II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

II.
Fig. 1: Aerial view of the bathhouse
and garden (left to right):
Diorama, water-spouting birds,
bathhouse, Temple of Apollo
and natural theatre (photo: LAD
Esslingen, 2005).
36
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
d)
The Bathhouse – Synthesis
of the Arts and Refuge of Elector
Carl Theodor
Building History
Palatine Oberbaudirektor (director-in-chief of
building) Nicolas de Pigage laid out a number
of separate gardens at Schwetzingen, in
accordance with the fashion of the time; but
unlike the gardens created, for example, by
Emmanuel Héré (1705-1763) in Lorraine, they
were integrated into the layout of the garden
as a whole. Pigage accomplished this not only
through his geometrical network of paths
crisscrossing the entire garden, but also by
creating axes of view continually leading from
one part of the garden to another.
The so-called bathhouse, by type a classic
French-style “Maison de plaisance” like Maisons,
Vaux-le-Vicomte, Champs, was intended
as a private refuge with its own garden for
the Elector Palatine. In this the bathhouse
continues the tradition of the “fi lial palaces” of
Versailles, Trianon and Marly. In fact it follows
its French models to the extent of being built,
like the Trianon, off to one side – without, however,
copying the axis and exact distance. The
bathhouse is fi rst mentioned in the Etrennes Palatines
of 1769, a type of calendar: “Le bosquet
& le bâtiment des bains aux quels on travaille.
Ces bains dans le gôut des Anciens porteront le
nom de Thermes Théodoriques.” 1 The Etrennes
refer to the previous year; so work on the
bathhouse probably started in 1768. It does
not appear in the garden plan of 1767, in the
plans by copperplate engraver Egidius Verhelst
or in those by the garden architect Le Rouge
of 1769. Verhelst’s plan was even included in
the Etrennes Palatines of 1769, even though the
text, as quoted above, mentions the building of
the bathhouse. Le Rouge’s plan merely has a
basin where the “water-spouting birds” would
be, with a caption saying “bains”.
The Sckell plan of 1783 is the fi rst to show the
fi nished structure and its surroundings. An
important, so far unused source is provided by
the reports of the ambassador of Saxony, Count
Andreas Riaucour. 2 On 4th July 1772, his secretary,
Zapf, sent a report to Dresden which can
only refer to the completed bathhouse: “Schwezingen,
ce 4 Juillett 1772. Mrsg. L’Electeur y
arriva à 11 h de Schwezingen, et s’entretint
avec S. A. Roiales dans l’appartement de Mad.
La Princesse, jusqu’a ce qu’on se rendit à table,
après la quelle ils allerent dans le nouveau
batiment prendre le caffé, et s’amuserent avec
une partie de jeu, la quelle fi nie, Mrsg. Le
Prince, après avoir pris congé de S.A.S. E. et
de Madame la Princesse sa sœur partit pour
Coblence.” 3 As the bathhouse was the only
building within the Schwetzingen grounds to
have furniture, it is the only possible venue for
the entertainments described. It must therefore
have been built between 1768 and 1772. The
interior decoration probably took until 1775
before it was completed. 4
1 Etrennes Palatines pour l’année 1769. A Mannheim de
l’imprimerie de l’Académie, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg,
Sammlung Batt VII, 83.
2 Count Andreas Riaucour had been agent of the Electorate
of Saxony at Mannheim since 1748; in 1752 he became
Privy Councillor and special envoy of Saxony. In 1754, he
married the daughter of a Palatine minister, Heinrich Ernst
Wilhelm Freiherr von Wrede, und was raised to the nobility
by the Emperor. In 1768, Elector Carl Theodor made him a
member of the Löwenorden, a Palatine order of merit. In 1778,
Riaucour accompanied the court to Munich.
3 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, Geheimes Cabinet
Loc. 2627 Vol. XXV 1772, 4th Juli 1772.
4 [Artikel Schärf zum Badhaus???]