the handling of the
brush, he could conceive and design a subject with masterly purpose. If
he had an imperfect eye for colour, in the Venetian, the Flemish, or the
English sense, he had vast mental foresight in directing the German
school of painting; and his favourite motto of _Deutschland uber alles_
indicates the direction and the strength of his patriotism. Karl Hermann
was one of Cornelius's earliest and most esteemed scholars, a man of
simple and fervent nature, painstaking to the utmost, a very type of the
finest German student nature; Kaulbach and Adam Eberle were also amongst
his scholars. Every public edifice in Munich and other German cities
which were embellished with frescoes, became, as in Italy, a school of
art of the very best kind; for the decoration of a public building
begets a practical knowledge of design. The development of this
institution of scholarship in Munich was a work of time. The cartoons
for the Glyptothek were all by Cornelius's own hand. In the Pinakothek
his sketches and small drawings sufficed; but in the Ludwigskirche the
invention even of some of the subjects was entrusted to his scholar
Hermann.

To comprehend and appreciate thoroughly the magnitude of the work which
Cornelius accomplished for Germany, we must remember that at the
beginning of the 19th century Germany had no national school of art.
Germany was in painting and sculpture behind all the rest of Europe. Yet
in less than half a century Cornelius founded a great school, revived
mural painting, and turned the gaze of the art world towards Munich. The
German revival of mural painting had its effect upon England, as well as
upon other European nations, and led to the famous cartoon competitions
held in Westminster Hall, and ultimately to the partial decoration of
the Houses of Parliament. When the latter work was in contemplation,
Cornelius, in response to invitations, visited England (November 1841).
His opinion was in every way favourable to the carrying out of the
project, and even in respect of the durability of fresco in the climate
of England. Cornelius, in his teaching, always inculcated a close and
rigorous study of nature, but he understood by the study of nature
something more than what is ordinarily implied by that expression,
something more than constantly making studies from life; he meant the
study of nature with an inquiring and scientific spirit. "Study nature,"
was the advice he once gave, "in order that