Johann Heinrich von Dannecker was a German sculptor, known for his portrait busts.
Background
Johann Heinrich von Dannecker was born on October 16, 1758 in Stuttgart, where his father Georg Dannecker was employed in the stables of the Duke of Wiirttemberg. Johann was the third of five children.
In 1764, Danneckers moved to Ludwigsburg.
Education
He entered the military school at the age of thirteen, but from 1772 to 1780 he was educated as a sculptor, together with Philipp Jakob Scheffauer (1756–1808).
Initially, he studied under Adam Bauer, and in 1775 at the military academy at Stuttgart.
In 1783 he went to Paris to study with Augustin Pajou, and then in 1785 moved to Rome for five years, where he studied with the neoclassicist sculptor Antonio Canova.
Career
After finishing the academy in 1780 the duke made him a lifelong sculptor to the palace. For some time he was employed on child-angels and caryatides for the decoration of the reception rooms. The ducal bursary allowed him to travel to Paris, Rome, Bologna and Mantua. He returned to Stuttgart in 1790 and worked as a professor at the Karl's High School until 1794.
The rest of his life he spent working and teaching at the Stuttgart Academy.
Dannecker is best known for his Ariadne (1806) and his portrait busts of Schiller, Metternich, and Gluck.
The original marble of Schiller is now at Weimar; after the poet's death it was again modelled in colossal size.
Lavater, Metternich, Countess Stephanie of Baden, General Benkendorf and others are much prized.