The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-24 00:00:00

INTENDED VISIT OF THE KING

OF PRUSSIA TO TIIIS COUNTRY.

PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.—There is now no doubt
that it is the intention of his Majesty the King .A'Prus-
sia to attend in person at the christening of* the infant
Prince of Wales, and that a squadron of ships of war
will be dispatched from this country to convey him and
his retinue to England. The vessel which is specially
destined for the conveyance of his Majesty is understood
to be her Majesty's ship Warspite, 50, Capt. Lord John
Hay, C. 8., and there is no question that this is correct,
for she is perfectly ready for sea, and was to have one
out of harbour last Monday, but she has been Zetained,
and is now being fitted up in such a style as plainly to
indicate the nature of the service for which she is in-
tended. The Government could not have selected a
better ship for this purpose, as she is one of those splen-
did flushed frigates carrying 50 guns, with a complement
of 500 men. She has very superior accommodations,
has plenty of room, and is in every way well adapted
for the reception of the illustrious passenger about to em-
bark on board of her. She has an excellent ship's com-
pany, being a selection from the Britannia, Orestes, and
other men-of-war, which have been recently paid off, and
she is commanded by an able and experienced officer.
As the Warspite has only the internal decorations and
fittings-up to complete, being otherwise perfectly
equipped, she will be ready to proceed on her mission in
a few days.
It is not at present known what vessels will accompany
the IVarspite, but it is supposed that the Thalia, 42,
Capt. C. Hope. and the Volage, 26, Capt. Sir W. Dick-
son, Bart., both of which ships are daily expected here,
will be appointed to this service. This is not impro-
bable, as they are both in a sufficient state of forward-
ness to undertake this duty, which will scarcely cause
them any delay in proceeding to the destination for
which they were originally intended.

MEMOIR OF DANNEKER, THE

SCULPTOR.
Praxitelean shapes, whose marble smiles
Fill the hushed air with everlasting love.

The hand of Danneker the sculptor, which,
during the greater part of the last half-century,
has produced so many admirable pieces of art,
is now cold and motionless. He died on the
eighth of last month, and leaves another blank
among the sculptors of the age.
Jot3n Heinrich Danneker was a native of Stut-
gard, where he was born on the 15th of October,
1758, of humble parents. At a very early age
the bent of his genius was manifested by his
scratching with 3 nail flowers and figures on a
smooth stone and he shortly after, contrary to
the wishes of his parents, obtained admission
into the public academy. He was here taken
under the protection of the Duke Charles of
Wurtemberg, predecessor of the late King.
His father had been for some time employed
in the King's studio, and through the interest
which he possessed, succeeded in getting young
Danneker admitted to the Military Artistical
Academy at the " Solitude," a Royal Castle
near Stutgard, where, free of expense, young
students were instructed in a course of fine art.

But in 1774, his own natural genius worked
its own triumphs. His model of Milo of Cor-
tona carried off the prize, and the Caryatides
and other statues which he then executed, when
he was only in his seventeenth or eighteenth
year, adorn at the present moment the Royal
Palace at Stutgard.
One of the greatest delights of Danneker's
after-life was the close friendship which subsisted
between the great Schiller and himself, who was
also a native of Stutgard, and with whom in the
same form at school, at the Royal Academy
of the " Solitude," and over the same books, he
studied for a considerable period. The sublimi-
ties which characterise the poems of " William
Tell," " Die Schuld," and " Die Ahnfrau," were
shared in another shape, but still in the same
inspired manner, by the sculptor of " Ariadne"
and the " Venus."

He now travelled abroad, and in 1781 visited
Paris, having obtained this permission from the
Court. Here he met with the sculptor Schef-
fauer, and the pupil of Pajou. While at Paris,
instead of studying the antique models to be met
with in the Louvre and other public edifices, he
rather studied nature, and sculptured from the
living form, whence the beautiful flexibility of
his marble was in great measure derived.
In 1785, Danneker quitted Paris with Schef-
fauer, in company with whom he travelled to
Rome. In this city he met with Canova, with
Goethe, and with Herder, who had all been
attracted to the Roman metropolis to examine
its relics and beauties; and while here, enjoyed so
greatly the instruction and advice of Canova,
that we need not wonder at his own productions
teeming in a variety of instances with all the
sweetness and majesty of his master. The corn-
crowned Ceres, and omnipotent Bacchus, which
brought him into such high repute, were exe-
cuted. by him while in Italy, and the academies
of Milan and Bologna were not slack in ac-
knowledging his pre-eminence by electing him
a member of their bodies.

On his return he was employed by the Duke
Charles in modelling a variety of subjects; but it
was in 1796, when leaving the lower branches of
his profession, he commenced to work again in
marble. Danneker preserved but few of his
works, for they were rapidly sought after by
others. His celebrated Sappho, the original of
which is now at Monrepos, was soon required
from his hands to adorn a more noble apart-
ment, but one darling work he constantly kept
—the colossal bust of his friend and school-fel-
low, Schiller.
In speaking of his own productions Danneker
was alike remarkable for his modesty and
frank simplicity. His works were widely scat-
tered throughout Germany, and several are to
be met with in Russia, but few have as yet made
their way to England. The very loveliest of his
works, undoubtedly the perfection of marble
beauty, is his Ariadne, in Mr. Bateman's collec-
tion at Frankfort—,Ariadne, as the Bride of
Bacchus, borne upon a panther. Another beau-
tiful piece of design, the exquisite allegory of
which is borrowed from Apuleius, is his Eros,
represented at the particular moment when
Psyche is pouring on his snow-white shoulders
the drops of burning oil..
But the grandest work of art from the chisel
of Danneker is his statue of Christ, a work
which for eight years he laboured and studied
at, and finally completed in 1824. This statue
was on its completion sent to the Empress
Maria Feodorouna, of Russia, who afterwards
presented it to the Emperor Alexander.
Danneker was very generally known by the
title of the " German Canova ;" and in the
lightness of his forms, the exquisitely winning
sweetness infused into their features, and the
elegant and attractive pose of his figures, he
fully confirmed the fact of their close and reci-
procal resemblance.

Danneker died in his 84th year. Wagner, at
Rome, whose name has been long among the
distinguished, was his pupil. His great accumu-
lation of years caused him to cease in his latter
days from all active employment, and he had
indeed fallen into the state of "second childhood."
Accounts of his funeral have not yet arrived,
but the ceremony is expected to be both im-
posing and splendid, befitting the memory of a
man who has eminently adorned his city, and
whose works entitle him to add his own fair and
honourable name in an especial manner, to the
number of illustrious countrymen that have pre-
ceded him.