A plaster bust of Grand Duke Karl Ludwig Friedrich of Baden
Classical style bust of the Duke facing left depicted with curly hair and sideburns. Signed I. KAYSER FEC. 1822. on the chest. H c. 56, W c. 46 cm; in the original oval cherry veneered softwood frame, H 67.4, W 56.2 cm.
Karlsruhe, Joseph Kayser, 1822.
Joseph Kayser, a sculptor from the Swiss town of Dagmersellen in the canton of Lucerne, was a student of the Lucerne sculptor F. Schäfer from 1775 to 1779. Around 1785 he received instruction from Peter Anton von Verschaffelt at the Mannheim Academy of Art. From 1798 he worked for the Karlsruhe court and was appointed court sculptor of Baden in 1808.
This signed relief medallion, dated 1822, is probably the one mentioned by Thieme-Becker, which originally belonged to the inventory of Karlsruhe Castle. In the Augustinian Museum in Freiburg there is another copy, also signed but dated 1824, made only two years after this relief and set in a frame that can be dated a little later.
Karl was the son of the hereditary prince Karl Ludwig von Baden (1755 - 1801) and the Amalie von Hessen-Darmstadt (1754 - 1832). After the death of his father he became Grand Duke of Baden in December 1801. Originally engaged to Auguste of Bavaria, Karl had to break the engagement at Napoleon's insistence and marry his adopted daughter Stéphanie Napoléon, actually Stéphanie Louise Adrienne de Beauharnais, niece of Empress Josephine, on April 8th 1806 in Paris. Auguste was instead married to Napoleon's stepson Eugen Beauharnais.