Christian Daniel Rauch Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Christian Daniel Rauch
Rauch in 1855
Born	(1777-01-02)2 January 1777 Arolsen, Waldeck, Holy Roman Empire
Died	3 December 1857(1857-12-03) (aged 80) Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony
Nationality	German
Education	Friedrich Valentin Johann Christian Ruhl Prussian Academy of Art
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great

Christian Daniel Rauch by Ernst Rietschel (1857), Albertinum, Dresden

Rauch's grave in Berlin

Christian Daniel Rauch (born January 2, 1777, died December 3, 1857) was a famous German sculptor. He is known for starting the Berlin school of sculpture. Many people consider him the most important German sculptor of the 1800s.

Early Life and Training
Studying in Rome
Famous Works and Monuments
The Frederick the Great Monument
Gallery
See also

Early Life and Training

Bust of Christian Daniel Rauch by David d'Angers (1834)

Christian Daniel Rauch was born in Arolsen, a small town in what was then the Holy Roman Empire. His father worked for Prince Frederick II of Hesse. When Christian was 13, he became an apprentice to Friedrich Valentin, the court sculptor in Arolsen.

In 1795, he became an assistant to Johann Christian Ruhl, another court sculptor in Kassel. After his father and older brother passed away, Rauch moved to Berlin in 1797. There, he got a job in the king's household.

Even though he stopped sculpting for a short time, his new job gave him more chances to learn. He soon started practicing his art in his free time. He was greatly influenced by another famous sculptor, Johann Gottfried Schadow.

Studying in Rome

In 1802, Rauch showed his sculpture called "Sleeping Endymion." Queen Louisa of Prussia saw him working on a wax model of her face one day. She was so impressed that she sent him to study at the Prussian Academy of Art.

A few years later, in 1804, Count Sandrecky helped Rauch go to Rome to finish his education. In Rome, he met and became friends with important artists like Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. He also met Wilhelm von Humboldt, a famous scholar.

While in Rome, Rauch created a life-size marble bust of Queen Louisa. He also made busts of other important people, including the poet Zacharias Werner. He stayed in Rome for six years, learning and creating many works.

Famous Works and Monuments

In 1811, Rauch received a very important job: to create a monument for Queen Louisa of Prussia. The statue showed the queen in a sleeping position. It was placed in a special building called a mausoleum in Charlottenburg. This statue brought him great fame across Europe.

He made another, even more successful, statue of the Queen. This one was placed in the Sanssouci Park in Potsdam. After these successes, Rauch was asked to create almost all the public statues in Germany.

Some of his famous statues include:

Statues of generals like Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, and Gerhard von Scharnhorst in Berlin.
A statue of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in Breslau.
Statues of important historical figures like Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg and Martin Luther in Wittenberg.

By 1824, Rauch had created 70 marble busts, with 20 of them being very large. His huge bronze statues of Blücher were 13 feet tall! He also made most of the 12 iron statues for the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars near Berlin. One of his most beautiful works is the group "Faith, Hope and Charity," which he gave to his hometown of Arolsen.

The Frederick the Great Monument

In 1830, Rauch began working on a huge equestrian monument (a statue of a person on horseback) in Berlin. He worked with the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel on this project. The monument was made to honor King Frederick II of Prussia, also known as Frederick the Great.

This amazing work was officially opened in May 1851. It is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of modern sculpture. It was the crowning achievement of Rauch's career as a sculptor of portraits and historical figures. Because of his incredible talent, princes gave Rauch many awards, and art academies across Europe made him a member.

In his later years, Rauch worked on a statue of Immanuel Kant for Königsberg and a statue of Albrecht Thaer for Berlin. He had just finished a model of Moses praying when he became ill. Christian Daniel Rauch passed away in Dresden at the age of 80.