Lot Essay
Drawn in 1814-15
'The idea of the re-creation of a medieval cathedral in all its various features, which preoccupied Schinkel from 1810 onwards, is one of the most important in his architectural philosophy'. (G. Riemann in the catalogue of the exhibition, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 13 July-27 Oct. 1991, p. 103)
King Wilhelm III of Prussia gave orders in 1814 from London, for 'a cathedral to be built as a memorial to the victorious end to the Wars of Liberation. In a second memorandum dated January 1815, the King 'expressed far-ranging ideas about the building as a religious, historical and living monument. By the last he meant that through it "something is to be established for the people, which by the very nature of its installation, will live on and bear fruit"'. From this idea his hope was that 'the erection of this monument must be the supreme point of all the higher art industry of the country, all the outstanding artists must work on it, and throughout this period the highest perfection of execution would become such a beneficial and practical school that the true purpose of artists and their work would be reborn in it'. (op. cit., p. 103)
In the following years Schinkel made numerous designs for the building which was to be erected outside the walls on the Leipziger Platz. For financial reasons, above all, the church was never built, but the planning of a magnificent cathedral can be associated with the completion of Cologne Cathedral in the 1840s and 1850s.
We are grateful to Dr. Betthausen for his assistance in cataloguing this and the following twenty-five lots.
'The idea of the re-creation of a medieval cathedral in all its various features, which preoccupied Schinkel from 1810 onwards, is one of the most important in his architectural philosophy'. (G. Riemann in the catalogue of the exhibition, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 13 July-27 Oct. 1991, p. 103)
King Wilhelm III of Prussia gave orders in 1814 from London, for 'a cathedral to be built as a memorial to the victorious end to the Wars of Liberation. In a second memorandum dated January 1815, the King 'expressed far-ranging ideas about the building as a religious, historical and living monument. By the last he meant that through it "something is to be established for the people, which by the very nature of its installation, will live on and bear fruit"'. From this idea his hope was that 'the erection of this monument must be the supreme point of all the higher art industry of the country, all the outstanding artists must work on it, and throughout this period the highest perfection of execution would become such a beneficial and practical school that the true purpose of artists and their work would be reborn in it'. (op. cit., p. 103)
In the following years Schinkel made numerous designs for the building which was to be erected outside the walls on the Leipziger Platz. For financial reasons, above all, the church was never built, but the planning of a magnificent cathedral can be associated with the completion of Cologne Cathedral in the 1840s and 1850s.
We are grateful to Dr. Betthausen for his assistance in cataloguing this and the following twenty-five lots.