Wilhelm von Kaulbach

Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1804-1874) was considered by many to be the most important German history painter of the 19th century. At the height of his fame he was Director of the Munich Academy, where innumerable young American art students enrolled to learn the fundamentals of art. Americans from the Midwest, as well as those with German ancestry, chose Munich over Paris because it was considered to be less threatening to conventional Victorian moral standards. Parents worried that the study period in Paris would lead their sons down the path of bohemianism and dissipation to a tragic end. Great names such as William Merritt Chase, Frank Duveneck, Otto Bacher, Walter Shirlaw and ma...