which Munich is famed. The locality chosen
was the Starnberger See, a lovely region of hill and lake lying in the
Bavarian highlands, bordering on the Ammergau, peopled by peasants with
sacred traditions since better known through "The Passion Play."
Overbeck writes gratefully of enjoyment and instruction received through
kind friends among the beauties of nature and of art.

The Roman recluse in his journey northwards had widely extended his
knowledge of nature. On leaving the Apennines he encountered the Alps,
and exchanged beauty for grandeur. His figures were often accompanied by
landscapes; but mountains exceeding in altitude five or six thousand
feet appalled his imagination; masses of such magnitude could not enter
the smaller sphere of his consciousness; hence his northern
peregrinations brought into his compositions no Alpine presences;
indeed, his habitual serenity and simplicity were disturbed by dramatic
stir or storm of the elements, and though his sympathies warmed under
novel experiences, his art failed to take a new departure.

I have often when in Munich regretted that Overbeck had no share in the
Bavarian manifestations of Christian Art. But that he, the head of the
religious revival, is left out was simply his own fault. Cornelius, in
1821, when as director reorganising the Academy, wrote to his friend,
asking assistance; King Ludwig also urged Overbeck to come. But the
timorous artist as usual hesitated; he gave at first assent, conditional
however on a delay of three years to complete works in hand; then he
pleaded the impossibility of taking any step whatsoever without the
sense of religious duty. The King naturally grew weary, and interpreted
the equivocal dealing as a denial. Cornelius again in 1833, when the new
Basilica of St. Boniface needed decoration, once more proposed that his
fellow-labourer in Rome should settle in Munich, but with no avail; the
King evidently had little cordiality for the artist, and so employed
others on the plea, not wholly tenable, that Overbeck was better in oil
than in fresco. Thus the large acreage of wall surfaces dedicated to
Christian Art in the churches of Munich and the Cathedral of Spires fell
into the hands of Cornelius, Hess, and Schraudolph. It is impossible not
to regret that this grand sphere was thus closed to the artist who of
all others had most of beauty to reveal. Yet the sensitive painter might
have encountered much to disturb his peace of mind. K