Karl von Piloty

Who was Karl von Piloty?

Karl Theodor von Piloty was a German painter.

Von Piloty was born in Munich. His father, Ferdinand Piloty, enjoyed a great reputation as a lithographer. In 1840, Karl was admitted as a student of the Munich Academy, under the artists Karl Schorn and Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld. A year later the acclaimed history paintings, i.e. the Compromise of the nobles and the The Abdication of Charles V by the two Belgian artists Edouard de Bièfve and Louis Gallait, were shown in Munich and their realistic depiction of a historic subject matter made a lasting impression on him. After a journey to Belgium, France and England, he commenced work as a painter of genre pictures, and in 1853 produced a work, Die Amme, which, on account of its originality of style, caused a considerable sensation in Germany at the time.

But he soon forsook this branch of painting in favour of historical subjects, and produced in 1854 for King Maximilian II The Accession of Maximilian I to the Catholic League in 1609. It was succeeded by Seni at the Dead Body of Wallenstein, which gained for the young painter the membership of the Munich Academy, where he succeeded Schorn as professor.