Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

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![…]“ 52
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. 53
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)
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
52 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.
53 Stefan Mörz, Die letzte Kurfürstin, Stuttgart/Berlin/Köln 1997,
p. 204 f.
VII. Appendices
academy in Vienna 54 where he may have met
another of the academy’s students, Franz
Ignaz Günther. Linck was influenced 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 first 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. 55
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.
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
54 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.
55 Werhahn calls Linck a “Meister der Kleinplastik”, i.e. a master
of small sculpture (Werhahn 1999, p. 35).
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