Peter von Cornelius (1783–1867)

• Was a German painter.
• Cornelius was born in Düsseldorf.
• From the age of twelve he attended drawing classes at the Düsseldorf Academy.
• His earliest major work was the decoration of the choir of the church of St Quirinus at Neuss, Cologne in 1803.
• In 1809 he began a series of drawings illustrating Goethe's Faust.
• Cornelius continued the series following his move to Rome, and it was published in twelve engravings between 1816 and 1826.
• He moved to Frankfurt in 1809, and worked there until going to Rome two years later.
• Arrived in Rome on 14 October 1811, and soon became one of the most promising of the Lukasbund or "Nazarene Brotherhood", a group of young German artists resident in the city.

• At Rome Cornelius participated, in the decoration of the Casa Zuccari, and the Villa Massimi.

• In 1819 Cornelius returned to Germany, having been summoned to Munich by the crown-prince of Bavaria, later King Ludwig I, to direct the decorations for his new sculpture gallery, the Glyptothek.

• In 1821 he took on the directorship of the Düsseldorf Academy.

• Peter von Cornelius died in Berlin.

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