Vater Rhein und seine Töchter

The bronze group ‘Father Rhine and his Daughters’ stands on a granite exedra that juts into the Kaiserteich in Düsseldorf’s Unterbilk quarter. Karl Janssen and Josef Tüshaus cast the figures in 1897 after an 1884 gala for Kaiser Wilhelm I and Augusta had inspired a plaster version. The monument’s neobaroque style blends Romantic, Historicist and Wilhelminian elements. It is worth the journey because the sculpture is an allegory of the Rhine province and its tributaries. Four female figures represent the Moselle, Main, Neckar and Ruhr, while two more stand for painting and industry. At the base the dragon guards the Nibelung treasure, shown as imperial crown and sword, linking the province’s artistic school and rising factories along the river. Visitors find the bronze father figure seated on a rock, flanked by the daughters and playful putti. Behind the group reliefs show farming, viticulture and fishing. Water spouts from fish and shells in the granite basin, completing the fountain’s gentle play of light and motion.