Lot 146: Carl Johann Steinhauser

Carl Johann Steinhauser
German, 1813-1879
a boy with a shell
signed and dated: C. STEINHAUSER. F. ROMA. 1865
white marble, on a white marble column (3)
Boy: 71.8 cm., 28 1/4 in.
Column: 111 cm., 43 3/4 in.
Carl Johann Steinhauser studied in his native Bremen under his father, a wood sculptor, before moving to Berlin. He was there apprenticed to Christian Daniel Rauch (1777-1857) whom he assisted in executing the marble Victories for the Walhalla Memorial by the Danube. In 1835, Steinhauser left Berlin for Rome where he entered Thorvaldsen's studio as a pupil and disciple: their respective fathers had been friends in Copenhagen. Steinhauser subsequently took over the studio when Thorvaldsen returned home in 1844, until he himself left to become Professor of the Akademie der bildenden Kunste in Karlsruhe.
The present marble relates to a similar figure that Steinhauser also executed in Rome, entitled Girl with a Shell (Orangerie, Potsdam, c.144 cm., c.1840-1842). At almost double the size of the present figure, it is unlikely that they were intended to be pendants, although they share a closely similar thematic pose and expression, and bear the same type of shell. A version of the Girl with a Shell was well received when it was displayed at the Salon in Berlin in 1842.
Related literature:
B. Rosasco, 'A German Sculpture in America: Carl Johann Steinhauser's Agnus Dei at The Art Museum, Princeton University' in The Sculpture Journal, IV, (London 2000), pp.127-140, pls.1, 4-5, 8