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The 18th and 19th
Centuries
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(Neoclassicism,
Romanticism and
Art Styles in 19th century -
Art Map)
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Neoclassicism and Romanticism
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Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Robert
Adam
Joseph-Marie Vien
Charles Percier
Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine
Colen Campbell
see collection:
Pierre-Narcisse Guerin
Karl Friedrich
Schinkel
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Inspired by the excavations of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum,
finds
from which were popularized by lavish publications detailing the treasures,
a renewed
interest in the arts of antiquity spread rapidly across Europe and to the
New World. This
major movement was fully established by the 1770s and manifested itself
throughout the
decorative and applied arts in a direct imitation of Greek and Roman models.
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From Rococo to
Neoclassicism
The architectural theorist Francesco Milizia documented his views of the Baroque
style in 1785 in a savage indictment. He viewed it as already hopelessly
old-fashioned. Under his definition of Baroque, much that belonged to High
Baroque was mistakenly included. Rococo was already past its peak in central
European architecture by the 1780s. In terms of domestic interior decoration and
furnishings, best represented in France by the "Louis XV" style. Rococo was
going out of favour in Europe by about 1770. In large European cities.
Neoclassicism grew in popularity, and where taste was more conservative,
there was a return to the academic traditions of the Bolognese and Roman
schools. The Louis XVI style in furniture, which became fashionable
during the 1770s and 1780s, was characterized by ornately caned wood or
stucco decoration. It was tantamount to a variation on the Rococo theme
but with a preference for straight lines, a limited range of floral
iconography and pattern, a more measured rhythm, and a new. less
luxuriant repertoire of decoration. In effect, the gregarious, rich
Rococo style gave way to a more austere and serious
artistic-sensibility. With gradual and various modifications, Rococo
gradually progressed towards Neoclassicism with no discernible, abrupt
break. As these stylistic changes took place.
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The term "Neoclassicism" is given to a clearly definable taste in
Europe that was based on the pursuit of beauty through the imitation of
models drawn from antiquity. The instantly recognizable style of this
new movement was clear in all aspects of art. With its sources in the
Grand Tour, it emerged between the mid-18th and early 19th century
through the ideas of scholars such as German painter
Anton Rafael Mengs
(1728-79) and archaeologist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann
(1717-68). They shared strongly-held beliefs based on classical ideals,
which were already being revived elsewhere in Europe. Neoclassicism was
probably at its most creative during the short, intense period known as
the Empire style. Later, some elements of the movement interlinked with
those of Romanticism, a relationship that was to destroy the style from
within. Neoclassicism was a comprehensive style that embraced painting
and architecture, literature and music. It also made an impression on
the applied arts, where it inspired the design of fabrics, jewellery,
furniture, and ceramics. As the movement became more established, the
characteristics of the Neoclassical style varied from country to country
- as did the name. For example, it became the sober Regency style in
England and the grandiose Empire style in France. In Germany, it was
expressed in the comfortable, relaxed Biedermeier style; in Scandinavia,
the light, airy Gustavian style, typified by the use of light-coloured
wood. In North America, it resulted in the simple Federal style.
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Pierre-Narcisse Guerin
The Return of Marcus Sextus
1799
Oil on canvas, 217 x 243 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
The heroic theme, inspired by Roman history, and
the artist's skilful effects in the definition of the folds
and drapery
cannot conceal the first stirrings of the nascent Romantic movement.
The
horror aroused by the republican wars prompted many Neoclassical artists
to turn to mere bloody themes.
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Laocoon, second century BC.
Museo Pio-Clementino Vatican City.
This
famous marble sculpture was uncovered
in 1506 during excavations in the Domus Aurea. |
UNCOVERING THE ART OF ANTIQUITY
Following the discoveries at Herculaneum (1738) and Pompeii (1748), both near
Naples, extensive archaeological excavations were carried out in and around Rome
during the last quarter of the 18th century. The finds, such as those at the
Lateran (1779-80), attracted a steady flow of visitors to the Eternal City,
already an essential stop on the Grand Tour — a standard feature in the
education of English gentlemen. The cosmopolitan community of Rome swelled as
enthusiastic observers came to admire the newly discovered masterpieces.
