1826 -1886 · Munich, Antwerp, Paris, Vienna and great history painting

Theatrical crowds, clever costumes and decisive moments make Karl von Piloty the master of Munich historical realism.

Karl Theodor von Piloty was born in Munich in 1826 into a family of artists and lithographers. Trained at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, he completed his outlook with trips to Antwerp, Paris and Vienna, where he studied Rubens, Delaroche and the masters of historical staging. After his beginnings in genre painting, he devoted himself to the great events of the past. After his beginnings in genre painting, he devoted himself to the great events of the past. After his beginnings in genre painting, he devoted himself to the great events of the past. After his beginnings in genre painting, he devoted himself to the great events of the past. Founded the League by Maximilian I, Senior in front of Wallenstein's body, The Murder of Caesar and Thusnelda in the Triumph of Germanicus chose less the battle itself than the moment when a gesture reveals destiny. Piloty accumulates costumes, props, architecture and faces, but orders this abundance by focused light and clear dramaturgy. Professor then director of the Munich Academy, he exerted a considerable European influence on history painting in the second half of the 19th century. His students remember from him the taste for documentation, the power of the stage and the psychological presence of the protagonists. Antiquity, the Renaissance and German history become under his brush a moral theater where ambition, fall and collective memory meet. The Antiquity, the Renaissance and German history become under his brush a moral theater where ambition, fall and collective memory meet. The "Karl von Piloty" selection notably compares Alexander the Great bidding farewell to his army and The Murder of Caesar. His reading favors composition.

Piloty chooses the moment when the story becomes destiny: a body, a look and a crowd are enough to turn the story upside down.