The colossal bust of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’ (1646-1716) served as a counterpart to an equally oversized Gauss bust in the historical hall of the University. Göttingen received this donation in 1792, after it had presumably been used as a model for a marble bust. Around the turn of the 19th century, when the interest for portraits of scholars had waned and such portraits were considered outdated and distasteful, forms of representation of scholars were taken on by a new medium: following the trend at the time, antique busts took the place of paintings. Until around 1820, busts of non-local as well as scholars and artists from Göttingen were placed in the library of the University.