According to Winckelmann, the prime theorist of Neoclassicism, sculptures such
as the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon epitomized the antique qualities of
calm, simplicity, and noble grandeur that were so desirable.
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The Apotheosis of Homer, from
Antiquites etrusques, grecques
et romaines, vol. III, by Pierre-Francois Hugues, 1766-67.
This
work is based on classical Greek
vase painting.
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Origins of the Style
As symmetry was gradually introduced into the lavish ornamental
motifs of the Rococo style, so the Neoclassicist ideas slowly began
to spread. Work from this transitional period retained some delicate
grace while displaying some
distinctly Grecian traits. The new aesthetic revealed a reaction
against the excesses of Rococo ornamentation and the frivolity of
the prevailing fashion for curved lines, in favour of what was seen
as the noble simplicity of antiquity. This weariness with Rococo
style was evident from the 1730s onwards in the writings of Voltaire
(Le Temple dugout, 1730), the architect Jacques-Francois Blondel (De
la distribution des maisons de plaisance, 1737), and the abbot Le
Blanc (Letters to the Count de Caylus, 1737-44). Many Neoclassical
ideas were founded in the scientific ideals of the French Encyclopaedists, who believed in the enhancement and promotion of
public morality through art. French philosopher Denis Diderot sought
to make virtue appealing and render vice ridiculous and
unattractive, linking the concept of beauty to goodness. He
advocated the social responsibility of the creative artist, whose
work would be destined for the collective well-being and education
of the community.
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see also:
Gabriel
Ange-Jacques
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Ange-Jacques Gabriel(b.
Paris, France 1698; d. Paris 1782)
Ange-Jacques Gabriel was born in Paris in 1698.
Trained by his father, Jacques Gabriel V, and by
Robert de Cotte, he became a member of the
Academie Royal de l'Architecturein 1728 and he
became the principal assistant to his father as
Premier Architecte at Versaille in 1735. He
succeeded his father as Premier Architecte in
1742. Gabriel's work reflects the academic ideal
of emulation that existed during the eighteenth
century. With his designs he assimilated the
lessons of the past and adapted its models to
more sophisticated purposes. Much of his work is
based on an academic principle of classical
proportioning. Throughout his career he followed
the fundamental belief that progress depends
upon reason and discipline. The principal royal
architect for most of the reign of Louis XV,
Gabriel promoted the transition from Rococo to
Neoclassicism through the evolution of the Style
Louis XVI. On the premise that the role of
ornament is essentially the articulation of
structure, the sumptuous embellishment of his
work in the 1740s gave way to the noble
simplicity of his latter works.
Gabriel died in Paris in 1782.
Dennis Sharp
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Ange-Jacques Gabriel,
the Petit Trianon, Verailles,
1762-68 |
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ARCADIA AT VERSAILLES
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Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the Petit Trianon, Verailles,
1762-68
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In 1762, architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698-1782) started work on
his great masterpiece, the Petit Trianon, set in a garden on the
estate at Versailles. It was a perfectly balanced building of simple
uniformity, with a facade that was symmetrically articulated at
right angles to form a closed, independent rectangle.
It demonstrates many typical traits of Neoclassical architecture,
not least in its clarity of structure. The building contrasts with
the Neo-Gothic architecture found along the winding roads of the
English landscape.
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Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Palacio
de Versalles,
the Petit Trianon, Verailles, 1762-68
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Robert
Adam
(b Kirkcaldy, Fife, 3 July 1728;
d London, 3 March 1792).
Architect and designer, son of William Adam. He and his
rival William Chambers were the leading British architects
in the second half of the 18th century. After training under
his father, he embarked on a Grand Tour in 1754; this ended
early in 1758 when he settled in London rather than
Edinburgh. There he established a practice that was
transformed into a partnership with his younger brother
James after the latter’s return in 1763 from his own Grand
Tour. By then, however, the Adam style was formed, and
Robert remained the partnership’s driving force and
principal designer until his death. He not only developed a
distinctive and highly influential style but further refined
it through his large number of commissions, earning fame and
a certain amount of fortune along the way. Eminently
successful, he left an indelible stamp on British
architecture and interior decoration and on international
Neoclassicism.
