OP ARTS AND SCIENCES. 347 



regained liis first position, although he afterwards played a conspicuous 

 part at Berlin. Like the one soldier who perished in the famous Italian 

 battle under the condottiere Piccinino, in the fifteenth century, — not 

 by a sword thrust, but by the weight of his armor, — so the art of Cor- 

 nelius and Kaulbach struggled under the oppressive burden of mediteval 

 machinery and of allegory, into whose mysteries this busy world has 

 no time to penetrate. 



Wilhelm von Kaulbach was born at Arolsen, in the Principality of 

 Waldeck, a.d. 1805. He was the son of a goldsmith, who finding great 

 difficulty in maintaining his family, on account of the disturbed condi- 

 tion of the times, removed shortly after the boy's birth to the small 

 town of Mulheim on the Ruhr, where he hoped to find easier condi- 

 tions of existence. Here the young Wilhelm grew up, not only with- 

 out showing any artistic tendencies, but having, it is said, a positive 

 disinclination for the study of art. This, however, disappeared under 

 the impression made npon him by some engravings illustrating the 

 principal scenes in Schiller's ti'agedies. They inspired him with the 

 wish to become a painter, and his father, who approved of his resolu- 

 tion, having consulted Ranch, the eminent sculptor, sent him to Dussel- 

 dorf at the age of seventeen, to study under Cornelius, then (1822) 

 Director of the Academy. 



In some respects Kaulbach was fortunate in his master, whose in- 

 struction reposed upon just and elevated principles. He insisted upon 

 a careful study of the nude, and a close observation of nature, and 

 recommended independence of thought in treating subjects taken from 

 the works of the poets, but attached too little importance to technicali- 

 ties, and undervalued beauty of execution. Under his direction the 

 students of the Academy went through a severe course of study. 

 They were obliged to make elaborate and highly finished studies from 

 the antique and from the nude, as well as to copy every fold and 

 wrinkle of the linen draperies and thin woollen cloths which were 

 bound over the limbs and torsos of casts. These they afterwards re- 

 produced from memory, with subsequent reference to the model as a 

 test of their accuracy. 



Among the students were Sturmer, Stilke, Eberle, and Schorn, to 

 whom, soon after Kaulbach's arrival, were added Ch. Hermann, of Dres- 

 den, and Ernest Forster, of Altenburg. Kaulbach became very intimate 

 with the two latter, and with Mossier, one of the professors at the Acad- 

 emy, who encouraged and assisted him in his labors. A small pension 

 was granted him by the Prussian government in 1822, and he was ap- 

 pointed to paint a series of frescoes designed by Cornelius, in the Hall 



