The Gustav Freytag monument in the rear part of the spa park in Wiesbaden was created by the sculptor Fritz Schaper (1841–1919), a representative of the Berlin school of sculpture, and unveiled on May 28, 1905.
It shows the writer Gustav Freytag at an older age, larger than life in white marble, standing upright on a high base made of shell limestone. Freytag is dressed in a suit and coat and is holding a book in his left hand. Above the semicircle steps leading to the base there is a fountain bowl for a dolphin-headed gargoyle in the middle, probably a reference to the appreciation that Gustav Freytag placed in Wiesbaden's spring water. The gargoyle was reactivated on the occasion of the 125th birthday of the Wiesbaden waterworks in 1995, but is now decommissioned.
Two arched balustrades run to the right and left of the statue; The end of each is formed by a marble group consisting of two putti, which stands on pedestals made of shell limestone. The two putti on the right are holding a scroll and a theater mask - as a reference to Freytag's plays, while those on the left are reading a book. Freytag had been regularly staying in Wiesbaden for winter treatment since he was 60 and eventually settled there permanently.
The monument was commissioned on the initiative of friends of Gustav Freytag, who were able to provide the necessary funds after a short time.
(Source: Wiesbaden.de)