Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

sculptor of Duke Leopold of Lorraine, and
after Lorraine had been ceded to the Polish
king in exile, Stanisław Leszczyński, Guibal
became Second Architect in 1738 . 45 Among
his principal works are the Neptun and
Amphitrite fountains in the Place Stanislas
in Nancy, the statue of Louis XV in the same
square, and the colossal figures of two saints
on the towers of the church of St. Jacques
in Lunéville. For the gardens of Stanislaw at
Lunéville and La Malgrange, Guibal made
numerous lead sculptures that today are in
the Schwetzingen grounds. Among them are
the central fountain of the circular parterre
depicting Arion and four groups of cherubs,
four more groups of cherubs distributed
around the parterre, the wild boar next to the
bathhouse and and two cherubs with a sea
monster in the northern angloise. 46
There are no documents about the sale
of the lead sculptures to Schwetzingen. It
was probably arranged by way of Nicolas
de Pigage’s or Nicolas Guibal’s family
connections. Garden Director Zeyher is the
first to mention it: ”... Arion and the swans in
the large basin as well as those groups in the
four smaller basins are made of lead. They
were not made specifically for this garden
but are part of the estate of King Stanislaw,
who died at Lüneville [sic!] in 1766; they were
sold at ten sols a pound.”47 Judging by the
very low price, the sculptures appear to have
been sold for, the value of the raw material;
taking them to Schwetzingen was probably
rather more expensive. They must have been
acquired in 1767/68, because the Etrennes
Palatines Pour L’Année 1769 mention the
putting up of the sculptures.
The leaden group in the central basin depicts
Arion astride a dolphin, surrounded by three
male cherubs and one female, playing with
herons and swans. Arion, who appears in the
45 Biographical data taken from Thieme/Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon
der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart,
Leipzig 1999, Vol. 15/16, p. 265.
46 The water-spouting birds were probably from Malgrange.
However, as the originals are lost, and the present sculptures
are copies of copies, their attribution to Guibal is tentative.
47 Johann Michael Zeyher and J.G. Rieger, Schwetzingen und
seine Garten=Anlagen, Mannheim 1809, p. 82.
VII. Appendices
writings of Herodotus and Ovid, was a Greek
poet from the island of Lesbos, whose wealth
aroused the envy of the sailors who were
supposed to take him from Sicily back home
to Greece. They decided to rob him and throw
him overboard, but granted his final request
to be allowed to sing once more. Afterwards
he cast himself into the sea, but a dolphin who
had heard his singing carried him to safety.
The life-size sculpture of a wild pig in the
Schwetzingen grounds is among the best
work of Barthélemy Guibal. Placed on a leaden
base shaped like a rock and decorated with
greenery, the creature defends itself against
two dogs. Water spouts from its mouth, open
in agony. Today the sculpture is situated close
to the bathhouse, on top of a tuff grotto;
originally it was in the southern angloise near
the Lycian Apollo. 48
(Ralf Richard Wagner)
Nicolas Guibal (1725-1784)
The painter Nicolas Guibal (29.11.1725
Lunéville - 03.11.1784 Stuttgart) was the
son of the sculptor, Barthélemy Guibal,
who was his first teacher. At 13 he was
apprenticed to Claude Charles (1661–1747),
court painter of Duke Leopold of Lorraine at
Nancy. In 1740, he went to Paris to continue
his training with Charles Natoire (1700 –
1777); in 1745, he became a member of the
Academy. In 1749, Guibal went to Stuttgart
and participated in the interior decoration
of the old summer house, that was being
converted into an opera house. Duke Carl
Eugen von Württemberg paid for Guibal to
spend several years in Rome, and in 1752, he
joined the Roman studio of Anton Raphael
Mengs (1728–1779). On 24th September 1755,
he was appointed “premier peintre” back in
Württemberg; in 1760, he was the director
of the Ludwigsburg gallery. On 10th January
1784, he was admitted to the Paris Academy
as a full member. 49 Works by Nicolas Guibal
48 Recent excavations have allowed the reconstruction of an
octagonal basin with a central fountain.
49 Biographical data taken from Thieme/Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon
der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart,
Leipzig 1999, Vol. 15/16, pp. 266 ff.
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