August Wilhelm Goebel, Gudrun (marble)

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				Price: USD 24,000

Description

‘Gudrun’, major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature
Biography: August Willem Goebel

Executed in marble.
Height 58 cm; height including original wooden sockel 178 cm.

The ‘Gudrun’-figure by Goebel was displayed at several exhibitions:
A marble cast of ‘Gudrun’ at the ‘Grosse Düsseldorfer Kunstausstellung’, Messepalast, Köln, 1924. Described in the 1924-exhibition catalog, and depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, Edition 39, 1924.
A bronze cast at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1928. The ‘Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf’ is in the possession of a bronze cast (height 53 cm, unclear whether this is the same cast).
A marble cast at the GDK 1938, room 28; bought by Hitler for 3.000 RM.
A marble cast was again displayed in the exhibition ‘Kunst der Ruhrmark’, Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1942.

Total height 178 cm.

Left: a marble cast of ‘Gudrun’ by August Wilhem Goebel, displayed at the ‘Grosse Düsseldorfer Kunstausstellung’, Messepalast, Köln, 1924. Described in the 1924-exhibition catalog, and depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, Edition 39, 1924.
Right: Gudrun in marble, the GDK-sculpture bought by Hitler for 3.000 Reichsmark. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 1938.
   

‘Gudrun’ in marble, displayed at the GDK 1938, room 28 (left).  

Left: a bronze cast of Gudrun, in the possession of the ‘Museum Kunstpalast’, Düsseldorf. Height 53 cm.
Right: a bronze cast of Gudrun, sold by a German auction house in 2023. Height 50 cm, weight 12.65 kg. 

Gudrun, major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature
Gudrun is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dynasty, Brunhilda of Austrasia and Fredegund. In both the Continental (German) and Scandinavian traditions, Gudrun/Kriemhild is the sister of the Burgundian king Gunther/Gunnar and marries the hero Siegfried/Sigurd. Both traditions also feature a major rivalry between Gudrun and Brunhild, Gunther’s wife, over their respective ranks. In both traditions, once Sigurd has been murdered, Gudrun is married to Etzel/Atli, the legendary analogue of Attila the Hun. In the Norse tradition, Atli desires the hoard of the Nibelungen, which the Burgundians had taken after murdering Sigurd, and invites them to his court intending to kill them. Gudrun then avenges her brothers by killing Atli and burning down his hall. The Norse tradition then tells of her further life as mother of Svanhild and enemy of Jormunrekr. In the continental tradition, Kriemhild instead desires revenge for her brothers’ murder of Siegfried, and invites them to visit Etzel’s court intending to kill them. Her revenge destroys both the Huns and the Burgundians, and in the end she herself is killed.
In Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, Siegfried’s wife is known as Gutrune. She fulfills the role of Gudrun/Kriemhild in the first half of the legend.

August Wilhelm Goebel, ‘Gudrun’ executed in porcelain. Height 31,5 cm. Created by Porzellanfabrik Karl Ens, Volkstedt-Rudolstadt.

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