Prussia and Spitz

The German Spitz was simply part of the Prussian imperial family of the Hohenzollern. The Hohenzollern noble family, originally from Swabia, provided the Prussian kings from 1701 and the German emperors from 1871 until the end of the German Empire in 1918. This is how Wilhelm, Prince of Prussia, was portrayed as a boy in a portrait statuette*, which shows him with a Spitz dog. Wilhelm was the eldest son of the then Crown Prince couple and therefore the grandson of the last German Emperor Wilhelm ll. When Wilhelm took part in the French campaign as a first lieutenant in the Wehrmacht in May 1940 - at the age of 34 - he was seriously wounded during the storming of Valenciennes. He died three days later. The death of the beautiful prince was met with great sympathy among the peoples, and many attended his funeral.

Love for the German Spitz was maybe a Hohenzollern family thing: Wilhelm's parents, the Prussian crown prince couple Wilhelm and Cecilie, are shown on two postcards with their little white Pomeranian. Crown Prince Wilhelm was the eldest son of the future German Emperor Wilhelm ll. and Auguste Viktoria's, he was grandson of Friedrich lll. and great-grandson of the first German Emperor since 1871, Wilhelm I.

*Wilhelm Prince of Prussia/boy with dog/portrait group: 

Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1906–1940) was the eldest son of the then crown prince couple who commissioned Pagels to create this portrait statuette. The clay model was created in 1910 in the Marmorpalais in Potsdam, i.e. in the palace rooms where the Crown Prince couple lived. A first marble version was exhibited in the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in the same year and probably remained in the imperial possession (No. 1332a). The marble replica for the National Gallery was still in progress in January 1911 and was handed over the following month. Pagel's tendency to strongly solidify forms is somewhat reduced here in favor of a more child-friendly harmony. Typical of the sculptor's works is the octagonal shape of the plinth, which is intended to suggest multiple views, but here primarily emphasizes the statuette character. The motif was reproduced by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (KPM) in Berlin; Due to its mixture of non-committal and pleasant nature, it was quite suitable for such a reproduction. Similar portrait statuettes - such as those of the children of the Krupp family (around 1905; whereabouts unknown) - prove that Pagels was a popular artist in court and capital circles. 

Material: Marble;  Dimensions: 85.5 x 37.5 x 26 cm (H x W x D); h created  by Hermann Joachim Pagels (1876-1959)  in 1910 (marble 1910-1911),  in Potsdam & Berlin.

Origin/Rights: VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2023 / Andres Kilger (CC BY-NC-SA)