After Christian Daniel Rauch (German, 1777-1857): An early 19th century German cast iron figure of General Blücher probably cast at the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry, Berlin, circa 1825

Probably cast at the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry, Berlin, circa 1825

Probably cast at the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry, Berlin, circa 1825
The figure clad in a swirling cloak stepping forward with raised left hand and brandishing his sword in his right beside a rustic free stump, the stump inscribed C R F, possibly for Christian Rauch, Fecit) on rectangular base, the iron with bronze patinated finish,

68cm high

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt (1742-1819) was the Prussian General Feldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon at the Battle of the Nations, alongside Russian, Swedish and Austrian allies, at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Following Napoleon's return from Elba, Blücher commanded the Army of the Lower Rhine. In the June 1815 campaign he sustained a serious defeat at Ligny on 16 June, just two days before the decisive battle at Waterloo. In the course of this battle he was seriously wounded but recovered sufficiently to rejoin his troops, despatching two corps to join Wellington and then led the remainder of his men, arriving on the battlefield in the late afternoon. With the battle hanging in the balance his army intervened with decisive and crushing effect; his vanguard drew off Napoleon's reserves and crushed the remains of French resistance leading the way to a decisive victory. The Prussians followed with a relentless pursuit of the retreating Armée du Nord.

In the evening, after the battle, Wellington and Blücher met close to the inn at La Belle Alliance where Napoleon had abandoned his headquarters. During the meeting Blücher suggested the battle should be remembered as La Belle Alliance, to commemorate the European coalition formed to defeat the French Emperor. Wellington instead recommended Waterloo, the village just north of the battlefield, where he had spent the previous night, commenting that it would not do to name the battle after the Emperor's command post.

Christian Daniel Rauch founded the Berlin school of sculpture and was the foremost German sculptor of the nineteenth century. This present lot is a reduced copy of a monumental statue cast in 1824 at the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry in Berlin, founded in 1804. The original was displayed in the city of Breslau. The use of iron, rather the more usual bronze used for public sculpture was utilised because it was considered more than just a sculptural material, being the very substance of the Prussian nation led by it Iron Chancellor.

A copy of Rauch's figure of Blücher cast by the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry sculpture was acquired by the Earl of Clanwilliam on behalf of George IV in 1825 and is in the Royal Collection at Windsor. The Earl wrote to Sir William Knighton, the King's Private Secretary, that he had visited 'the iron foundry' in June of that year 'where I found the statue and pedestal of Blücher's monument at Breslau...' It was recorded as being received in London 17 September 1825 (Jutshams Receipts II 207) described as an 'iron cast of Blücher & pedestal' and was sent to the castle at the end of November 1828.

Similar examples of this reduced model are in the collections at Corsham Court in Wiltshire and the Wellington Museum at Apsley House.