Art at the Sanssouci
Walking through the Sanssouci Palace, there is a feeling of confused identity. Each room is vastly different from one to the next, though Rococo is used throughout. Some rooms are very Italian—statues of naked women, columns, and religious motifs. Some rooms are French—fine gold detailing trailing the walls and ceiling, mirrors, and fête galante paintings. The different styles suggest either an identity crisis or a personality multiplicity in Frederick.
Others see Frederick as a cultural genius: “the King succeeded brilliantly in creating a synthesis of French and Italian art” (Wesch 14).
Whatever the case, Frederick definitely attributed a lot to Prussian culture. During the reign of Frederick William I, Frederick the Great’s father, “Berlin suffered cultural stagnation. The arts were revived only when his son Frederick II the Great ascended the throne in 1740” (Held and Posner 387).
The Little Gallery
The Little Gallery
Between the Vestibule and the Living Quarters, there is a long stretch of French Rococo-styled hallway called the Little Gallery. Guests would be led through this hallway to admire Frederick’s collection of fête galante art.
During the 1700s, religious artwork was becoming old-fashioned, and other movements were beginning to take root. One of these movements is called fête galante. The translation of the French suggests amorous parties, and the paintings depict high society strolling the gardens in elegant dress.
“The Feast of Love” by Watteau **3
The artist who is credited for beginning this movement is Antoine Watteau: “Watteau was certainly not among the most respected of painters. Yet it was his art that influenced the variant of the Rococo style associated with Frederick the Great. Watteau’s paintings depict a select group of people leading untroubled lives, playing music and dancing in nature’s midst” (Wesch 35-36). Frederick was in constant need of an escape, and these paintings gave him just that.
Gold Dome Ceiling
The Marble Hall
In contrast to the Little Gallery, the Marble Hall is very Italian Rococo. The room is “broken up by eight paired Corinthian columns of Carrara marble” (Wesch 13). The columns hold up the beautiful gold dome; “Knobelsdorff designed the room, with its eye in the cupola affording a view of the sky, in ‘free imitation of the interior of the Panthenon,’” (Wesch 13-14).
Apollo
Venus
Inside the dome, there are gold inlays depicting Roman armor as well as white marble sculptures of little cupids and women playing music. Below the figures, there are sculptures of Apollo holding a book inscribed with words by Lucretius, a Roman poet, and Venus with a lyre.
[**Photo 3: Watteau, Antoine. The Feast of Love. 1718. Oil on canvass. Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.]