Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/493

CORNELIUS. 423 CORNELL. Overbeck, but he was too independent to follow their footsteps. During this period he e.xceiited his famous drawings for the Xibelungenliud. Together with Overbeclc, Veit, and .Scliadow, he I'eceived a conunission to decorate a room in the liouse of the Prussian Consul at Rome, with scenes from the "History of Joseph." In execut- ing this task he revived fresco painting, which had been almost forgotten since the days of Ka- phael Mengs. His work and that of his asso- ciates e.Kcited the greatest admiration, and they were engaged to decorate a room in the ^*illa Massimi, opposite the Lateran, with frcscoesfrom the works of Dante, Ariosto, and Tasso. He had scarcely Ijegun liis work when there came a double call to return to Germany. The Prussian Goernment invited him to become head of the Diisseldorf Academy, and Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria chose him to decorate the new Glypto- thek in ^Munich. Cornelius arranged to pass his winters in Diisseldorf, where a great crowd of students soon gathered about him, and his summers in executing the frescoes in ilunich. He returned to Germany in 181'.*, and in 1820 he began his work upon the frescoes, which were carried out by his pupils, painting after his design. In two great halls of the Glyptothek he represented the myths of the Greek gods and heroes in works which are masterpieces of drawing and composi- tion. In 1823 he became Director of the Acad- emy of JMuuich, and was raised to the nobility by King Louis I. of Bavaria. He finished the frescoes of the Glyptothek, representing in the third hall scenes from the Iliad. All of this work, however, was executed by his pupils, and may best be studied in the original cartoons by Cornelius, which are now preserved in the National Gallery of Berlin. In 1830 lie began the decoration of the Ludwigskirche in ilunich, •with frescoes representing the General Confes- sion of Faith of the Christian Church." Con- trary to his Usual custom, he himself painted upon the large altar wall (02 X "^^ feet) a fresco of the Last Judgment." During the same time he made sketches representing the "History of Christian Art" for the twenty-five loggie of the old Pinakothek, which were painted by Zimmer- mann. After a disagreement with the King of Bavaria he was called to Berlin by Frederick William IV. in 1841, and given a commission tp decorate the jiroposed Canipo Santo, a burial-place for the royal family of Prussia. The four cartoons exe- cuted for this puipose, now in the National Oalleiy in Berlin, surpass all his previous work. This is especially true of the one containing the "Four Apocaly])tieal Eiders," which is a master- piece of conception, dramatic life, and boldness of drawing. On the other hand, the "Beatitudes" show appreciation for the beautiful and compact in outline. Until nearly the time of his death, Cornelius was occupied with cartoons. He resided mostly in Rome, but returned to Berlin in 1861. remaining there imtil his death, which occurred March 0. 1867. During this last period he executed his design for a silver shield, which was a christening present of the King of Prussia to the Pi'ince of Wales, his godson, representing the "Expansion of the Church." He also painted his dramatic picture "Hagen Cast- ing the Nibelungen Treasure into the Rhine," now in the National Gallery, Berlin. More than any other man, Cornelius may be considered the founder of modern German art. liis traditiiins are still inlluential in Geniiany, and are followed by the Munich School of mural painters. His contemporaries held him in liigli repute, echoing the opinion of Crown Prince Louis: "There has been no painter like Cornelius since the Ciiuiuecento." Jlodern critics, on the other hand, are not equally favorable, some of them, as Muther, going to the opposite ex- treme of considering liis activity harmful. It is true that he imitated Michelangelo, and that imitation can never produce the liealthicst and greatest art; that Cornelius's worlc is of an intellectual character recjuiriiig study for ajijire- eiation; that his colors are poor, and that he is sometimes deficient in technique. But, on the other hand, his works were certainly great in composition and in conception. His tendency, like ilichelangelo's, was heroic, indeed Titanic, but he was not insensible to grace, and was even capable of expressing the tendercst emotion. He was more of a designer than painter, and his work must be judged by his cartoons. And cer- tainly no ])ainter exercised greater influence upon German art and imagination than did Cor- nelius in his great cycles of frescoes in jMunich and in his cartoons in Berlin. Among his pupils were Wilhelm Kaulbach (q.v. ). Carl Hermann, Eberle, and many others. All of them were devoted to the earnest but affable man, who, whatever his deficiencies, had only the highest and noblest aims in art. Consult: Jluther, History of Modern Pa'inting, vol i. (London, 1895) ; Fiirster, Peter von Cor- nelius: ein Gedenkbuch (Berlin, 1874) ; Riegel, Cornelius, der Meister der deutschen Malerei (Hanover, 1870) ; Von Wolzogen, Peter von Cornelius (Berlin, 1867) ; Grimm, H., Neun Essais (Berlin, ISO.";). CORNELIUS A LAP'IDE (1.568-1637). A Roman Catholic commentator, wliose name was A'an den Steen, though he is always known by its Latinized form. He was born at Bocholt, near Li&ge. He became a Jesuit, and lectured on the Scriptures in Louvain and in Rome, where he died. His fame rests upon his commentary on all the Bible except Job and the Psalms, the first complete edition of which was published in ten volumes folio (Antwerp, 1681). The best edition appeared in Lyons (1838), in eleven vol- umes, and an English translation of parts of it has been published (3 vols., London, 1870-87). CORNELL', AiONZO B. (183'2-1904). An American politician, son of Ezra Cornell (q.v.). He was born at Ithaca, N. Y., became a tele- graph operator, and from 185.5 to 1859 was manager of the Central Telegraph Office in New York City. Afterwards he was first vice-president of the Western Union Tele- gra])h Company. In 1868 he was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of New York, and from 1869 to 1873 was surveyor of customs in New York. He was chairman of the Repub- lican State Committee from 1870 to 1878, and was three times Speaker of the New Y'ork As- sembly. From 1880 to 1883 he was Governor of New Y'ork, after which he became connected with large financial interests. CORNELL, Ezra (1807-74). An American capitalist and philanthropist, the founder of Cornell University. He was born in Westchester