Does the melancholic look on his face give you a hint about his tragic death? This is the statue of Antinous in Potsdam. The handsome nude body is partly covered with roses. Let’s explore the story of this sculpture and the man it represents.
This Antinous sculpture was created by Asmus Frauen. He was a Dutch-Danish sculptor. Frederick II commissioned this sculpture.
Antinous was born in Bithynia in Asia Minor. That was between 110 and 112 AD. He became the friend and presumed lover of Emperor Hadrian. He traveled with the Roman emperor.
In 130 AD Antinous drowned in the Nile. The circumstances were mysterious. Hadrian deeply mourned this loss. The emperor proclaimed the youth a god. He had a cult worship him. Hadrian surrounded himself with portraits of Antinous. Frederick II also owned several Antinous statues and busts. They were in his collections.
Asmus Frauen based his Antinous on a famous ancient statue. It was the Belvedere Hermes. It is located in Rome in the Vatican Museums. The pose is reversed. Frauen likely based his work on a print. He may have used an etching by Jan de Bisschop and Pieter Doncker. It depicted Hermes. It was called the Belvedere Antinous.
A bill from Asmus Frauen exists. It is dated June 1 1748. It was for the Antinous and Endymion sculptures. Both works have the same signature. The Apollo signature is different. It seems to be from another delivery. It may have arrived with the Narcissus sculpture. That completed the group of four. They stood in front of the New Chambers’ central section in 1749.
Frederick II might have commissioned the figures. This could be because of Frauen’s prior stay in Italy. They may also have been made earlier. Frauen worked with Peter Schemaker in England for eight years. That started in 1746. Frauen was a versatile sculptor. He made sculptures and reliefs in sandstone marble and copper. These were for churches private patrons and royal patrons. From 1746 to 1753 he created putti. They were for the garden grotto in the park at Schloss Wilhelmsthal near Kassel. His workshop in Amsterdam is documented from 1756 to 1769. Frauen made the marble pulpit in Rococo style for the Church of Our Lady in Dordrecht. That was between 1753 and 1756. He also made the sarcophagus of Charles XII for the Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm.
Originally this Antinous statue was located elsewhere. It stood on the central avant-corps of the New Chambers building. It now stands at the rondel on the main avenue. That is directly below the New Chambers. Apollo also stands here. After Frederick II’s death most gilded lead figures in the park had been damaged. They had to be removed. This also affected the rondel’s design. Eight gilded lead sculptures by Georg Franz Ebenhecht used to stand here. They disappeared too. Other figures had to be acquired. A source from 1794 describes the change. There were four marble statues. Apollo and Antinous were among them.
So now you know something about the Antinous sculpture in Potsdam and its interesting history.