The Amazon statue by Kiss

The Amazon statue by August Karl Eduard Kiss is situated in the Adelaide Botanical Gardens of South Australia.

Kiss (1802-1865) is a German sculptor noted for his work on the angel Michael at Saint Michael’s church in Berlin and ornamental work on the Berlin Neues Museum.

The original of Kiss’ best known works, The Amazon, created in 1834 and cast in 1842 in bronze, is situated at Altes Museum in Berlin. In 1867 the Adelaide Botanical Gardens acquired a copy of the statue – where it now stands. In 1889 the Fairmount Park Art Association also obtained a plaster of The Amazon, and in 1929 it was cast in bronze – it now stands in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Kiss was born in Paprotzan in Prussian Silesia (now in Poland) and studied at the Prussian Academy of Arts. He was interested in the neo-classical style of portraits and mythological subjects.

He also created a bronze equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in Breslau in 1842, and another equestrian statue of Prussian King Frederick Wilhelm III in 1862.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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