Frederick II

The sculpture presenting the oldest son of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover and Fredrick William I Hohenzollern, Fredrick II Hohenzollern, known as the Great, is the representative image of the Prussian ruler, created at the request of the knights of the Pomeranian Province upon the initiative of Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg. Following the execution of a contract entered into with Johann Gottfried Schadow in the summer of 1793, the monument was ceremoniously unveiled on the White Parade Square, almost in front of the windows of the royal apartments of the Palace of the Pomeranian States Assembly. It was the first testimony to the worship of Frederick the Great located in the public space of the contemporary Prussian Kingdom. The king is presented in a counterpoise, with his head tilted to the left, gazing into the distance. He is wearing the uniform of a Prussian cavalry general, a mink cloak and high boots. His head is covered by the characteristic three-sided hat. The ruler's torso is decorated with the order sash with the Order of the Black Eagle, visible under the cloak, the motto of which was suum cuique (“may all get their due”). The sculpture became the source of general representation of the king and played an important role in the formation of Frederick's legend. The statute was partially made by Johann Gottfried Schadow and partially by the French sculptor Claude Gaussaut (employed in the workshop as a helping hand), based on a clay or wax model and a second auxiliary model made in plaster, prepared personally by the director of the Berlin Academy. The work draws attention by its artistic quality ˗ the mode of preparation of sculptural details and masterly portrait depiction of the face. It combines the grandeur and splendour of the official royal image with a realistic psychological study of the model, reflecting his nature and character. During WWII, the work was damaged; it was underwent conservation between 2008 and 2012 as part of a joint project of the National Museum in Szczecin and the Berlin Schadow Association. Today, it is presented in the lapidarium of the National Museum in Szczecin ˗ the Museum of Regional Traditions.

Dariusz Kacprzak