II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

IV.
178
IV. Biographies
Franz Conrad Linck (1730-1793)
Franz Conrad Linck (baptised 16th December
1730 in Speyer; died 15th October 1793
in Mannheim) was the scion of a family of
sculptors at Speyer. He was apprenticed to
his father Johann Georg Linck, and after his
father’s death, he spent some time in the Prince-Bishop’s
capital of Würzburg. He probably
trained with Johann Wolfgang von der Auwera,
who was working on the interior decoration
of the palace. From 13th February 1753,
Linck is known to have studied with Jacob
Schletterer (1699-1774) at the imperial academy
in Vienna 53 where he may have met another
of the academy’s students, Franz Ignaz
Günther. Linck was infl uenced by the works
of Georg Raphael Donner (1693-1741), whose
work is among the highlights of Austrian Baroque
sculpture. The academy’s casts of Classical
statuary gave him an understanding of
antique sculpture. With letters of recommendation
from Vienna, he next went to Georg
Franz Ebenhecht (d. 1757) in Berlin. Ebenhecht
worked as a sculptor for King Frederick
the Great; at the time, he was working on
the interior decoration of the palace of Sanssouci
and the statuary for its garden. After
Ebenhecht’s death and the outbreak of the Seven
Years’ War, Linck returned to Speyer in
1757 and at fi rst joined his stepfather’s workshop.
In 1762, he took service with Elector Palatine
Carl Theodor as a modeller for the Palatine
porcelain manufactory of Frankenthal.
Experts rank Linck’s models with those of Johann
Joachim Kaendler (1706-1775) of Meißen
and Franz Anton Bustelli (d. 1763) of Nymphenburg.
54 In 1763, Linck was appointed Palatine
court sculptor, but he continued to make
models for Frankenthal, among them, in 1773,
the porcelain chandelier for the Schwetzingen
bathhouse. In 1789, Linck became a member
of the Palatine drawing academy, and in 1790,
one of its professors.
53 Biographical data from: Maria Christiane Werhahn, Der
kurpfälzische Hofbildhauer Franz Conrad Linck (1730-1793)
Modelleur der Porzellanmanufaktur Frankenthal Bildhauer in
Mannheim, Neuss 1999, pp. 15-21.
54 Werhahn calls Linck a “Meister der Kleinplastik”, i.e. a master
of small sculpture (Werhahn 1999, p. 35).
He created many sculptures for the Schwetzingen
grounds; they are listed here in chronological
order:
Gable relief of the Temple of Minerva; two altars
and six benches in the Temple of Minerva;
pair of grotesque tritons in the basin in front
of the Temple of Minerva; eight pedestals bearing
gilt balls in the tapis vert behind the stag
basin; cherubs playing with a goat in the northern
angloise; bust of Pompey in the pavilion
north of the palace (lost); busts of Solon and of
a gladiator in the natural theatre; busts of Domitian,
Marciana, Marcellus, and Faustina in
front of the bathhouse; gables bearing the initials
of Elector Carl Theodor on the east and
west bathhouse fronts; two garlanded urns
decorating the north and south bathhouse
gables; four medallions over the bathhouse
windows; four leaden griffi ns supporting consoles
in the bathhouse’s Oval Chamber; water
urn and serpent-shaped leaden pipes for the
bathhouse’s bathroom; two gable reliefs and
six lead reliefs inside the agate cabinets; doorframe
with a gable and relief for the Temple of
Botany; reliefs on the Temple of Mercury.
Linck’s work marks the transitional period between
Rococo and Classicism. His large-scale
works are modelled on Classical sculpture,
which he had studied in the Hall of Antiques
of the Mannheim academy of drawing and
sculpture.. 55 His medallions are copies of pieces
from the electoral coin collection.
His last major commission from the Elector
was for the statues of Carl Theodor and Minerva
for the bridge spanning the Neckar at Heidelberg,
which had been rebuilt after being
destroyed by heavy ice in 1784. Franz Conrad
Linck died on 15th October 1793 in Mannheim.
(Ralf Richard Wagner)
Johann Ludwig Petri (1714-1794)
Johann Ludwig Petri was a native of Eisenach
and a scion of the court gardener’s family. He
trained as a garden architect in Paris. From the
1740s he served Duke Christian IV von Pfalz-
55 See also the entry on Peter Anton von Verschaffelt.