Rudolph Schadow was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 sculptor

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

.

Born in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, he had his father

Johann Gottfried Schadow

Johann Gottfried Schadow was a German sculptor.-Biography:Schadow was born in Berlin, where his father was a poor tailor....

 at Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 for his first master.

In 1810 he went to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 and received kindly help from Canova

Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...

 and Thorvaldsen

Bertel Thorvaldsen

Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish-Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life in Italy . Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he was eleven years old...

. His talents were versatile; his first independent work was a figure of Paris, and it had for its companion a spinning girl. The spinner was a portrayal of a young girl spinning, which proved to be extremely popular among the those who visited rome. Even admirers of the work of Canova and Thorvaldensen acknowledged its worth. Schadow made several other versions of the work, the first probably between 1814 and 1816. Of which most of these works were unsigned. The King of Prussia, Prince Esterhazy and the Duke of Devonshire all expressed a wish to include this statue in their collections. Once version completed in 1820 is on dislay in the Hermitage, which was acquired from the Znamenka Palace, near St. Petersburg, in 1930.

Embracing the Roman Catholic faith, he produced statues of John the Baptist

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

 and of the Virgin and Child. In England he became known by bas-reliefs executed for the Duke of Devonshire and for the Marquess of Lansdowne

William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne

William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC , known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782–1783 during the final...

.

His last composition, commissioned by the king of Prussia

Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...

, was a colossal group, Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....

 with the Body of Penthesilea

Penthesilea

Penthesilea or Penthesileia was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe...

; the model, universally admired for its antique character and the largeness of its style, had not been carried out in marble when in 1822 the artist died in Rome.