Ignaz Günther
Munich, ca 1770
Limewood, painted white
52,0 x 62,0 x 27,0 cm
Inv.-Nr. 20/212
Bequest of the sculptor Adalbert Sickinger, Munich, 1920
Gallery 42-43
Cronus, depicted winged with scythe and hour-glass, symbolizes the quick passage of time and ultimately Death. Günther's figure – which may originally have surmounted a clock – is not a bogeyman like the skeleton figures of the late Middle Ages. On the contrary, it is thoughtful and informed by a sensitive melancholy; this is a classical interpretation like that evoked by Lessing in his famous treatise.