The Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin presented the Princess Group – the famous double statue of the princesses Luise and Friederike of Prussia by the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow. For the first time, the icon of classicism could be seen together in the marble and plaster version. In addition, there was a bronze version and a coloured version to enjoy. And exclusively on my site, a singing Luise.
In the so-called Schinkel Hall of the Alte Nationalgalerie, the two versions of Schadow’s princess group are reunited for the first time since they left Schadow’s Studio over 200 years ago. In fact, the plaster and marble versions are both originals, because Schadow created and exhibited the plaster version as a final work in 1795. Not until later did King Frederick William II give permission for the sculpture of the two sisters to be executed in marble. Now they stand here, united and multiplied by mirrors on both side walls.
Today, Schadow’s works have achieved iconic status. Like hardly any other work, the life-size double statue of Princesses Luise and Friederike of Prussia, the so-called Princess Group, stands for Berlin and its contribution to the art of classicism. As the first statue of two female historical figures, it made art history and even today its sensual design is still touching. As a protagonist of Classicism, Schadow is mentioned in one breath with the famous sculptors Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, with whom he maintained close contact during his time in Rome in 1785-1787.
The double statue of the princesses was celebrated by experts and the public at the time but was held in low esteem by Luise’s husband and subsequently almost forgotten for around 90 years. Schadow’s princess group was also presented in two other versions in the current exhibition at the Alte Nationalgalerie. In 1975, the artist Hans-Peter Feldmann, who lives in Düsseldorf, began colouring plaster casts of famous sculptures. A few years ago, he also created a polychrome colour version of the Princess Group. The replica cast in gilded bronze by the Berlin sculpture foundry Hermann Noack from 1906 was also on display. Both sculptures give a different impression than the pure white marble version.
The Berlin exhibition also showed various busts of Luise, sometimes in a high-necked dress with a shawl, sometimes without formal decoration and without a chin-tie. The princess group is widely used in many copies of varying size and quality as an art object, decorative object and Berlin souvenir. And using the artificial intelligence of a photo animation app, I added on my blog a singing Luise as a tribute to Schadow’s work. Luise sings: Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper from the year 1983.
The marble Princess Group can still be seen in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The plaster version now in the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche in Berlin.