II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

Ferdinand Kobell (1740-1799)
The painter and etcher Ferdinand Kobell
(07.06.1740 Mannheim – 01.02.1799 Munich)
fi rst studied law at Heidelberg. From 1760 he
worked as a secretary for the court at Mannheim.
In 1762, Elector Carl Theodor supplied
him with a grant to attend the Mannheim
drawing academy headed by Verschaffelt,
and excused him from the civil service. In
1764, Kobell was appointed set painter, and
in 1766, cabinet painter. In 1768-70, he went
to Paris, with another electoral grant, to train
as an etcher with the copperplate engraver
Johann Georg Wille. Inspired by his teachers,
he studied Dutch landscape painting in
particular. In 1771, Kobell was appointed
cabinet landscape painter and received his
fi rst major commission. He created seven
wall paintings for the Elector’s study in the
Schwetzingen bathhouse. Kobell’s paintings
depict landscapes similar to the real views to
be had from the windows. Their outstanding
quality contributes much to the artistic value
of the bathhouse.
Kobell’s landscape paintings were very much
to the taste of an era that adored 17th-century
Dutch painting. The Chinese room in the
bathhouse still features two monochrome
sopraportas by him; another four are in the
palace museum. The most remarkable among
them is in the Elector’s cabinet; it is a copy of
Jean Baptiste Creuze’s “The good mother”.
(Ralf Richard Wagner)
Peter Simon Lamine (1738-1817)
Peter Simon Lamine (1738-1817) was born
in the Palatine capital of Mannheim. In his
youth, numerous trips took him to Paris,
Vienna, and Rome. He trained with Peter
Anton von Verschaffelt. A grant from Elector
Carl Theodor (1724/1742-1799) allowed him
to spend the years between 1766 and 1771 in
Italy to complete his studies. 50
In the early 1770s Lamine created, within 18
months, the sculpture of Pan for the grounds
at Schwetzingen; it was much praised by his
50 Otto Knaus, Künstler am Hofe Carl Theodors, Schwetzingen
1963, pp. 117 f.
IV. Biographies
contemporaries and is still well-known. The
sculpture of the Arcadian god of herdsmen
and shepherds, sitting on a large rock made of
tuff, was put up in the northern angloise.
In his Deutsche Chronik, the writer and journalist
Christian Daniel Schubart describes the
sculpture as an embodiment of mischievous
humour:
„In particular I have found masterpieces of
the sculptor’s art, which unfortunately is on
the decline in Germany: in the Schwetzingen
grounds there is statuary that would not
disgrace a fairy garden. Only recently a young
sculptor, Mr. Lamini, has fashioned a satyr.
A happy mood guided his hand, and wit
inspired his chisel. On seeing the furrowed
brow, the round deep eyes, the pointed,
curved nose, the mocking smile, the almost
Voltairean expression, there is nothing for it
but to exclaim: Beautiful! Beautiful! This is
beautiful![…]“ 51
When Carl Theodor moved to Munich in
1778, Lamine was commissioned to make
another Pan for the Nymphenburg gardens.
In 1795, he was given the task of making
a sarcophagus for the wife of Elector Carl
Theodor, Elisabeth Augusta (1721-1799), who
had died the previous year. It was taken to
Munich in 1805, and found its resting place in
the church of St. Michael. 52
When his teacher Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
died in 1793, Lamine succeeded him as
director of the Palatine drawing academy
at Mannheim. However, in 1805 he left the
Palatinate for Munich. He was called to the
court of Carl Theodor’s successor, Elector
Maximilian IV Joseph (1756/1799-1825) and
made director of the Chamber of Antiques.
In 1808, he became professor of sculpture at
Munich. He died there in 1817.
(Susan Richter)
51 Christian Daniel Schubart, “Zwey und siebzigstes Stück. Den 5.
December”, in: Deutsche Chronik, Augsburg 1774, p. 569. Cp.
Oswald Zenker, Schwetzinger Schlossgarten, Schwetzingen
1989, p. 67.
52 Stefan Mörz, Die letzte Kurfürstin, Stuttgart/Berlin/Köln 1997,
p. 204 f.
IV.
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