The art of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1781–1841

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Cathedral Towering over a Town (1813).

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a German painter and Neo-Classical architect. These paintings, produced early in his career, strongly resemble those of his contemporary Caspar David Friedrich, using landscape as a metaphor and with a similar attention to the quality of natural light. Apparently Schinkel thought too much of the resemblance; after seeing Friedrich’s Monk by the Sea he decided he could never equal Friedrich’s mastery and so concentrated solely on architecture. The picture below of the Queen of the Night is a design for Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Mercury Rev used the painting on the cover of their Secret for a Song single.

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Morning (1813).

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Medieval City on a River (1815).

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The Queen of the Night (1816).

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The Banks of the Spree near Stralau (1817).

4 thoughts on “The art of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1781–1841”

  1. Gilliam’s torture chamber was the interior of a British power station cooling chimney, I believe; very clever use of architecture. Those chimneys are open at the top though, not domed like Schinkel’s painting.

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