II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

French ambassador François Bonaventure
Tilly Marquis de Blaru (1701-1775) wrote:
“J’ai souvent besoin de l’amitié que ce Prince
a la bonté de me témoigner pour le tiers de
l’affreuse mélancholie où je l’ay quelque fois vû
plongé. … Le duc est dissimulé, parle peu, et on
ne peut guère savoir au juste ce qu’il pense.” 11
Carl Theodor loved solitude and liked to go for
solitary rambles in his Schwetzingen garden,
by then open to the public. This inclination was
his very own trait, while the tendency to retire
into a more private sphere was characteristic
of his times. And so Carl Theodor created a
private refuge protected by the walls and gates
surrounding his bathhouse. Here he could do
as he pleased. The manner of Carl Theodor’s
using his bathhouse becomes evident from
the notes of the Swabian poet and musician,
Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739-
1791), who wrote in 1791: “In the midst of
these entertainments I received orders to go to
Schwetzingen immediately, and play for the
Elector – an order the more pleasing to me as
it was usually very diffi cult to obtain a hearing
with this prince. I drove there with young
Count Nesselrode and was called in immediately.
The Elector was in his bathhouse, as he often
is, a small but exceedingly tasteful building in
the garden; the Princes Gallian and Isenburg
were with him, Frau von Sturmfelder and another
couple of cavaliers. He had dispensed with
most of his splendour, the mien of the sceptical
ruler, and appeared to be merely a good man
and gracious host. His appearance bespoke
health and manly vigour. The friendly glance he
casts over strangers and locals, soothes the fear
inspired by his power and fame. Looking at his
serene face, one soon forgets the star sparkling
on his breast and announcing his greatness. He
received me so graciously that my awkwardness
soon gave way to ease. After inquiring very
kindly after my circumstances, he himself
played, almost diffi dently, a fl ute concert
accompanied by two Toeschi and the violoncellist
Danzy. Afterwards I played a number of
pieces on the piano, sang a Russian war song I
11 Mörz 1991, p. 19.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
had made, rose, talked about literature and art
and gained the Elector’s full approval. “I will
listen and talk to you more often”, he said with
the most pleasant expression when I took my
leave. This initial success poured joy and hope
into my heart.» 12
This is the only source telling us about the
uses the bathhouse was put to by its builder.
However, it is likely that Carl Theodor, who was
deeply interested in literature, music and the
natural sciences, gathered like-minded friends
in the bathhouse, thus making his refuge into a
place of inspiration and intellectual interchange.
Description and Function
Access and exterior
The bathhouse is a rectangular, one-storey building
with a central octagonal tambour. The
simple transverse rectangle is the most common
solution for ground plans of the early
Classicist era, particularly for country palaces
and townhouses. Two paths lead up to the bathhouse.
Next to the natural theatre to the north,
there is a small lawn with a central water feature,
a so-called champignon d’eau in a circular,
monolithic sandstone basin. The lawn is lined
12 Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, C. F. D. Schubart’s, des
Patrioten, gesammelte Schriften und Schicksal, Stuttgart 1839,
pp. 150 f.
II.
Fig. 6: Bathhouse vestibule/Oval
Hall (photo: LAD Esslingen,
2006).
39