Bust of a man (possibly Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling)
Life-sized Classical style bust carved from white Carrara marble on a separately worked plinth. With some chips around the edges and to the ear lobes. H bust 50, with plinth 62.5 cm.
After Christian Friedrich Tieck (1776 - 1851), 19th C.
Christian Friedrich Tieck first portrayed the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775 - 1854) around 1800. According to Bernhard Maaz, Tieck began work on a plaster bust in April 1809, orienting himself on the model developed by Thorvaldsen of a rectangular chest piece closed at the back (Maaz, WVZ, p. 112). Versions in marble could have been made when Tieck was in Carrara in the years 1815 - 19. A production period after the death of Tieck in 1851 and Lessing would also be possible. The best known example from this period is the bust of Arnold Lossow from 1859 for the Walhalla in Regensburg, which was also created on the basis of the plaster. All these busts show a still youthful Schelling in his early 30s. The portrait presented here is that of a slightly older man, more in his 40s, which would correspond with Tieck's stay in Carrara. In 1835 Joseph Karl Stieler (1781 - 1858) created a portrait of the philosopher that is an aged version and more like this bust. Tieck, on the other hand, avoided spontaneous expressions of life and preferred a solemn, serious presentation. Nevertheless, his influence is clearly noticeable in this depiction.
Literature
Cf. Maaz, Christian Friedrich Tieck. 1776 - 1851. Leben und Werk, Berlin 1995, cat. 72, p. 287 ff.
Cf. Maaz (ed.), Nationalgalerie. Das XIX. Jahrhundert. Bestandskatalog der Skulpturen, vol. 2, Berlin 2006, cat. no. 1225.
Cf. Maaz, Skulptur in Deutschland zwischen Französischer Revolution und Erstem Weltkrieg, vol. 1, Berlin-Munich 2010, illus. 250.