Reinhold Carl Thusmann Felderhoff

Reinhold Karl Felderhoff studied sculpture at Berlin’s Akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste from 1881-1884. In 1885, he joined the studio of the prominent sculptor Reinhold Begas, contributing to several of Begas’s major commissions, including the monument to Emperor Wilhelm I, completed between 1892–97 (Bloch and Grzimek, op. cit., p. 168). Also in 1885, Felderhoff was awarded a state prize that enabled him to travel to Italy for further study in 1886, with a second journey following in 1890–91 (Bénézit, op. cit., p. 363). During this second trip, Felderhoff joined a circle of artists inspired by Hans von Marées and Adolf von Hildebrand, engaging in vibrant discussions on contemporary art. Felderhoff eventually returned to Berlin and continued to work in the same artistic milieu as Begas’ other students, notably Peter Breuer (Bloch and Grzimek, op. cit., p. 310).

One of Felderhoff’s most celebrated works, Diana debuted as a bronze statuette at the Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1898. A bronze cast of this piece was soon acquired by the Berlin Nationalgalerie and subsequently exhibited at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. A small cast of this model is currently in the Museum Folkwang in Essen (ibid, p. 319).

In 1910, the first life-sized bronze version of Diana was cast by the H. Noack foundry in Berlin and was added to the Nationalgalerie’s collection. This cast currently stands in in the Kolonnadenhof outside the Alte Nationalgalerie. Another life-sized cast by Noack stands in the Wröhmännerpark, Spandau.

RELATED LITERATURE

E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, vol. 5, Paris, 1999, p. 363; P. Bloch and W. Grzimek, Das klassische Berlin: Die Berliner Bildhauerschule, Berlin, 1978