(b Hindelang, 25 Nov 1768; d Munich, 12 March 1859). German sculptor and painter. He studied sculpture under his father, Johann Richard Eberhard (1739–1813), until 1799, when he moved to Munich and began work with Roman Anton Boos. Seven years of work at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich earned Eberhard the attention of the future Ludwig I as well as a stipend for two years of study in Rome. Those two years gradually grew to eight; Eberhard studied with Canova and worked as one of Ludwig’s agents, buying antiques for the royal collection. As a sculptor, he developed a crisp and chaste classical idiom that earned his Cupid and Muse (1807–9; Munich, Neue Pin.; see fig.) a place in the exhibition of 1809 at the Académie de France in Rome. It was purchased by the Wittelsbachs, who also commissioned Leda and the Swan (1810; Munich, Schloss Nymphenburg), Caritas (1810–12; ex-Caroline of Bavaria col.), and works for the Ruhmeshalle in Munich (Wohlgemuth, 1812–14) as well as Walhalla at Donaustauf, near Regensburg (Maria Theresa, 1811–14 and Herschel, 1816). Active within classicist circles in Rome, Eberhard developed a close association with the Lukasbrüder without ever being admitted to the Lukasbund itself. He was appointed professor of sculpture at the Munich Akademie in April 1817, but remained in Italy for another two years. The last months of 1817 were spent in Tuscany, where he met Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and studied 13th- and 14th-century Italian art. In Rome he continued work for the Wittelsbachs, executing Diana and Cupid and Endymion and Hound (both 1819–20; Munich, Schloss Nymphenburg). During the spring of 1819, Eberhard displayed a bas-relief Deposition (Munich, Sisters of Charity) and over a dozen drawings at the Palazzo Caffarelli in Rome. These works reflected an adaptation of his strong linear propensities to Christian themes.

• Eberhard, Konrad
  • Germany, §IV, 4: Sculpture, c 1750–c 1900
  • Nazarenes, §1: The Lukasbrüder, 1809–18
  • Scholl, Johann Baptist
  • Widnmann, Max von