On December 24, 1793, the future King of Prussia Frederick Wilhelm III married Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810), while his brother Ludwig (1773-1796) married Friederike (1778-1841), Luise's younger sister, two days later.
KPM ICONS
THE PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE
KPM ICONS
THE PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE
On December 24, 1793, the future King of Prussia Frederick Wilhelm III married Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810), while his brother Ludwig (1773-1796) married Friederike (1778-1841), Luise's younger sister, two days later.
In 1795, the court sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow produced a life-size clay model of the two crown princesses on behalf of the Prussian King Frederick William II., shortly after the marriage of the two sisters to his sons. At the same time, a scaled-down version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE in biscuit porcelain , which is recorded in the model book under the model number 1246 in August 1796. The double statue of the two princesses was also executed in marble and completed in 1797. Not only the king, who chose the sisters as wives for his sons, but also other contemporaries were impressed by the youthful beauty of the two.
Goethe wrote in 1793 that
"the two young ladies could be regarded as heavenly apparitions whose impression will never be lost on me"
"the two young ladies could be regarded as heavenly apparitions whose impression will never be lost on me"
This fascination was not only directed at the sitters themselves; Schadow's work also caused a sensation during its presentation at the Berlin Academy exhibition in September 1797. There, the sculptor exhibited the life-size marble version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE (temporarily in the vestibule of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin), while smaller versions were produced for sale in biscuit porcelain at the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin. An elegant austerity - entirely in the spirit of classicism - combined with the gracefulness of the subject continues to enchant viewers to this day and is considered a major work of early classicism in Berlin, similar to Schadow's Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate from 1793.
In 1795, the court sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow produced a life-size clay model of the two crown princesses on behalf of the Prussian King Frederick William II., shortly after the marriage of the two sisters to his sons. At the same time, a scaled-down version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE in biscuit porcelain , which is recorded in the model book under the model number 1246 in August 1796. The double statue of the two princesses was also executed in marble and completed in 1797. Not only the king, who chose the sisters as wives for his sons, but also other contemporaries were impressed by the youthful beauty of the two.
Goethe wrote in 1793 that
"the two young ladies could be regarded as heavenly apparitions whose impression will never be lost on me"
"the two young ladies could be regarded as heavenly apparitions whose impression will never be lost on me"
This fascination was not only directed at the sitters themselves; Schadow's work also caused a sensation during its presentation at the Berlin Academy exhibition in September 1797. There, the sculptor exhibited the life-size marble version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE (temporarily in the vestibule of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin), while smaller versions were produced for sale in biscuit porcelain at the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin. An elegant austerity - entirely in the spirit of classicism - combined with the gracefulness of the subject continues to enchant viewers to this day and is considered a major work of early classicism in Berlin, similar to Schadow's Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate from 1793.
In 1795, the court sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow produced a life-size clay model of the two crown princesses on behalf of the Prussian King Frederick William II., shortly after the marriage of the two sisters to his sons. At the same time, a scaled-down version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE in biscuit porcelain , which is recorded in the model book under the model number 1246 in August 1796. The double statue of the two princesses was also executed in marble and completed in 1797. Not only the king, who chose the sisters as wives for his sons, but also other contemporaries were impressed by the youthful beauty of the two.
Goethe wrote in 1793 that one could
"consider the two young ladies to be heavenly apparitions, whose impression will never be lost on me"
"consider the two young ladies to be heavenly apparitions, whose impression will never be lost on me"
This fascination was not only directed at the sitters themselves; Schadow's work also caused a sensation during its presentation at the Berlin Academy exhibition in September 1797. There, the sculptor exhibited the life-size marble version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE (temporarily in the vestibule of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin), while smaller versions were produced for sale in biscuit porcelain at the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin. An elegant austerity - entirely in the spirit of classicism - combined with the gracefulness of the subject continues to enchant viewers to this day and is considered a major work of early classicism in Berlin, similar to Schadow's Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate from 1793.
ELABORATE HANDWORK
lavish handwork
The Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur still produces this exquisite group of figurines entirely by hand. For this purpose, 88 individually cast porcelain pieces are joined together and fired to form a new work of art in a complex artistic portrait process.