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Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel (March 13, 1781 - October 9, 1841) was a German architect – possibly the definining architect of classicism in Prussia.
Born in Neuruppin (Brandenburg), he lost his father at the age of six in Neuruppin's disastrous fire. He became a student of Friedrich Gilly (1772-1800) (the two became close friends) and his father, David Gilly, in Berlin. After studying in Italy, he returned to Berlin in 1805, which by then had been occupied by the troops of Napoleon I of France. After France's defeat, Schinkel oversaw the Prussian Building Commission. In this position, he was not only responsible for reshaping the (still relatively unspectacular) Berlin into a representative capital for Prussia, but also oversaw projects in the Prussian territories spanning from the Rhine lands in the West to Königsberg in the East.
Old Museum (June 2003).
Schinkel's style, in his most productive period, is defined by a return to classical Greek architecture, probably in an attempt to turn away from the Roman style that was linked to the earlier French occupiers. His most famous buildings are found in and around Berlin. These include the Schauspielhaus (1819-1821) at the Gendarmenmarkt, which replaced the earlier theater that was destroyed by fire in 1817, and the "Old" Museum (see photo) on Museum Island (1823-1830).
Schinkel, however, is noted as much for his theoretical work and his architectual drafts as for the relatively few buildings that were actually executed. Maybe his merits are best shown in his unexecuted plans for the transformation of the Acropolis into a royal palace and for the erection of the Orianda Palace in the Crimea. These and other designs may be studied in his Sammlung architektonischer Entwürfe (1820-1837) and his Werke der höheren Baukunst (1840-1842; 1845-1846).
It has been speculated, however, that due to the difficult political circumstances – French occupation and later the dependency on less-than-capable Prussian kings – and his relatively early death, which prevented him from seeing the explosive German industrialization in the second half of the 19th century, he did not even live up to his true potential exhibited by his sketches.
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Karl Friedrich Schinkel: 1781-1841 an Architect in the Service of Beauty by Martin Steffens
Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Architekturzeichnungen by Gottfried Riemann
Karl Friedrich Schinkel by Aurora Cuito
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Das Architektonische Werk Heute/the Architectural Work Today by Hillert Ibbeken
Karl Friedrich Schinkel 1781-1841: The Drama of Architecture by John Zukowsky
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: An Architecture for Prussia by Barry Bergdoll
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Aspects of His Work/Aspekte Seines Werks by Susan M. Peik
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Charlottenhof, Potsdam-Sanssouci (Opus: Architecture in Individual Presentations, 12) by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Das Architektonische Lehrbuch. by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel by Klaus Jan Philipp
Karl Friedrich Schinkel by Helmut Borsch-Supan
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Leben Und Werk by Mario Alexander Zadow
Schinkels Berlin: A Study of Environmental Planning by Hermann Pundt
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Ein Sohn Der Spataufklarung by Mario Alexander Zadow
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: A Universal Man by Michael Snodin
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