Rauch

Rauch, CHRISTIAN DANIEL, sculptor, was born at Arolsen, in Waldeck, 2d January 1777. In 1797 he became valet to Frederick-William III., king of Prussia, but, resolving to devote himself to art, was enabled by the generosity of a nobleman to study at Rome, where he enjoyed the friendship of Thorwaldsen, Canova, and Wilhelm von Humboldt, the Prussian minister. In 1811 he was called by the king of Prussia to Berlin to execute the monumental statue of Queen Louisa now at Charlottenburg. Rauch was not, however, quite satisfied with this triumph of his art, but commenced a new statue of the queen, which he finished eleven years afterwards, a masterpiece of sculpture, now in the palace of Sans Souci. After this he lived principally at Berlin, but occasionally visited Rome, Carrara, and Munich. He laboured indefatigably in his profession, and by 1824 had executed seventy busts in marble, of which twenty were of colossal size. His works include two colossal bronze statues of Field-marshall Blücher (1827), a bronze statue of Maximilian of Bavaria (1835), and statues of Albert Dürer, Goethe, Schiller, and Schleiermacher. His masterpiece is the magnificent monument of Frederick the Great (1851) which adorns Berlin. He died at Dresden, 3d December 1857. See Life by Eggers (1873-90).