King Friedrich Wilhelm 4 VI of Prussia 1795 1861
King Frederick William IV of Prussia (October 15, 1795 - January 2, 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861. Frederick William was educated by private tutors, many of whom were experienced civil servants. He also gained military experience by serving in the army during the War of Liberation against Napoleon I of France in 1814, though he was an indifferent soldier. He was a draftsman interested in both architecture and landscape gardening and was a patron of several great German artists, including architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He married Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria in 1823, but the couple had no children. Frederick William was a staunch Romanticist, and his devotion to this movement, which in the German States featured a nostalgia for the Middle Ages, was largely responsible for him developing into a conservative at an early age. In 1815, when he was only 20, the crown prince exerted his influence to structure the proposed constitution of 1815, which was never actually enacted, in such a way that the landed aristocracy would hold the majority of the power. He was firmly against both liberalization and unification of Germany, preferring to allow Austria to remain the principal power in the German states. Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of the provincial estates. Despite being a devout Lutheran, his Romantic leanings led him to settle the Cologne church conflict by releasing the imprisoned Archbishop of Cologne, and he patronized further construction of Cologne Cathedral. In 1844, he attended the celebrations marking the completion of the cathedral, becoming the first king of Prussia to enter a Roman Catholic building.
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Location: Museum
Photo credit: © Peter Horree / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 4, 1795, 1861, art, artist, arts, artwork, civilization, cultural, culture, depiction, drawing, exhibition, fine, friedrich, gallery, german, germany, historic, history, image, king, master, masterpiece, museum, oil, painter, painting, picture, piece, portrayal, prussia, vi, wilhelm
