The wall niches in the chapel house statues of the four evangelists: Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. These statues demonstrate the competition between the two greatest sculptors of the classic period: Johann Heinrich Dannecker and Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The statues bring the room to life.
The four evangelists are the only statues to adorn the chapel. The monumental figures captivate the viewer's eye. The king commissioned the four figures in 1822. They were designed by the two most important sculptors of the time: Johann Heinrich Dannecker (1758–1841) and Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844). The statues were to be made of the finest material, so only Carrara marble would do.
The posture, facial shape and Roman clothing of three of the evangelists are in line with the monumental design. They adhere to the depiction of evangelists used since the Middle Ages. Each statue holds a tablet and is identified by their symbol: the angel for Matthew, the ox for Luke, and the lion for Mark.
Statues of two of the evangelists in the chapel: Luke and Matthew.
Mark the Evangelist.
These three evangelists were sculpted in Rome and were ready to be displayed in the sepulchral chapel in 1825. Luke was sculpted by Dannecker's student, Theodor Wagner. Dannecker's greatest competitor, Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, drew the sketches for the statues of Mark and Matthew. He delegated the actual sculpting to his Württemberg assistants Johann Leeb and Johann Nepomuk Zwerger.
Dannecker's statue of John stands out.
Johann Heinrich Dannecker, the king's first court sculptor, created John the Evangelist. In creating this statue, Dannecker broke with sculpting tradition and attempted to express religious sentiment through other artistic means. He sculpted the evangelist as young, beardless and with an animated expression. He also chose not to include John's symbol, the eagle. Dannecker's John was the last of the four statues to be displayed in the chapel, in the summer of 1828.
