Carl Johann Steinhäuser

B. Maaz, Skulptur in Deutschland zwischen Französischer Revolution und Erstem Weltkrieg, Munich, 2010, vol. 1, p. 90, fig. 93

Carl Johann Steinhäuser was among the most talented students of the great Danish neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, whose Roman studio he took over after the master’s death in 1844. Prior to his arrival in Rome in 1835, Steinhäuser trained in the celebrated workshop of Christian Daniel Rauch, the founder of an influential school of sculpture in Berlin. Settling in the Eternal City under the auspices of his famous new mentor, Steinhäuser converted to Catholicism and did not return to Germany until 1864, when he took a professorship in Karlsruhe, having become an eminent sculptor in his own right.

As one of Thorvaldsen's foremost assistants, Steinhäuser not only attained the technical excellence demanded of his profession, but adopted the soft classicism for which the Danish master was known. While Rauch and his disciples favoured a rather severe style informed by Enlightenment values, Steinhäuser turned towards an interpretation of the antique that focused on beauty of form and emotional sensitivity. His early work was dominated by romanticised genre scenes and mythological subjects such as Psyche and Hero and Leander, of which a version was chosen for the Orangerie at Sanssouci in Potsdam. Following his conversion to Catholicism in 1848, Steinhäuser developed an interest in religious themes, carrying out commissions for churches across northern Germany. Although this brought him into association with the Nazarene movement, the sculptor’s oeuvre remained ambitious and varied, combining classical, religious and literary subjects.

The present relief may be counted among the central works of Steinhäuser's earlier career. It beautifully showcases the pure delicacy of the sculptor’s treatment of marble. Depicting a half-imagined scene from ancient Roman history, the relief portrays the Germanic hero Arminius and his wife Thusnelda, the subjects of a passage in Tacitus' Annals. Arminius, a first-century AD chieftain of the Cherusci tribe, passionately fell in love with Thusnelda, the daughter of Segestes, a prince with sympathies for the invading Romans. Although Thusnelda had been promised to another man, Arminius abducted and married her. After a period of dispute, an incensed Segestes in turn abducted his pregnant daughter and delivered her to the Roman general Germanicus, who later paraded her and her son Thumelicus as trophies in his triumph in Rome. Arminius never saw his wife again.

The tragic heroine and her impulsive husband are shown in romanticised classical garb, with Thusnelda affectionately placing her hand on Arminius' arm. Their galloping horses are reminiscent of the Parthenon frieze and reflect the sculptor's meticulous study of the antique. By representing the lovers in flight during their elopement, Steinhäuser evokes both a romantic and a nationalistic ideal. As an embodiment of the spirit of liberty, the couple may be seen as representative of the German tribes' defiance against Roman rule, an idea that appealed to 19th-century Germany. The sculptor presents his ideology with stylistic sensitivity and technical accomplishment, as may be observed in the subtle silhouette of Thusnelda’s legs beneath her elegantly flowing drapery.

RELATED LITERATURE

P. Bloch et al. (eds.), Ethos und Pathos. Die Berliner Bildhauerschule 1786-1914, vol. 1, Ausstellungskatalog, exh. cat. Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, 1990, pp. 305-308; H. Tesan, Thorvaldsen und seine Bildhauerschule in Rom, Cologne, 1998, pp. 227-228