THE PRINCESSES GROUP
On December 24, 1793, the future King of Prussia, Friedrich , married Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776–1810); two days later, his brother Ludwig (1773–1796) married Friederike (1778–1841), Luise’s younger sister.
In 1795, court sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow , commissioned by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II, created a life-size clay model of the two crown princesses with his sons, shortly after the two sisters were married. At the same time, a smaller version of the PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE in bisque porcelain, which is listed in the model book under model number 1246 in August 1796. In addition, a 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 captivated by the youthful beauty of the two.
"I regard the two young ladies as heavenly apparitions, the memory of whom will never fade for me either"
This fascination was not limited to the subjects themselves; Schadow’s work also caused a great stir during its presentation at the Berlin Academy Exhibition in September 1797. There, the sculptor exhibited the life-size marble version of * PRINZESSINNENGRUPPE * (at times on display in the vestibule of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin), while smaller versions were produced in bisque porcelain by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin for sale. A refined austerity—entirely in the spirit of Classicism—combined with the grace of the subject continues to enchant viewers to this day and is considered a major work of early Berlin Classicism, much like Schadow’s Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate from 1793.
ELABORATE HANDCRAFTING
The Royal Porcelain Manufactory continues to produce this exquisite figurine set entirely by hand. To create it, 88 individual porcelain castings are assembled into a new work of art through a labor-intensive artistic sculpting process and then fired.
