Nature and Art, May 1, 1867.] 
PETEE VON COENELIUS. 
141 
in the Characece, may be readily seen by placing a 
leaf on a glass slide with a little water, and viewing 
it under the microscope with the quarter or the 
eighth-inch objective. 
It is one of the three genera which form the 
family Hydrocharidece ; the Frog-bit (Ilydrocharis 
morsus-rance) and Water soldier ( Stratiotes aloides ) 
being the other two. The genus Anacharis, or 
Elodea, as some botanists prefer to call it, is thus 
characterized by Bentham, in his admirable “ Hand- 
book of the British Flora” : — - 
“ Stems submerged, branched, and leafy ; flowers sessile, 
the males with nine stamens, the females with a long, thread- 
like perianth-tube. Style adherent to the tube, with three 
notched or lobed stigmas. Ovary one-celled, with three 
parietal placentas. A small genus, exclusively American.” 
The specific characters are thus described by the 
same author : — 
“ A dark green, much- branched perennial, entirely floating 
under water. Leaves numerous, opposite or in whorls of 
three or four, sessile, linear, oblong, transparent, three or 
four lines long. Female flowers, the only ones known in 
this country, sessile in the upper axils in a small two-lobed 
spatha ; the slender perianth-tube often two or three [some- 
times five or six] inches long, so as to attain the surface of 
the water, where it terminates in three or six small spread- 
ing segments. Male flowers unknown as yet in this country, 
and seldom observed anywhere. Flowers summer and 
autumn.” 
The specimen from which the accompanying 
illustration was made was gathered last autumn, 
in Warwickshire, by Mr. It. S. Ohattock, of Soli- 
hull, an accomplished amateur artist, and drawn by 
him for this Magazine. 
Explanation op the Plate. 
Fig. A represents the Anacharis as it grows submerged, 
the little pink flowers appearing above the surface of the 
water, natural size. 
Fig. a, a flower magnified, showing the perianth of six 
segments, the three stigmas, and the three abortive stamens. 
Fig. 6, the same, stripped of the petalous part of the 
perianth, showing more clearly the stigmas and stamens. 
Fig. c, the two-lobed spatha enclosing the lower portion 
of the perianth-tube, magnified. 
Fig. d, a section of the bottom of the perianth-tube, 
showing ovary with its three contained ovules, magnified. 
Fig. e, an ovule, magnified. 
Fig. /, transverse section of portion of stem, showing 
arrangement of leaves round it. 
PETER VON 
T HE great German painter who died during the 
month of March was then in the eightieth 
year of his age, for he was born in September, 
1787, in the town of Diisseldorf. His father was 
director of the museum at that place ; and thus, 
from his earliest days, the young Cornelius was 
associated with the arts. His desire to be a painter 
was not repressed or reproved by his parents, and 
in his seventeenth year he had already begun his 
studies in 1 art with much promise of future excel- 
lence. It was then that his father died; and as 
there devolved upon him and upon an elder brother 
the care of mother and young ones, it was a ques- 
tion whether he ought any longer to think of pur- 
suing the painter’s profession. It was suggested 
that he should adopt some handicraft which might 
prove more quickly remunerative ; but the diffi- 
culty was surmounted, and he clung to art. Good 
fortune came to him sooner than to most men, for 
some of his earliest designs attracted notice and 
were admired. The study of the antique, incul- 
cated by Winckelmann, had not entirely engrossed 
his attention. He had fallen, rather, under the 
influence of a modern writer, — the greatest Germany 
has produced. The comprehensive, the all-embrac- 
ing genius of Goethe acquired a lasting power over 
him : that genius which grappled with the noblest 
subjects, and never disdained to treat even of the 
smallest details of any branch of art, — as witness 
the dramatic criticism in “Wilhelm Meister.” A 
series of designs illustrative of “ Faust ” first dis- 
CORNELIUS. 
played the creative force of the young Cornelius. 
Niebuhr wrote about him, in after years, “ Cor- 
nelius is an earnest enthusiast for Goethe ; perhaps 
none more so : certain is it that Goethe has inspired 
no other person so fully and so powerfully.” 
The artist was but nineteen when he produced 
another and a kindred work,— the illustrations to 
the “ Niebelungen Lied.” Thus, national subjects 
early took possession of his mind. But they were 
not to retain exclusive possession. In Rome he 
would be subject to classic influence, and to Rome 
— the goal of every painter’s first ambition — Cor- 
nelius desired to go. He was twenty-four years 
old, however, before the project could be matured ; 
and, when at last it was carried out, he intended to 
make a very long sojourn in the classic capital. He 
found congenial society there. Young and aspiring 
fellow-artists gathered round him, — Schnorr, Veit, 
and the brothers Schadow. There too, and always 
in close companionship with Cornelius, was a 
greater spirit than any of these, — Overbeck, the 
pure, the noble, the refined : the Fra Angelico of 
our time. With Overbeck Cornelius dwelt, in an 
old convent, and in the simplest style. The two 
friends were nicknamed St. Faul and St. John. 
Cornelius, with his ardour and energy, his compre- 
hensiveness and tolerance, was the St. Raul ; Over- 
beck, with his rare gifts and loveable graces, but 
with a power less practical than that of his brother 
artist, was the St. John. 
Cornelius took part in the decoration of the 
