CORNELIUS, Peter Von, German painter: h. Diisseldorf, 23 Sept. • d. 7 March 1867. He early exhibited a taste for art, and accus tomed himself to copy from memory the works of Raphael and other masters. He thus ac quired an early proficiency, and at 19 was entrusted with the painting of the cupola of the church of Neuss, near Diisseldorf. It was executed in chiaroscuro, in figures of colossal size, and showed already the grandeur of con ception by which he was afterward distin guished. He soon after removed to Frankfort, where in 1810 he commenced a series of designs illustrative of Goethe's In 1811 he went to Rome, where, with Overbeck, Veit and other associates, he projected the formation of a new school of German art, and especially the revival of fresco painting, in imitation of Michelangelo and Raphael. Bartholdy, the Prussian consul-general, commissioned some members of this school to paint his villa. Cor nelius executed two frescoes for this purpose — 'Joseph Interpreting the Chief Butler's Dream' and 'Joseph Recognizing His Brethren.' He afterward began a series of frescoes from the 'Divina Commedia> for the Marquis Massini, but left it unfinished in consequence of receiv in a commission to execute the frescoes in the Glyptothek, then newly erected at Munich. The designs for the villa of Massini, though never painted, were engraved by Schoefer, and an other series, illustrative of the 'Niebelungen Lied,) were engraved by Amsler and Lips.
Before leaving Rome (1819) Cornelius had been appointed director of the Academy at Dusseldorf. His first work was to reorganize the Academy, and then to give his whole atten tion to the painting of the Glyptothek, which demanded a constant residence at Munich. He resigned the directorship after a short time, and received in 1825 that of the Academy of Munich. Simultaneously with the Glyptothek he under took the painting with frescoes of the Ludwigs Kirche. In these two great works he was assisted by his Munich pupils. Many of the cartoons prepared by him were painted under his superintendence by Zimmermann, Schott hauer and others. In the Glyptothek two large halls were entrusted to him to decorate. In the one, called the Hall of Heroes, he gave a repre sentation on a colossal scale of the leading events of the Iliad in the other, named the Hall of the Gods, fie symbolized the Grecian mythology. In the Ludwigs-Kirche the greatest painting in size and importance was the 'Last judgment,) of which one critic says that it is without a rival among contemporary another that it is enough to say of it that in it Michelangelo is both imitated and dis regarded. Cornelius also painted at Munich the
Pinakothek, a picture gallery for which, with the assistance of bis pupils, he executed an ex tensive series of frescoes representing the his tory of painting. In 1841 he was invited to Berlin by Fredericic William IV, who entrusted him with the painting of the royal mausoleutn or Campo Santo. The most celebrated cartoon in this series is the 'Four Riders of the Apoca lypse.' The series consists of 12 paintings, which have been engraved. He was admitted.a foreign member of the Institute of France in 1838 and a member of the Academy of Berlin in 1841. His advice and assistance were widely sought and he executed or superintended van ous works besides those enumerated.
On his merits as an artist there are the widest diversities of opinion according to the sympathies of those by whom he is appreciated. Cornelius was a true representative of modern German thought in its highest phases. He troduced into art a metaphysical and subjective element which in the hands of so competent an interpreter could not but be productive of great results, but which is equally open to the severest criticism. That he was the founder of a school and threw new life into German art the mere enumeration of his great undertakings is suffi cient to prove. Even his admirers, however, admit certain faults in his execution, and it would seern that in aiming at grandeur he too often failed to be natural. In seelcing to de velop his leading idea he subordinates details to an extent which amounts to sacrificing them, and that idea is often admittedly recondite, and requires learning and study to appreciate it. Still his admirers insist that his merits are such in the grandeur and beauty of his designs and the elevation of the tone of his execution as to overbear all faults of detail; but there are not wanting detractors who say that his excellences, whatever they may be, do not belong to the region of art, and that it is necessary to go out side of it into that of metaphysics to be able to appreciate them. Consult Dohme, 'Kunst und Kiinstler des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts) (Leip zig 1883); Eckert, (Kiinstlermonographien) (Bielefeld 1906) ; Grimm, (Neun Essais) (Ber lin 1865); Koch, (Peter Von Cornelius) (Stutt gart 1905); Von Wolzogen, (Peter von Cor nelius) (Berlin 1867); Riegel, (Cornelius, der Meister der deutschen Malerei) (ib. 1870); Forster, (Peter von Cornelius: ein GedenIcen buch) (1874) ; Muther, (History of Modern Painting) (Vol. I, English trans., London 1895).