Franz Xaver Schwanthaler

Ludwig Schwanthaler (Munich 1802 – 1848), was one of the most important and influential sculptors in Munich of the 19th Century and one of the founders of the modern Romantic school of sculpture.

He first trained with his father and then (1819-22) attended the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, established in Munich in 1808. As a pupil of Albrecht Adam, he first trained as a painter of battle pictures but then turned increasingly to sculpture. After his father’s death he took over his studio, receiving his first official commission in 1824 from Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (reg 1806-25). Schwanthaler made many reliefs, taken from the stories of the Greek gods and heroes, for the salons of the Glyptothek at Munich.

Periods spent by Schwanthaler in Rome in the years 1826-27 and 1832-34 were to have a crucial impact on his further development as a practising artist: in Bertel Thorvaldsen’s studio he saw how an up-to-date large-scale artist’s studio of European renown was run as a business, and he adopted this as a model for his own studio in Munich. There he soon became a much sought-after sculptor, both at court and among the middle classes. In 1835 he was appointed professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In 1837 he signed a contract for his master work, which would preoccupy him for the rest of his life, the colossal statue of Bavaria.

He exhibited an astonishing inventive talent which seemed never to repeat itself, which showed freshness and animation in the presentation, and a grasp of monumental size and classic beauty in the general conception of works. He exhibited great skill in the treatment of medieval and modern dress. Contrary to his natural inclination he was constantly obliged to treat antique subjects, but he brought to his task a classically-trained mind and taste.

‘Venus disarms Cupid’ – this group is known through a sketchy pencil drawing by Ludwig Schwanthaler (Stadtmuseum Munich). Apart from this group, two other versions are known:

• Bavarian National Museum, room 54, inventory number 2004/85. 2006-present , private property; from the art market, New York, Venus disarming Cupid, white Marble, Munich, 1845, H: 48.5, W: 48.5, at base sigend with the characteristic monogram LS.
• Harvard Art Museum, MA, Venus and Cupid on a Dolphin, Ludwig Schwanthalerstraße, Accession Number BR70.4 , H: 48.26, W: 48.26, T: 19.69 cm, marble.

Franz Xaver Schwanthaler ( 1799-1854 )

Unlike the two above mentioned groups by Ludwig Schwanthaler, the one presented here is an autograph work of his cousin Franz Xaver Schwanthaler. It is signed on the plinth below the head of the dolphin with the monogram XS (the S in form of a stylized swan). Franz Xaver Schwanthaler was a talented sculptor, trained by his father Franz Jacob Schwanthaler (1760–1820) in Munich. After the death of his father he worked in the studio of his cousin Ludwig Schwanthaler and became soon the leading master sculptor of the workshop. As the closest co-worker of Ludwig, he was involved in the execution of most commissions.

This sculpture stands in connection with a plaster cast in a private collection, which was previously on loan to Bavarian National Museum and which is obviously based on the model of his cousin Ludwig Schwanthaler.

There is a large version by Franz Xaver Schwanthaler, commissioned by King Wilhelm I. von Württemberg for the collection of sculptures at Schloss Rosenstein (today at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Inv.-No.: KRG 7370, h: 110, w: 109, d: 55 cm).

Stylistic similarities also exist between the ,Sinnenden Nymphe’ in the Bavarian National Museum and the Venus in this small, romantic group. In particular the treatment of the flowing hair at the back and the hair ornaments.

Literature:

Maaz, Bernhard, Skulptur in Deutschland, zwischen Französischer Revolution und Erstem Weltkrieg, Band I/II, Berlin/München, 2010.

Otten, Frank, Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler, 1802-1848, Ein Bildhauer unter König Ludwig I von Bayern, Passau, 1970.