ABSTRACT
Frederick William IV who succeeded his father was born on 15 October 1795 and had been Queen Louise’s favourite son. After Jena and Auerstàdt he accompanied the family to Tilsit and Memel and only in December 1809 did he, together with his parents, return to Berlin. Unlike his father he was characterized by a restlessness which caused him to begin many things without ever completing any one of them, his impulsiveness driving him from one project to another. He displayed true talent in drawing and in architecture, so much so that his tu tor Jean Pierre François Ancillon, a theologian and historian of Huguenot descent, commented to him: ‘I can see you spending your entire time with the pen in your hand; for a future Schinkel this would show very good application. But since the state does not consist of a Gothic temple and since no people have ever been governed by Romantic pictures, your eternal drawing is a true waste of your valuable time.’
