Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a German artist and later architect and city planner who moved from Classicism to Romanticism. He was born on 13th March 1781 in Neuruppin, Brandenburg, Germany, Germany on and died on 9th October 1841 in Berlin, Germany aged 60.
Major Works
“Gothic Cathedral by a River” (Painting) (1813)
Stage set for Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” (1815)
“Medieval City on a River” (Painting) (1815)
Neue Wache Berlin (1816-18)
Königliches Schauspielhaus (King’s Concert Hall) Berlin (1817–21)
Altes Museum (Old Museum) Berlin (1825-1830)
Bauakademie (Building Academy) Berlin (1832-36)
Biography Timeline
1781: Karl Friedrich Schinkel was born on 13th March in Neuruppin, Brandenburg, Germany.
1787: His father Johann Cuno Christian Schinkel an employee of the protestant church dies in a fire when his son is six years old. His mother Dorothea looks after the five children.
1794: They move to Berlin where he attends the Grauen Kloster grammar school.
1798: Aged seventeen he sees Friedrich Gilly’s plans at an exhibition at the Prussian Academy of Arts for a monument commemorating Frederick the Great and decides to become an architect. He later studies architecture under Gilly, who becomes a firm friend, and his father David. Prussian architecture was dominated at the time by the neo-classical style led by the architect of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Carl Gotthard Langhans.
1805: He returns to Germany from a trip to Italy.
1809: On 7th August he marries Susanne Berge, the daughter of a wine merchant.
1810: His first child Marie is born. He sees Caspar David Friedrich’s painting “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” in Berlin and decides to become a painter and realises he will never be as good and decides to concentrate on architecture rather than simply painting. Wilhelm von Humboldt finds him a position in the Berlin Buildings Inspectorate as Head of Artistic Matters.
1811: His daughter Susanne is born.
1813: His son Karl-Raphael is born. He designs rooms for Queen Luise in the Berlin Royal Palace. He is also commissioned in March to design the Iron Cross, a medal for bravery in the Wars of Liberation against Napoleonic Bonaparte which continued to be used in Germany up until the end of the Second World War. He paints “Gothic Cathedral by a River”, “View of Mont Blanc and “Morning”.
1815: He is appointed Geheimer Oberbauassessor (Chief Building Inspector or Architect) and begins many commissions for King Frederick William the Third and other members of the royal family. He paints “Medieval City on a River”.
1816: He designs a star-spangled backdrop for the appearance of the character of the Queen of the Night in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”. He helps with the renovation of Cologne Cathedral and begins work on the Neue Wache guardhouse for the Royal Palace.
1817: He begins renovating and reconstructing Schloss Rosenau in Coburg in the Gothic Revival style and also rebuilds the ruins of Chorin Abbey in Brandenburg. He starts planning designs for the Königliches Schauspielhaus (Kings Playhouse) in several styles but particularly Greek Revival.
1818: He begins building the National Monument for the Liberation Wars which is completed in 1821. He paints “Rock Arch”. Building of the Königschauspelhaus begins.
1820: He develops a floorplan for the proposed Orianda Palace and enters his most productive period. He paints “Schloß am Strom” (Crimea Castle by the River ).
1821: He designs the Werdersche Kirche (Church) in Berlin in Gothic Revival style which is one of the earliest uses of the form in Europe.
1822: His daughter Elisabeth is born. He begins work on plans for the Altes Museum (Old Museum).
1823: He works on improvements for the Crown Prince’s Palace and the Schloss Charlottenburg as well as designs for interiors of several private residences.
1824: He designs the Friedrichswerder Church (Temple to Werder) in Neo Gothic style. It is completed in 1831.
1825: He collaborates with Carl Theodor Ottmer on designs for the Berliner Singakademie (Music Academy), which is now known as the Maxim Gorky Theatre. He begins building the Altes Museum (Old Museum) which is completed in 1830.
1830: He designs St. Nicholas Lutheran Church in Potsdam and it is completed in 1837.
1832: He begins building the Bauakademie (Building Academy) which is seen by some as his most innovative building and a precursor of twentieth century modernism.
1834: He paints “Uranus and the Dance of the Stars”.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel died on 9th October 1841 in Berlin after suffering several strokes in Dresden whilst preparing a lecture series. He was buried in the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery on the Chausseestraße in Berlin.