His first teacher was an inferior sculptor, Tassaert, patronized by Frederick the Great; the master offered his daughter in marriage, but the pupil preferred to elope with a girl to Vienna, and the father-in-law not only condoned the offence but furnished money wherewith to visit Italy. Three years' study in Rome formed his style, and in 1788 he returned to Berlin to succeed Tassaert as sculptor to the court and secretary to the Academy. Over half a century he produced upwards of two hundred works, varied in style as in subjects.
Among his ambitious efforts are Frederick the Great in Stettin, Blücher in Rostock and Luther in Wittenberg. His portrait statues include Frederick the Great playing the flute, and the crown-princess Louise and her sister. His busts, which reach a total of more than one hundred, comprise seventeen colossal heads in the Walhalla, Ratisbon; from the life were modelled Goethe, Wieland and Fichte.
Of church monuments and memorial works thirty are enumerated; yet Schadow hardly ranks among Christian sculptors. He is claimed by classicists and idealists: the quadriga on the Brandenburger Thor and the allegorical frieze on the facade of the Royal Mint, both in Berlin, are judged among the happiest studies from the antique. Schadow, as director of the Berlin Academy, had great influence. He wrote on the proportions of the human figure, on national physiognomy, etc.; and many volumes by himself and others describe and illustrate his method and his work.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
The artists engaged were Schadow, Cornelius, Overbeck and Veit; the subject selected was the story of Joseph and his brethren, and two scenes, the "Bloody Coat" and "Joseph in Prison," fell to the lot of Schadow.
Schadow was in 1819 appointed professor in the Berlin Academy, and his ability and thorough training gained devoted disciples.
Schadow died at Düsseldorf in 1862, and a monument in the square which bears his name was raised at the jubilee held to commemorate his directorate.
Schadow did not at first take up the ideal fresco, as did the masters at Munich, but devoted himself to oil-painting; nor did he attempt great historical subjects, but the more modest forms of art.
Schadow held fast to the principle of the Romantic school, that more weight should be placed upon the conception than the form.
It should, however, be remarked that Schadow, notwithstanding his study from nature, never fully overcame the weakness of the Romantic school, and although he was three times in Italy, where he studied the masters, he exhibited less original force than a graceful talent.
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