Masterworks

''Hans von Marées showed a way of painting figures that were monumental and dramatic, without being subservient to some trivial narrative - as 19th century academic painting in Germany had sunk to. Here is Marées painting 'The Golden Age' - an Arcadian dream populated by naked figures who seem to have wandered out of classical mythology..."

Wilhelm von Kaulbach is hardly a household name. Yet in mid-19th century Munich he produced one of the most famous pictures of the day, and was regarded as the living spirit of no less than Raphael. This huge picture - more than 33 square metres of it - is gloriously entitled 'The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus' - an event that had taken place nearly 1800 years earlier in a.d. 70.

It is a bright spring morning, the sun has just risen, and the horse and rider are casting long shadows across the ground. The scene breathes peace and tranquility. But this impression is deceptive. The title of the picture reveals that it is actually about a very serious matter, namely "The Siege of Kosel".

In the new Pinakothek in Munich, one cannot avoid being confused by many paintings, each more than 4 meters in diameter. Because at first it is not clear what it is about and why it is given such a prominent place. They are all landscapes - of a rather barren nature - and you have to look very closely to find clues to their meaning.

"An artist paints himself in the act of painting himself. He gazes at the person who interests him most, doing what he enjoys doing most. Nothing in art is more self-obsessed than a self-portrait of an artist at work. This is the German painter, Lovis Corinth. He is in his studio in the year 1914. Corinth is 56..."