Cornelius
PETER VON, a German painter; born in Düsseldorf, Sept. 23, 1783. He early exhibited a taste for art, and studied the great masters, especially Raphael. In 1811 he went to Rome, where, in conjunction with Overbeck, Veit, and other associates, he may be said to have founded a new school of German art, and revived fresco-painting in imi tation of Michael Angelo and Raphael.
He left Rome in 1819 for Düsseldorf, where he had been appointed director of the academy, but he soon settled in Munich to give his whole attention to the painting of the Glyptothek and the Ludwigskirche there. In these two great works he was assisted by his Munich pupils. In 1833 he made another visit to Rome, and in 1839 he visited Paris. In 1841 he was invited to Berlin by Frederick William IV., who intrusted him with the painting of the royal mausoleum or Campo Santo. The most celebrated cartoon in this series is the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. The series consists of twelve paintings, which have been engraved. He died in Berlin, March 6, 1867.