The present king of Prussia, great and glaring as are his faults as a politician, deserves the credit of doing a great deal for the advancement of art and the decoration of his capital and residence, Berlin. He is building there a new metropolitan church which is expected to be a splendid edifice, and will be such as far as the most lavish expenditure of money can make it. He has just completed a New Museum to contain the large and excellent collections of Egyptian antiquities (including those brought home by Prof. Lepsius), of the antiquities of the middle ages, of Slavonic and Germanic relics, of plaster casts from the antique, the collection known as the "Copper-Plate Cabinet," &c., &c., all of which have heretofore been most inconveniently arranged for inspection in the Old Museum and in various royal palaces, or else packed away somewhere out of sight. This edifice was designed by the architect Stüler; its foundations were laid in 1843, and its interior has just been completed with a luxury, variety, and extent of ornament, in the mosaic work of the floors, and the decorations of the walls and ceiling, which are not equalled by any other public building. Among the artists employed in these decorations are the sculptors Wredow, Gramzow, Stürmer, Schievelbein, and Berges; here, too, is to be seen Kaulbach's great series of frescoes, of which the Babel is already finished, and the Destruction of Jerusalem nearly so. The landscape painters Græb, Pape, Biermann, Schirmer, Max Schmidt, contribute a great number of frescoes of Egyptian and oriental subjects. A critic in the Grenzboten who eulogizes the beauties both of design and execution in the separate parts of the edifice, still says, and we think not without reason, that it does not form a united and organic whole. He says, too, that in it the old works are rather used as decorations for the architecture than the latter as a setting for them; "I cannot avoid the impression that here the old monuments of art are not the end, but the means to the execution of the great edifice of modern times in which it is sought to embody the entire encyclopædistic, historical experience in art belonging to the present epoch."
Another edifice which this prince intends as a monument of his reign, is the new Campo Santo, or burial-place for members of the royal family, which he is erecting at Berlin. This building, which will surround a court where are the tombs, is to be ornamented with frescoes by the eminent painter Cornelius. This artist has just completed the third great cartoon for these frescoes. Its subject is the Resurrection. Its place is on the right of the "Heavenly Jerusalem" and opposite to the "Four sides of the Apocalypse," which is on the left of the "Downfall of Babylon." Thus on one side of the hall is represented the destruction of Evil, on the other the triumph of the Good. The Resurrection, which has been changed somewhat from the original design, is described as follows: On a rock is seen an angel in a position of repose, with the book of life and death unopened on his lap, his right hand grasping the sword of justice. His face is thoughtful and sublimely earnest. On the left are figures full of terror and despair, on the right all is heavenly joy and satisfaction. In the centre is a re-united family animated by the delight of meeting again. At the side of this family are two girls and above them three youths, noble and beautiful persons. The faces of the maidens are turned upward, illuminated by the eternal light of heaven. On the same side of the family are three persons advanced in age, one woman and two men, waiting in pious hope and submission for the decision of the judge; on the other side, a little higher, three figures seek and find that salvation is theirs; a youth whose foot reaches back among the condemned is drawn mildly forth by an angel, and beside him is a tender maiden with her young brother in her arms, whom she holds lovingly, as she follows the celestial messenger. The group on which Justice sorrowfully fulfils its office, occupies about a quarter of the canvas; it consists of two youthful and two more aged figures. On a height a woman wrings her hands in the anguish of remorse, while another gazes in despair upon the ground. A youth lies backward leaning on his right hand, shading his eyes with his left as if not to see the approach of destruction. The older pair, a man and woman, have thrown themselves to the earth; the woman hides her face in her hands, the man, leaning on his elbows, tears his hair with his hands; his face expresses the consciousness of a sin which can find no forgiveness. The artist has aimed throughout to convey the idea that salvation and damnation are not inflicted or conferred upon the persons, but are the result of the inward state of each soul and conscience. The angel with the book of life and death can announce no sentence which has not already been pronounced by the very being to which it refers. The execution of the whole is spoken of as sublime and grandiose.
The well-known German painter, Hiltensperger, has received the commission to design and partly to execute for the new imperial palace at St. Petersburg (an edifice destined to serve as a museum of antique art) a series of paintings, representing the history of art among the Greeks and Romans. A part of the designs are already completed, and receive the warm praise of those to whom they have been exhibited. In order to avoid the monotony which seems inherent in the subject, he represents the peculiarities of each artist introduced by a symbolic picture; for instance, the inventor of battle pictures is designated by a picture of that sort; the discoverer of an effect of light, by a boy blowing a fire, &c. Historical epochs and their transitions are denoted by allegorical figures, like day and night.
An old picture has been discovered in the city of Hanover which seems to be proved a genuine Leonardo Da Vinci. It is known that Leonardo, as well as Zenale and the French artist Bourgogne, was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, on occasion of the birth of his twin sons, to paint a picture glorifying the mother (Beatrice D'Este) and the event. Zenale and Bourgogne resorted to the Christian narrative, and represented the Duchess as the Virgin, and her two sons as the Saviour and John the Baptist; Leonardo, on the other hand, took his frame-work from the Greek mythology, and painted Leda and the Dioscures. The picture was greatly admired at the time, though that the figure of the Duchess of Milan should be represented nude was thought rather bad even then. The picture soon disappeared, and Vasari says that in his time it was no longer in existence, or else was probably at Fontainebleau. Other writers say it is in other places, but plainly none of them know any thing about it. The present picture was bought about five years since at an auction by a gentleman of Hanover. The conception and treatment agree perfectly with the original descriptions of Leonardo's work, while the coloring, drawing, and expression are pronounced altogether his.
The Art-Union At Vienna opened its galleries to the public of that pleasure-loving city during December last, and more than two thousand persons visited them daily. The best pictures were by the Düsseldorf artists Tidemann and Achenbach. The Religious Service of the Haugians, by the first, is said by one critic to overwhelm the spectator by its spirit of earnest piety, before it allows him to admire the incomparable art of its execution. The members of the sect are represented as assembled in a simple room, which is lighted from above. The light is modified by the dust which is caused by the crowd. Simple grandeur, adds the writer, makes this picture one of the most remarkable productions of modern art. It was sold for 2400 florins, or about 1000 dollars. Achenbach's landscape Venner Lake in Sweden, was also greatly admired; its price was 1800 florins. Hübner's Emigrants and Hasenclever's Pastor's Family were also favorites. Among the Vienna artists Führichs carried off the palm in this exhibition. He is a historical painter.
The Gazette of Cremona states, that a very splendid picture by Raffaelle has been brought to light in that city by a learned connoisseur, who, of course, would part with the priceless gem for a fixed sum! The composition portrays the Virgin worshipping the Infant Saviour, with St. Joseph in the back-ground. The Art Journal altogether discredits the story we translated from the German for the last International respecting a picture by Michael Angelo, said to have been discovered in London.