Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler

Ludwig Schwanthaler, fromTwo Hundred German Men in Portraits and Biographies(1854)

Athena wearing the mask of Medusa, Ludwig von Schwanthaler 1840, Albertinum, Dresden

Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler,later ennobled asRitter von Schwanthaler(26 August 1802 – 14 November 1848), was a Germansculptorwho taught at theAcademy of Fine Arts, Munich.

Biography

Schwanthaler was born inMunich.

His family had been sculptors inTyrolandInnviertelfor three centuries; young Ludwig received his earliest lessons from his father, Franz Schwanthaler (1762–1820), and the father had been instructed by the grandfather. The last to bear the name was Xaver, who worked in his cousin Ludwig's studio and survived till 1854. For successive generations the family lived by the carving of busts and sepulchral monuments, and from the condition of craftsmen rose to that of artists.

From the MunichGymnasiumSchwanthaler passed as a student to theMunich Academy;at first he purposed to be a painter, but afterwards reverted to the sculptural arts of his ancestors. His talents received timely encouragement by a commission for an elaborate silver service for the king's table.Peter von Corneliusalso befriended him; the great painter was occupied on designs for the decoration in fresco of the newly erectedGlyptothek,and at his suggestion Schwanthaler was employed on the sculpture within the halls.

Thus arose between painting, sculpture, and architecture that union and mutual support which characterized the revival of the arts inBavaria.Schwanthaler in 1826 went as a pensioner of the king to Rome, where he carried out a number of commissions, and on a second visit in 1832Bertel Thorvaldsengave him kindly help. His skill was so developed that on his return he was able to meet the extraordinary demand for sculpture occasioned by King Ludwig's passion for building new palaces, churches, galleries, and museums, and he became the fellow-worker of the architectsLeo von Klenze,Friedrich von GartnerandJoseph Daniel Ohlmüller,and of the painters Cornelius,Julius Schnorr von KarolsfeldandKarl Hess.

Owing to the magnitude and multitude of the sculptural commissions they turned out, over-pressure and haste in design and workmanship brought down the quality of the art. The works of Schwanthaler in Munich are so many and miscellaneous that they can only be briefly indicated. TheNeues Palaisis peopled with his statues: the throne-room has twelve imposing gilt bronze figures 10 feet high; the same palace is also enriched with afriezeand with sundry other decorations modelled and painted from his drawings. The sculptor, like his contemporary painters, received help from trained pupils, one of whom,Anton Dominik Fernkorn,went on to have a very successful career inVienna.The same prolific artist also furnished Munich'sAlte Pinakothekwith twenty-five marbles commemorating great painters; likewise he supplied a composition for the pediment of the exhibition building facing the Glyptothek, and executed sundry figures for the public library and the hall of the marshals.

Sacred art lay outside his ordinary routine, yet in the churches of St Ludwig and St Mariahilf he gave proof of the widest versatility. The Ruhmeshalle afforded further gauge of unexampled power of production; here alone is work which, if adequately studied, might have occupied a lifetime; ninety-two metopes, and, conspicuously, the colossal but feeble figure of Bavaria, 60 ft. high, rank among the boldest experiments. A short life of forty-six years did not permit serious undertakings beyond the Bavarian capital, yet time was found for the groups within the north pediment of theWalhalla, Regensburg,and also for numerous portrait statues, including those ofMozart,Jean Paul,GoetheandShakespeare.

Schwanthaler died in Munich in 1848, and willed to the Munich Academy all his models and studies, which formed the Schwanthaler Museum. He is buried in theAlter Südfriedhofin Munich.

Selected works

• 
  Bavaria statue,at theRuhmeshalle(Hall of Fame), Munich
• 
  TillyMonument at theFeldherrnhalle,Munich
• 
  Mozart MonumentinSalzburg
• 
  Vandpigen (Water Girl) inViborg
• 
  Jean PaulMonument inBayreuth

• 
  Goddesses of Victory,Befreiungshalle(Hall of Liberation), Munich
• 
  King Otto(?) before Greek ambassadors (pencil drawing, c. 1836-41)

• 
  Goddesses of Victory, Befreiungshalle
• 
  Nymph of the Rhine
• 
  Loreley
  Porcelain Museum,Munich
• 
  Nyx(incorporating ancient fragments)
  Prinz-Carl-Palais,Munich
• 
  Melusine
  Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum,Bournemouth,UK

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Schwanthaler, Ludwig Michael".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

• Media related toLudwig Michael Schwanthalerat Wikimedia Commons