Ferdinand Schlöth


Lukas Ferdinand Schlöth was a Swiss sculptor in the late Classical style.

Life and work

His father, Heinrich Ludwig Schlöth, was a locksmith from Berlin. He completed an apprenticeship with his father and was employed in his shop for several years. When his father died, in 1839, he took over the workshop and operated it together with his older brother, Friedrich Ludwig. During this time, he also took drawing lessons from and studied modeling with the sculptor,.
From 1843, he studied sculpture in Rome, where he was influenced by Bertel Thorvaldsen. One of his teachers was probably his fellow Swiss emigrant, ; with whom he would later develop a hateful rivalry. In 1847, he opened his own studio there. He remained in Rome until 1874, when he married the wealthy widow, Emma Müller-Gengenbach, and returned to Switzerland. There, he divided his time between Basel and Lutzenberg.
In 1855, he won a competition for a monument honoring Arnold von Winkelried, to be erected in Stans. It was inaugurated in 1865, and immediately made him one of the most prominent Swiss sculptors. This was followed by a monument commemorating the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs, which was completed in 1872.. The following year, he won another competition, for a monument honoring Wilhelm von Tegetthoff in Vienna, but the project never came to fruition. He also created a series of busts for the Kunstmuseum Basel. Most of his works are made of white Carrara marble.
In addition to his sculpting, he took some students; notably Richard Kissling. In Rome, he influenced the young Reinhold Begas. Among his later pupils was his nephew,.