Group of sculptures "Mort" (“The Listener”, in German “Der Loser”)

The Salzkammergut dialect name of the sculpture (“Der Loser”) shouldn’t be confused with the English word! Its approximate translation is "The Eavesdropper, the Listener”.

The sculpture is said to have been created around 1880 and was a gift from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to the dog-loving Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary. In 1888, the sculpture was already in its present place.

The on-a-stone-base mounted group of figures of a dog handler with two hunting dogs, made of patinated cast steel and inscribed with “Val d'Osne” (a foundry near Paris) and “A. Jacquemart” (for the artist Henri Alfred Marie Jacquemart (1824 – 1896), a famous French sculptor) are at the main axis of the Imperial Villa, just like the fountain. One of the dogs has a cross on its flank, supposedly because it fell dead while posing for the artist.

There are several casts of this group around the world: in Sydney, Australia; in Los Angeles, California, USA (formerly in France); and in Karlsruhe, Germany (probably destroyed).