Sculptor. Ludwig Von Hofer received recognition as a German sculptor in the nineteenth century. Born Johann Ludwig von Hofer, he was the son of a caster in the city of Pleidelsheim in Baden-Württemberg . After training to be a sculptor in his hometown, he moved to Stuttgart for ten years, and by 1819, he received a commission to work on Kunstareal Munich, a museum. With a two-year grant for income, he traveled to Rome, Italy, working for fifteen years with marble under Danish sculptor Berthel Thorvaldsen. While in Rome, he had his portrait painted by Friedrich Mosbrugger in 1828. When he returned to Germany in 1838, his statue of "Psyche" was with him, and subsequently purchased by Wilhelm I von Württemberg for display in his residential palace. After being placed on an European auction in 1922, the sculpture's location is unknown today, yet a replica has been sold recently for thousands of dollars. For his talented work, in 1850 he was presented with the Knight's Cross Class of the Order of the Wuttemberg Crown Award, and he was appointed to the post of the court sculptor on March 25, 1851. The same year he created the marble burst "Lady Mallet." For the garden at the new royal palace, he began to replicate, at the king's request, fourteen Greco-Roman mythology statues, which included the nude Discobolus, Diana, Hebe, and several views of Venus. Taking two years to complete, he finished in December of 1859 a 13-foot bronze equestrian statue in the courtyard of the Old Palace of Duke Eberhard in Bart, donned in armor and with his right arm, waving a sword in the air. The large Arabian horse shows action with his tail flying in the air and his legs bent in the position of a full gallop. He did receive criticism for this "warlike" statue. For King Wilhelm I, he created a bronze Concordia with lions at her feet in front of the new castle, celebrating the King's 25 th anniversary on the throne and a "non-warlike," but very detailed, equestrian statue of the king in the courtyard of the Old State Gallery. On the 1589 water tower in Stuttgart, he created in 1862 a gold plated sculpture of a floating Mercury. In 1880 he made a large grouping of marble statues in a municipal part of Stuttgart. Most of his pieces are located on public display in Germany, but a few have gone to auction for thousands of dollars. After World War II, his statues in public areas of Communist East Germany were removed. As a wealthy and well-respected man, he died two days after a stroke. His marble bust, which was created by German sculptor, Theodor Bausch, marks his grave. Author Patricia Peschel has complied a collection of his works in her book, "The Stuttgart Court Sculptor: Johann Ludwig von Hofer 1801 to 1887" published in 2016.