Lauchhammer, Bismarck with Crown of Duke

Back

				Price: € 2.400

Description

‘Bismarck bekrönt mit Herzogskröne’ (‘Bismarck with Crown of Duke’)
Lauchhamer, Foundry

Created between 1872 – 1922, by Foundry Lauchhammer (1725 – until know).
Height: 56 cm.
At the back the Lauchhammer mark from 1872-1922, and the text ‘Gesetzlich Geschützt’ (‘Protected by Law’).

At the back the foundry mark of Lauchhammer used from 1872 – 1922.
 

Lauchhammer created between 1872 – 1922 in total 6 similar reliefs -with crowns- for prominent men in the 19^th century. All reliefs are 56 cm high, have a specific  number at the back, and bear the foundry mark which Lauchammer used from 1872 – 1922. Iron casts painted gold/bronze.
1. Bismarck with crown of a Duke
2. Moltke with crown of a Count
3. Goethe with crown of Faun, Girl and Leaves
4. Kaiser Wilhelm I with Kaiser-crown
4. Kaiser Friedrich II with Kaiser-crown
5. Kaiser Wilhelm II with Kaiser-crown

From left to right: Bismarck, Moltke, Goethe.
     

The three emperiors who all ruled in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperiors.
From left to right: Kaiser Wilhelm I, Friedrich II, Wilhelm II.
         

Left:  Bismarck plaque by Lauchhammer, located in Museum Schloss Wernigrode, in Wernigrode. The collection of the museum consists of works of art from 1803 – 1918.
Right: Bismarck plaque by Lauchhammer, located in the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. Donated by the ‘American Cast Iron Pipe Company’ (incorporated 1905) in 1986.
   

Plaque by Lauchhammer, Reichskanzler Fürst Otto von Bismarck  and Feldmarschall Graf Helmuth von Moltke.  

‘The Iron Century’
Cast Iron in Germany: the cultural-historical significance of iron casting during the 19th century.
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply ‘a bronze’. Artists were working with bronze even in ancient times, such as in the Greek and Roman civilizations. The first known bronze statue is likely ‘Dancing Girl’ from Mohenjodaro (Pakistan), belonging to the Harappan civilization and dating back to c. 2500 BC. However, the Greeks were the first to scale the figures up to life size: an example that is still in existence is ‘Victorious Youth’, a life-size bronze made between 300 and 100 BC.
Casting iron sculptures is a technically different and more complicated process. Cast iron had been occasionally used in Europe in basic architectural embellishment in the Middle Ages, such as fire backs with cast figures and scenes. It was not until 1784 that the German foundry Lauchhammer, with the assistance of sculptors Joseph Mattersberger and Thaddäus Ignatius Wiskotschill, for the first time in Europe, successfully cast a life-size hollow sculpture in iron. The use of cast iron for sculpting in Prussia developed rapidly under the reign of King Friedrich Wilhelm III; from 1797 to 1840 the Berlin art scene operated on a high level, and several Berlin artists preferred iron for their works. Cast iron was more affordable than bronze, and in the 19th century, ‘The Iron Century’, a large number of high-quality sculptures -often with monumental dimensions – were produced. During the German ‘Freiheitskriege’ (Battles against Napoleon from 1813- 1815), the social valuation of cast iron had already increased. For example, there were successful war financing campaigns like Eisen statt Gold and the creation of the Eiserne Kreuz. The cultural-historical significance of iron casting during the 19th century was further catalyzed by Friedrich Wilhelm III, who had his palace decorated with cast iron art, produced in Prussia. Black-coated iron became an aesthetical mark in Klassizismus. Meanwhile, the popularity of cast iron sculpting was not limited to Germany. The first Crystal Place Exhibition in 1851 in London prominently showed a series of life-size iron sculptures, as did the Exposition Universelle of 1855 held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. It is notable that many sculptures and other iron art works in that time period were not signed by the artist or by the foundry.
The glory days of cast iron sculpting ended around the third part of the 19th century. The famous Königlich Preußische Eisengießerei (founded in 1796) closed its doors in 1874. The prominent Saynerhütte (founded in 1769) was sold to Firma Krupp in 1865, and it ceased the production of iron sculptures. Paradoxically, Foundry Lauchhammer (founded in 1725), which created the first cast iron life-size sculpture in Europe, is still in existence. A short renaissance in iron sculpting took place in the 1920s.