Johann Balthasar Jacob Rathgeber, a skilled sculptor of classicism, was born in Gotha in 1770. He trained under Friedrich Wilhelm Doell and Jean-Antoine Houdon in Paris before spending several years in Rome, Dessau, Weimar, and Berlin. Although he primarily worked in Gotha under Duke Ernst II's patronage, he briefly studied with Johann Gottfried Schadow in Berlin.
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Rathgeber applied for the position of court sculptor but faced a long wait and eventually received the title without a salary increase. However, his creative work thrived, and he was commissioned to sculpt a bust of Otto von Guericke in 1811. Despite financial challenges, Rathgeber's talent persisted, culminating in his appointment as a professor in 1824.