands and restrictions, almost forgotten in a corner of the Berlin Palace, out of sight of the public. And yet this work is perhaps the most important that our artist has created. "
In the more recent past the German painter Matthias Koeppel provided an example of the creative reception of the group of princesses with his painting Requiem for Luise . The picture was taken in 1984 for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987. It shows the sisters Annette and Inga Humpe , pop singers for the Neue Deutsche Welle , in summer casual clothes and in the same posture that Schadow had given his princesses. The park of Charlottenburg Palace, in whose mausoleum Luise is buried, forms the background .
literature
- Reimar F. Lacher: Schadow's group of princesses. The beautiful nature. With precise references to historical sources. Berlin Story Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-929829-67-9 .
- Günter de Bruyn : Prussia's Luise. About the creation and decay of a legend . Berliner Taschenbuch Verlag 2003, ISBN 3-8333-0106-6 .
- Beate Christine Mirsch: Grace and beauty. Schadow's group of princesses and their position in the sculpture of classicism. Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft 1998, ISBN 3-87157-179-2 .
- Bernhard Maaz : Johann Gottfried Schadow. The double statue of the princesses Luise and Friederike von Preussen. In: The Friedrichswerder Church in Berlin. Monument and museum. Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin / Munich 1993, pp. 72–162.
- Peter Bloch , Waldemar Grzimek : Classic Berlin. The Berlin School of Sculpture in the nineteenth century. Frankfurt am Main 1978, ISBN 3-7861-1767-5 , Sp. 43-47.
- Hans Mackowsky : The sculptures Gottfried Schadows. German Association for Art History, Berlin 1951.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 13 f.
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 13
- ^ Günter de Bruyn: Preussens Luise. On the creation and decay of a legend , p. 13
- ^ Reimar F. Lacher: Schadow's group of princesses. The beautiful nature , p. 24
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 27
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 38
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 41
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 41 f.
- ^ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 60
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 62
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 70 f.
- ^ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 82
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 84 f.
- ↑ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 88
- ↑ Karl W. Böttiger (ed.): Literary conditions and contemporaries . In: Descriptions from Karl Aug. Böttiger's handwritten estate . Leipzig 1838, 2nd volume, pp. 130-133
- ^ Tb .: The Princely Sisters. A marble group by Schadow. In: Year books of the Prussian monarchy under the government of Friedrich Wilhelm the Third. Vol. 1798, Vol. 1, pp. 129-135
- ↑ Karl W. Böttiger, pp. 130-133
- ^ So in the presentation of the process Eduard Vehse: Preussische Hofgeschichten. Fourth volume. Newly published by Heinrich Conrad , Georg Müller, Munich 1913, pp. 137-139, there also the following
- ↑ Günter de Bruyn, p. 21
- ↑ Karl W. Böttiger, pp. 130-133.
- ^ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 136
- ^ Reimar F. Lacher, p. 145
- ^ Friedrich Justin Bertuch: Modern female statues . In: Journal des Luxus und der Moden , Vol. 12, 1795 (December), pp. 564-566
- ↑ Tb., Pp. 129-135.
- ^ Johann Gottfried Schadow I – III [Nekrolog]. In: Illustrirte Zeitung , 1850, Vol. 14
- ^ Matthias Koeppel, Requiem for Luise cafe-deutschland.blogspot.de, April 29, 2014