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INSPIRED INTERIORS
Motifs from the frescos of Herculaneum were incorporated into
interior decoration schemes across northern Europe. Divided into
small octagonals and squares edged with red. the designs featured
nymphs, putti (infant boys), dancers, spirits, birds, and small
mythological scenes. The decoration stood out against a pale blue
background, with delicate grotesques, garlands, capitals, little
columns, and perspectives that lead to infinity. Copies of paintings
uncovered at Pompeii and Herculaneum soon became very fashionable in
England, not least in the form of Wedgwood's exquisite white china
figurines. The first "Etruscan" interiors, known then as "Pompeiian"',
appeared in the villas designed by the Scottish architect Robert
Adam (1728-92). The light, graceful rooms were the most intimate and
relaxed of the period, their interiors created by artists such as
Angelica Kauffmann (who was in England between 1766 and 1781).
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Robert Adam
During time spent in France and Italy, the young Robert
Adam (1728-92), the best-known member of a family of
Scottish architects, became a pupil of the architectural
draughtsman C.L. Clerisseau and a friend of the etcher
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78). He returned home
in 1758 and, with his colleague and rival William Chambers,
was made architect to George III. Adam's interiors were
exquisitely delicate, drawing from a repertory of classical
motifs. His style strongly influenced decorative art. With
his brother James (1732-94), he set out their theories in
The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam
(1773-78), published in 1822. Together, they planned the
ambitious Adelphi project for a residential area along the
River Thames.
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Robert Adam, the library at Kenwood
House, Hampstead, London,
1767-69.
Here, Adam blended an
imitation of the ancient with a taste
for comfort and intimacy. |
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Italian Sources
Academic interest in the past was animated by a deep longing for
renewal during the 18th century. It was appropriate, therefore, that
the new art style evolved in Rome, among the ruins of a dead
civilization and its treasures, including the stuccowork of the
tombs in the Via Latina, the ruins of the imperial palace at
Spoleto, in the Albani and Borghese villas, and the setting up of
the Pio-Clementino Museum in the Vatican City. These were joined by
the excavations at Herculaneum in 1738 and at Pompeii a decade
later. Rome was renowned as the international capital of artistic
excellence, but Naples, too, now became an obligatory stop for
cultured Europeans on the Grand Tour. The ruins at Herculaneum
aroused a great deal of interest and excitement. King Charles III of
Spain founded the Herculaneum Academy to spread the knowledge of the
new discoveries, publishing eight large volumes on the
finds between 1757 and 1792. In Antiquity and Herculaneum,
all the bronzes and frescos that had been uncovered were reproduced.
Prints and illustrations faithful to the originals facilitated the
rapid dissemination of the newly discovered decorative motifs. By
the end of the century, the kind of ornament derived from ancient
Roman decoration by
Raphael and his school had been superseded by
new forms such as cherubs and winged cupids, which adorned bedrooms
and studies. Meanwhile, the famous tripod with sphinxes from
Pompeii, had a considerable influence on Empire furnishings.
Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809), a former teacher of
Jacques-Louis David, was the first to introduce the so-called "Pompeiian
style" in his painting The Cupid Seller (1763) by setting a
scene with Greek details in a Neoclassical interior. Excavations
were also undertaken in Tuscany in the first half of the 18th
century, from which collections were established. In his
seven-volume Recueil d'Antiquites (1752-67), Count de Caylus
mistakenly expounded a theory that the Etruscan civilization was
older than that of the Greeks. A new interest in Egypt also arose in
Rome, inspired by the obelisks and ancient sculptures discovered at
Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. After Napoleon's Egyptian campaign in
1798, a new fashion sprang up - Egyptian Neoclassicism.
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Joseph-Marie Vien
(b Montpellier, 18 June 1716; d Paris, 27 March 1809).
French painter, draughtsman and engraver. He was one of the earliest
French painters to work in the Neo-classical style, and although his
own work veered uncertainly between that style and the Baroque, Vien
was a decisive influence on some of the foremost artists of the
heroic phase of Neo-classicism, notably Jacques-Louis David,
Jean-François-Pierre Peyron, Joseph-Benoît Suvée and Jean-Baptiste
Regnault, all of whom he taught. Both his wife, Marie-Thérèse Reboul
(1738–1805), and Joseph-Marie Vien fils (1762–1848) were
artists: Marie-Thérèse exhibited at the Salon in 1757–67;
Joseph-Marie fils earned his living as a portrait painter and
engraver.
