Christian Daniel Rauch - A white marble bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Christian Daniel Rauch - image-1

Lot 1106 Dα

Christian Daniel Rauch - A white marble bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Christian Daniel Rauch

Auction 1245 - overview Cologne
16.05.2024, 11:01 - Old Masters and 19th Century, Part I
Estimate: 20.000 € - 25.000 €
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Christian Daniel Rauch

A white marble bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Christian Daniel Rauch

White marble. Inscribed on the back of the bust "C. D. RAUCH" and "GEB. MICHELI BERLIN". Christian Daniel Rauch created the model for his bust of Goethe on 20.-21.8.1820 in Weimar. Rauch's finished bust was ready to be shown at the Academy Exhibition in Berlin in September 1820 and received both enthusiastic praise as well as criticism for its lifelike naturalism. Probably the most well-known depiction of Goethe, this work still colours our image of the famous German poet to this day. Replicas of the so-called a-tempo bust were produced in marble since the mid-19th century by the Micheli brothers in the "Gipsformerei Großberlin", whereby they amended the originally rounded base of the bust to a more angular, Herm-like terminal.
Height 67.5 cm.

Provenance

Art dealers Bethmann-Hollweg/Westphal. - 922nd Lempertz auction, Berlin 28.5.2008, lot 341. - German private collection.

Literature

For prototype by Rauch and the marble replicas of the Micheli brothers, see Jutta von Simson: Christian Daniel Rauch - Oeuvrekatalog, Berlin 1996, p. 175-179, cat. no. 100, ill.