Bust of King Frederick William III. of Prussia

• 1816
• Christian Daniel Rauch (1777-1857)
• bronze
• height: 63.5 cm

In 1815 Rauch, the court sculptor, was commissioned to create a bust of the Prussian king Frederick William III. A sculpture of the king in a strong sovereign pose created by the artist in 1811 served as a guide. Frederick William spent four days sitting as a model in the sculptor’s workshop and the work was created in clay. Rauch made a copy of the clay bust in plaster. This led to the creation of the model that the artist cast in bronze. The life-size bust shows a comparatively young Prussian king freed from the expression of military rigour.