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Joseph-Marie Vien
The Cupid Seller
1763
Musee du
Chateau Fontainebleau.
The artist's antiquarian leanings are here used
to portray a vision of idle Parisian society
in the declining years of Madame de Pompadour's ascendancy.
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Marcus Aurelius Distributing Bread to the People
1765
Oil on canvas, 300 x 301 cm
Musée de Picardie, Amiens
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Venus Showing Mars her Doves Making a Nest in his Helmet
1768
Oil on canvas
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Young Greek Maidens Decking the Sleeping Cupid with Flowers
1773
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Sweet Melancoly
1756
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Joseph-Marie Vien
L'amour fuyant L'esclavage
1789
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Psyche looking at
Sleeping Cupid
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Sultane Reine
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Joseph-Marie Vien
Der Sultan
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MADAME RECAMIER AND THE GREEK STYLE
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Francois Gerard
Portrait of Juliette Recamier
1805
Musee Carnavalet, Paris
During the Napoleonic era, wives, mistresses,
and sisters imposed their taste on high society.
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Charles Percier and
Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine.
View of the Arc De
Triomphe Du Carrousel, Built 1806-08 |
The wife of a wealthy banker, Madame Juliette Recamier, "whose beauty and whose
grace make one think of Venus," as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte reportedly said to
Joseph Bonaparte, was captured on canvas in several different guises. In a
painting by David, she is pictured reclining barefoot on a sofa; Dejuinne
painted her dressed in white as an innocent reader in a room of the Abbaye-aux-Bois;
and Chinard portrayed her as a nymph with partly exposed breasts. In
Francois
Gerard's portrait, commissioned by Prince Augustus of Paissia, both her
dress and the chair on which she poses are inspired by the Greek style.
The
Recamier home, Hotel Recamier, was lavishly decorated by Charles Percier
and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine, with clear references to Greek and
Egyptian style. Far from leading the life of an idealized classical goddess.
Madame Recamier suffered her fair share of hardships, including an unconsummated
marriage and unhappy love affairs.
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Johann Joachim WINCKELMANN
The influential German Johann Joachim Winckelmann was the key
theorist of Neoclassicism. In his widely read volumes Reflections
on the Imitation of Greek Art (1755) and History of Ancient
Art (1764), he proposed the study of ancient art by means of a
reasoned method. Winckelmann recommended that one should take a
fresh look not only at the statues and vases of antiquity but also
at the whole of the ancient Greek civilization. An enthusiastic and
near-fanatical scholar, he perceived an ideal beauty in the cool
elegance of Greek art, the perfection of which seemed to him to
transcend nature. It epitomized the "noble simplicity and calm
grandeur", whereby harmony of line determines form and is more
important than colour. While Winckelmann recommended the adoption of
ancient forms, he disapproved of cold copying, emphasizing the
importance of recreating the true Greek spirit. Standing before the
Apollo Belvedere Winckelmann warned, "At first glance you may
see no more than a lump of marble, but if you know how to penetrate
the secrets of art you will see a marvel.''
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Anton Mengs and Francesco Milizia
Winckelmann's beliefs influenced many artists including
Anton Rafael Mengs, who met the great
theorist in 1755. His treatise on "Beauty in Painting'1 was paraphrased by
Daniel Webb in his book Inquiry into the Beauties of Painting (1760):
beauty was the perfect expression of an idea, since art was above nature. The
ultimate aim of painting lay, therefore, in selecting beautiful subjects found
in nature, purified of all imperfection. Mengs
drew on the works of many past masters: from the ancient Greeks he learned an
appreciation of beauty; from
Raphael, expression, composition and the treatment
of drapery; from
Correggio, the skill of chiaroscuro and a sense of beauty; and
from
Titian , the use of colour. His best-known work, the ceiling painting
Parnassus (1760-61) in the Villa Albini (now Villa Torlonia) in Rome, was
significant for breaking with the illusionism of the Baroque style, and became
the visual manifesto of his theories. According to his fellow theorist Francesco
Milizia (1725-98), an artist should choose the most perfect individual elements
in nature and combine these to form an ideal whole. This would achieve a true
representation, based on the artist's own personal vision.
