🔥 Fine Antique 19th c. German Richard Wagner Iron Relief Plaque, Lauchhammer

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Seller: Top-Rated Seller willsusa_utzeqm ✉️ (505) 99.3%, Location: Orange, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 276191377822 🔥 Fine Antique 19th c. German Richard Wagner Iron Relief Plaque, Lauchhammer. This is a historic and Fine Antique 19th c. Imperial German Iron Relief Plaque, depicting the legendary German opera composer, Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883.) The composer's profile portrait is rendered in very fine detail, with lifelike features and attention to detail in the face, hair and clothing. This artwork likely dates to the second half of the 19th century, and was created by Foundry Lauchhammer, which traces its origins to 1725, in a small town on the border of Saxony and Prussia. The portrait is framed by an elegant Rococo style border, with the name: "Wagner" written at the lower edge. Approximately 14 1/4 x 19 inches, and 1 inch thick. On the verso, there are several stamps which read: "Gesetlich Geschutzt ," and the crossed hammer and crown logo of the foundry, along with the number: "3840."  Good condition for over a century of age, with mild oxidation along the edges, and several scuffs and scratches to the painted surface (please see photos.) Acquired from an old collection in Pasadena, California. This would be the perfect addition to any Opera lover's collection, or Wagner aficionado. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About Richard Wagner: Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 â€“ 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama, and which was announced in a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music.

Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. It was here that the Ring and Parsifal received their premieres and where his most important stage works continue to be performed in an annual festival run by his descendants. His thoughts on the relative contributions of music and drama in opera were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg).

Until his final years, Wagner's life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment in recent decades, especially where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century; their influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre. About this Artwork: 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.  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 ‘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. Foundry Lauchhammer
Foundry Lauchhammer was established on 17 July 1725 in Lauchhammer, a small town at the border of Saxonia and Prussia. Baroness Benedicta Margareta von Löwendal, wife of the Oberhofmarschall from Kurfürstentum Sachsen, Woldemar von Löwendal, founded the iron foundry, after the discovery of large quantities of iron-containing rock formations in the area. After her death in 1776, the heir Count Detlev Carl von Einsiedel took over the Herrschaft Mückenberg and the foundry Lauchhammer. Count Einseidel had himself established, from the 1770s onwards, a plaster collection of 882 pieces specifically to be replicated in cast iron. The items were either direct replicas of antique sculptures or else copies made from other plaster collections. In 1780 Lauchhammer became the first European foundry to successfully cast life size hollow sculptures in iron. In 1784 Lauchhammer, with the assistance of sculptors Joseph Mattersberger and Thaddäus Ignatius Wiskotschill, created for the first time ever an iron after cast from an ancient Bacchantin. In 1788 followed the memorial ‘der Frau von Herculaneum’ for the Schloss Mückenberg (the after cast made in the year 2000 is still located in the park of the castle). In 1792 the Prussian architect Carl Gotthard Langhans designed an oven for the Orangery in the New Royal Garden in Potsdam (‘die Neuer Garten‘). Its base featured a device to facilitate the circulation of heat, which took the form of an antique sculpture, the Flora of the Capitoline Museums, which was copied from a plaster cast from the Royal Collection held in Berlin. It was Lauchhammer who molded the plaster cast in iron.
In 1793 the foundry cast the Ildefonso Fountain in Weimar, currently located in front of the Red Castle at the Burgplatz. A plaster cast, acquired by Goethe himself in 1812, is located in the Goethe House in Weimar. The Ildefonso fountain is a cast iron copy of a marble group from the first century AD. Besides sculptures, which Count  Einseidel placed in the parks of his properties in Mückenberg and Wolkenburg, Lauchhammer also started to produce industrial articles for the building and machine industry.
In the beginning of the 19th century, Lauchhammer started up bronze casting. Lauchhammer’s bronze statues of the first Christian Polish regents Mieczyslaw and Boleslaw (after Christian Daniel Rauch) in the Posener Dom attracted great attention (before their actual installment, they were shown at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1840). After that, Lauchhammer’s bronze statues were displayed at numerous exhibitions worldwide; at the World Exhibition in 1855 in Paris, Lauchhammer was awarded a gold medal.
In 1857 the foundry finished its Goethe-Schiller-Memorial (height 3.7 meters), located in front of the Deutschen National Theater in Weimar. Lauchhammer produced after-casts of the sculpture (designed by Ernst Rietschel) which were located in San Francisco (1899), Milwaukee (1907), Cleveland (1906) and Anting (2006).
From 1864 to 1825% Lauchhammer created the 300-meter-long and 400-ton cast iron arcade for the Egyptian royal Gezirah Palace in Cairo. In the same period Lauchhammer finished, after seven years of work, the Luther Memorial by Ernst Rietschel, in the city of Worms. This largest Reformation Memorial worldwide, consisting of 12 statues, 8 busts, 6 reliefs and 24 coat of arms of cities, was revealed on 25 June 1868. Lauchhammer made after casts of the statue of Luther (the main figure of the memorial), which were placed in Washington (1884) and St. Louis (1903).
A year later, in 1869, Lauchhammer created ‘Helvetia and Geneva’, the Swiss National Monument in Geneva. With this work, the sculptor Robert Dorer symbolized Geneva’s integration into the Swiss Confederation on 12 September 1814 with two women each carrying a sword and shield, the Republic of Geneva and Helvetia. In 1875 the foundry cast the Ernst Rietschel Memorial in Dresden. In 1897 the Lauchhammer foundry finished the creation of the George Washington Monument, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sculpted by Rudolf Siemering, the monument was donated to the City of Philadelphia by the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, a group of descendants of Revolutionary War officers. In 1902 Lauchhammer created the huge bronze eagle on the grave of top industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp, at the Friedhof Bredeney, city of Essen (designed by the Munich sculptor Otto Lang).
After WWI Lauchhammer also started with the production of church bells; it is estimated that between 1920 und 1939 around 500 bells were created. During the Russian occupation -the time of the DDR from 1945 to 1989- the production of church bells was ended. Lauchhammer cast the Figurengruppe des Mahnmals im KZ Buchenwald, a monument by Fritz Cremer. The foundry  restored the Berlin Neptunbrunnen and the Mendebrunnen in Leipzig.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and after a privatization operation, the production of church bells was restarted. In 2015 the foundry produced its 800th bell after the Reunification.
  • Condition: Used
  • Artist: Foundry Lauchhammer
  • Signed By: Foundry Lauchhammer
  • Size: Medium
  • Signed: Yes
  • Period: Art Nouveau (1880-1920)
  • Title: "Wagner"
  • Material: Iron, Metal
  • Region of Origin: California, USA
  • Subject: Figures, Men
  • Type: Sculpture
  • Format: Cameo
  • Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
  • Item Height: 19 in
  • Style: Art Nouveau, Figurative Art, Portraiture, Realism
  • Features: Limited Edition, Numbered
  • Production Technique: Metalwork
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Germany
  • Handmade: Yes
  • Item Width: 14 1/4 in
  • Time Period Produced: 1850-1899

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