Wilhelm von Kaulbach
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Wilhelm von Kaulbach (15 October 1805 – 7 April 1874) was a German painter, noted mainly as a muralist, but also as a book illustrator. His murals decorate buildings in
Biography
Education
He was born in
Munich murals
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Wilhelm_von_Kaulbach_003.jpg/220px-Wilhelm_von_Kaulbach_003.jpg)
The ambitious work by which
Kaulbach matured, after the example of the masters of the Middle Ages, the practice of mural or monumental decoration; he once more conjoined painting with architecture, and displayed a creative fertility and readiness of resource scarcely found since the era of
Early in the series of his multitudinous works came the famous Narrenhaus, the appalling memories of a certain madhouse near Düsseldorf; the composition all the more deserves mention for points of contact with
These works, together with occasional figures or passages in complex pictorial dramas, show how dominant and irrepressible were the artists sense of satire and enjoyment of fun; character in its breadth and sharpness is depicted with keenest relish, and at times the sardonic smile bursts into the loudest laugh. Thus occasionally the grotesque degenerates into the vulgar, the grand into the ridiculous, as in the satire on "The Pigtail Age", a fresco outside the
History of Mankind
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Having hitherto worked almost exclusively in fresco, he spent some time in
These major tableaux, severally 30 feet long, and each comprising over one hundred figures above life-size, were surrounded by minor compositions making more than twenty in all. The idea was to congregate around the world's historic dramas the prime agents of civilization; thus here were assembled allegoric figures of Architecture and other arts, of Science and other kingdoms of knowledge, together with lawgivers from the time of Moses, not forgetting Frederick the Great. The chosen situation for this imposing didactic and theatric display was the Treppenhaus or grand staircase in the Neues Museum, Berlin; the surface was a granulated, absorbent wall, specially prepared; the technical method was that known as "water-glass," or "liquid flint," the infusion of silica securing permanence. The same medium was adopted in the later murals in the Palace of Westminster.[3] The staircase was severely damaged during the Second World War, and only traces of Kaulbach's work remain.[4]
His perspicuous and showy manner also gained him abundant occupation as a book illustrator. Among his engraved designs are the
Late work
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Wilhelm_von_Kaulbach_004.jpg/220px-Wilhelm_von_Kaulbach_004.jpg)
(destroyed in 1945)
The painter's last period brings no new departure; his ultimate works stand conspicuous by exaggerations of early characteristics. The series of designs illustrative of Goethe, which had an immense success, were melodramatic and pandered to popular taste. The vast canvas, more than 30 ft. long, the Sea Fight at Salamis, painted for the Maximilianeum, Munich, evinces wonted imagination and facility in composition; the handling also retains its largeness and vigour; but in this astounding scenic uproar moderation and the simplicity of nature are thrown to the winds, and the whole atmosphere is hot and feverish.[3]
His fervent
A trace has shown that he lived at Obere Garten Gasse 16½ in Munich around 1850.[6] Kaulbach was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1870.[7] He died on 7 April 1874 in Munich and is buried there in the Alter Südfriedhof. His son Hermann (1846–1909) also became a distinguished painter.
Style
Kaulbach's style was eclectic; in the Age of Homer the types and the treatment are derived from Greek marbles and vases; then in the Tower of Babel the severity of the antique gives place to the suavity of the Italian Renaissance; while in the Crusades the composition is let loose into modern Romanticism, and so the manner descends into the midst of the 20th century. And yet this scholastically compounded art is so nicely adjusted and smoothly blended that it casts off all incongruity and becomes homogeneous as the issue of one mind. But the public craved change; and so in later years Kaulbach's popularity declined, and he had to witness, not without inquietude, the rise of an opposing party of naturalism and realism.[3] He is perhaps best known for his unusual representation of death, destruction and madness.[8]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Atkinson 1911, p. 698.
- ISBN 978-3-03910-958-6.
- ^ a b c Atkinson 1911, p. 699.
- ^ Kimmelman, Michael (11 March 2009). "For Berlin Museum, a Modern Makeover That Doesn't Deny the Wounds of War". New York Times. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ Atkinson 1911, pp. 698–699.
- ^ Paul Maucher: Alphabetic register of house owners 1849-1851 Archived 2009-03-06 at the Wayback Machine, p. 30.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter K" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ Wilhelm Lübke, Russell Sturgis, Outlines of the history of art, pp. 468–469. Google books. Accessed June 18, 2009.
References
- public domain: Atkinson, Joseph Beavington (1911). "Kaulbach, Wilhelm von". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 698–699. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Bing, Julius (1879). The American Cyclopædia. . In Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A. (eds.).