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NEO-PALLADIAN ARCHITECTURE
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Andrea Pailadio, Villa Cornaro, Piomblno Dese, Padua, 1551-53.
This villa features on its facade a rare example of a loggia and a double
layer of columns.
This design would be taken up, with many variations,
in the plantation houses of the American Deep South.
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The most loyal disciples of architect Andrea Palladio (1508-80)
were the English architects who regarded the work of the Italian
master as a bridge between the extremes of classicism in the l6th
century and the Neoclassicism that had emerged. Palladio was a model
architect to follow, not only for those in search of Renaissance
concepts of form but also because the simplicity and grandeur of his
buildings were strong examples on which to build classical
architectural prototypes. Palladian-style architecture spread
rapidly and was favoured by wealthy patrons as an expression of
their rank and power. Known as Neo-Palladianism, the style suffered
a setback after the death of Scottish architect Colen Campbell
in 1729, but was revived by the traditionalist Sir William
Chambers. It later gave way to the innovations of Robert Adam.
The style reappeared in the US with the work of Thomas Jefferson.
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Karl Friedrich Schinkel
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
born March 13, 1781, Brandenburg
died Oct. 9, 1841, Berlin
German architect and painter whose Romantic–Classical
creations in other related arts made him the leading arbiter
of national aesthetic taste in his lifetime.
The son of an archdeacon, Schinkel studied architecture with
the brilliant Friedrich Gilly (1798–1800) and at Berlin's
Academy of Architecture (1800–02), followed by several years
in Italy. Returning to Berlin via Paris (1805), he became a
painter. He designed furniture for Queen Louise in 1809
that, with its rich, light-coloured pearwood, play of
matched grains, and romantic simplification of form in a
classical milieu, anticipated the forthcoming Biedermeier
period.
Becoming state architect of Prussia in 1815, Schinkel
executed many commissions for King Frederick William III and
other members of the royal family. His designs were based on
the revival of various historical styles of architecture;
e.g., Greek Revival buildings such as the Königschauspelhaus,
Berlin (1818), and the Altes Museum, Berlin (1822–30). His
designs for a mausoleum for Louise (1810) and the brick and
terra-cotta Werdersche Kirche, Berlin (1821–30), are among
the earliest Gothic Revival designs in Europe.
In 1824 Schinkel visited Italy again and in 1826 travelled
through Scotland and England. Appointed director (1830) of
the Prussian Office of Public Works, he decorated
apartmentsfor Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and Prince
August. His work as a city planner resulted in new
boulevards and squares in Berlin. Also remembered for his
stage and ironwork designs, he designed scenery for Goethe's
plays, bathing the whole stage in an atmosphere of
picturesque illusion.
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Solen Campbell, Mereworth Castle, Kent, 1722-25.
Here, Campbell, author of Vitruvius Britannicus, applies great elegance
to the design of a country house.
The large, central structure is derived directly from Palladio's Villa
Rotonda
(later known as Capra), Vicenza.
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UNATTAINABLE GRANDEUR
When studying works of art from antiquity, artists could only feel
disheartened by the awe-inspiring examples of the grandeur to which
they aspired. This despair was felt keenly, recalling the dark
frustrations of 17th-century irrationalism: the fear of that which
was yearned for and yet considered to be unattainable. The artist
Piranesi
Giovanni Battista , who moved from Venice to
Rome, engraved dramatic views of the ancient city, inspiring a new
attitude towards antiquity, in which Roman architecture was
considered superior to Greek. Elsewhere, the mark of
Romantic sensibility was already appearing:
Karl Friedrich
Schinkel (1781-1841), a leading German architect of the 19th
century, produced idealized visions of imaginary Gothic cathedrals
and Greek landscapes. One of his projects left on the drawing-board
was for a grandiose palace on the Acropolis in Athens designed for
Otto of Wittelsbach.
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Karl Friedrich
Schinkel
Berlin-old-museum
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Karl Friedrich
Schinkel
New Guard House (Neue Wache), Berlin |
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see collection:
Pierre-Narcisse Guerin
Karl Friedrich
Schinkel
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