Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

III.
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).
32
III. Architectural Features
b)
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 “filial
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 first
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 first to show
the finished 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 finie, 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 probably completed.
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.