Leo von Klenze

Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze; 29 February 1784, Buchladen (Bockelah / Bocla) near Schladen – 26 January 1864, Munich) was a German devotee of Neoclassicism. He is one of the most prominent representatives of Greek revival style.

Leo von Klenze (1856)
Ruhmeshalle in Munich
Von Klenze's grave in Munich
The New Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia, was one of the first museums designed in 1838 by von Klenze specifically to house art collections (1905).
Painting of an idealized reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areios Pagos in Athens, by von Klenze (1846).

Von Klenze worked as an architect, painter, and writer. Von Klenze was also the court architect of Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Biography

Von Klenze studied architecture and public building finance under Friedrich Gilly in Berlin, and worked as an apprentice to Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine in Paris. Between 1808 and 1813 he was a court architect of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. Later he moved to Bavaria and in 1816 began to work as court architect of Ludwig I.

The King's passion for Hellenism shaped the architectural style of von Klenze. He built many neoclassical buildings in Munich, including the Ruhmeshalle and Monopteros temple. On Königsplatz he designed probably the best known modern Hellenistic architectural ensemble. Near Regensburg he built the Walhalla temple, named after Valhalla.

Von Klenze designed and arranged museum galleries in Munich, including the Glyptothek, Ludwig I's museum for antique sculpture, and the Alte Pinakothek, a painting gallery for the pictures of the Wittelsbach collection.

Opened in 1836 the painting gallery was known as the Alte Pinakothek from about 1846. It was situated in an open park land, the Kunstareal, and became a national gallery.[1] The functional logic and the modernity of the Alte Pinakothek were much admired. The Alte Pinakothek was acknowledged as the most advanced museum building in Europe and von Klenze was invited to London in 1836 by the House of Commons. He was questioned about Bavarian cultural policies and the Alte Pinakothek. Von Klenze detailed the educational and political aspects of the Munich museums, which were accessible to everybody for no entrance fee.[2]

When Greece won its independence, Ludwig I's son Otto became the country's first king. Von Klenze was invited to Athens to submit plans of city reconstruction in the style of Ancient Greece. Nicholas I of Russia commissioned von Klenze in 1838 to design a building for the Hermitage Museum, a public museum to display the collection of antiquities, paintings, coins and medals, cameos, prints and drawings, and books, that had been assembled by the House of Romanov.

Von Klenze was not only an architect, but also an accomplished painter. In many of his paintings ancient buildings were depicted. Those served as models for his own architectural projects. Klenze studied ancient architecture during his travels to Italy and Greece. He also participated in excavations of ancient buildings in Athens and submitted proposals for the restoration of the Acropolis.

Von Klenze collected works of important contemporary German painters. He sold his collection, including 58 landscapes and genre paintings, to Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1841. These paintings form the core of the Neue Pinakothek museum's collection.

Von Klenze married Maria Felicitas Blangini (1790–1844) a beauty at the court of Ludwig I. Their granddaughter Irene Athenais von Klenze became Countess Courten (1850–1916).

Von Klenze died in 1864 and was buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich.

Paintings
  • Landscape with the Castle of Massa di Carrara, 1827
  • Reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areopagus in Athens, 1846
  • Der Camposanto in Pisa
  • Landschaft auf Capri
  • Der Kreuzgang von San Giovanni in Laterano in Rom
  • Der Palazzo Rufolo in Ravello
  • Porto Venere on the Gulf of La Spezia
  • Reconstructed view of Athens
  • Der Domplatz in Amalfi
  • Panorama of Tivoli from a Loggia

Architectural works

See also

References
  1. Simon Knell (2016). National Galleries. Taylor & Francis. p. 84. ISBN 9781317432425.
  2. Carole Paul, ed. (2012). The First Modern Museums of Art: The Birth of an Institution in 18th- and Early-19th-century Europe. J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 325. ISBN 9781606061206.
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