{{Short description|German architect and painter (1784–1864)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox architect | honorific_prefix = | name = Leo von Klenze | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Leo von Klenze 2.jpg | image_upright = 0.9 | caption = Leo von Klenze | birth_name = Franz Karl Leopold Klenze | birth_date = {{Birth date|1784|2|29|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Schladen]], [[Brunswick-Lüneburg|Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneberg]], [[Holy Roman Empire]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1864|1|26|1784|2|29|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Munich]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], [[German Confederation]] | death_cause = | resting_place = [[Alter Südfriedhof]], Munich, Germany | citizenship = | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = {{hlist|Architect|painter}} | years_active = | alma_mater = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | nocat_wdimage = | awards = | practice = | significant_buildings = | significant_projects = | significant_design = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website = | embedded = }}
[[File:Westend Bavaria Ruhmeshalle Schwanthalerhöhe München 1.jpg|thumb|[[Ruhmeshalle]] in Munich]] [[File:Grab Leo von Klenze.JPG|thumb|upright|Klenze's grave in Munich]] [[File:New Hermitage.jpg|thumb|The [[Hermitage Museum|New Hermitage]], St. Petersburg, Russia, was one of the first museums designed in 1838 by Klenze specifically to house art collections (1905).]] [[File:Akropolis by Leo von Klenze.jpg|thumb|Painting of an idealized reconstruction of the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] and [[Areios Pagos]] in Athens, by von Klenze (1846).]]
'''Leo von Klenze''' (born '''Franz Karl Leopold Klenze'''<ref>{{GND|118563211|suffix=1}}</ref>; 29 February 1784 – 26 January 1864) was a German architect and painter. He was the court architect of [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]].
Klenze was a devotee of [[Neoclassicism]] and one of the most prominent representatives of [[Greek Revival]] style.
==Biography== Leo von Klenze studied architecture and public building finance under [[Friedrich Gilly]] in Berlin, and worked as an apprentice to [[Charles Percier]] and [[Pierre François Léonard Fontaine]] in Paris. Between 1808 and 1813, he was a court architect of [[Jérôme Bonaparte]], King of [[Westphalia]]. He later moved to [[Bavaria]] and began work as court architect of [[Ludwig I of Bavaria|Ludwig I]] in 1816.
Ludwig I's passion for [[Hellenism (neoclassicism)|Hellenism]] shaped the architectural style of Klenze. He built many neoclassical buildings in Munich, including the [[Ruhmeshalle (Munich)|Ruhmeshalle]] and [[Englischer Garten (Munich)|Monopteros temple]]. He designed the layout of [[Königsplatz, Munich|Königsplatz]], a [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] square in Munich. Near [[Regensburg]], he built the [[Walhalla temple]], named after [[Valhalla]].
Klenze designed and arranged museum galleries in Munich, including the [[Glyptothek]], Ludwig I's museum for antique sculpture, and the [[Alte Pinakothek]], a painting gallery for the pictures of the [[Wittelsbach]] collection that opened in 1836.{{citation needed||date=April 2023}} The Alte Pinakothek was situated in an open park land, the [[Kunstareal]], and became a national gallery.<ref>{{Cite book|title=National Galleries | author1= Simon Knell |publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2016| isbn=9781317432425 | page=84}}</ref> The functional logic and the modernity of the Alte Pinakothek were much admired. The Alte Pinakothek was acknowledged as the most advanced museum building in Europe and Klenze was invited to London in 1836 by the House of Commons. There, was interviewed about [[Bavaria]]n cultural policies and the Alte Pinakothek. Klenze detailed the educational and political aspects of the Munich museums, which were free to the public.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First Modern Museums of Art: The Birth of an Institution in 18th- and Early-19th-century Europe |editor1= Carole Paul |publisher=J. Paul Getty Museum| year=2012| isbn=9781606061206| page=325}}</ref>
When Greece won its independence, Ludwig I's son [[Otto of Greece|Otto]] became the country's first king. Klenze was invited to [[Athens]] to submit plans of city reconstruction in the style of [[Ancient Greece]]. In 1838, [[Nicholas I of Russia]] commissioned Klenze to design a building for the [[Hermitage Museum]], a public museum to display the collection of antiquities, paintings, coins and medals, cameos, prints and drawings, and books that had been assembled by the [[House of Romanov]].
Klenze was not only an architect, but also an accomplished painter. He depicted ancient buildings in many of his paintings, serving as models for his own architectural projects. Klenze studied ancient architecture during his travels to Italy and Greece. He also participated in excavations of ancient buildings in [[Athens]] and submitted proposals for the restoration of the [[Acropolis]].{{citation needed||date=April 2023}}
Klenze collected works of important contemporary German painters. He sold his collection, including 58 landscapes and genre paintings, to [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]] in 1841. These paintings form the core of the [[Neue Pinakothek]] museum's collection.
Klenze married Maria Felicitas Blangini (1790–1844), a beauty at the court of Ludwig I. Their granddaughter Irene Athenais von Klenze became Countess Courten (1850–1916).
Klenze died in 1864 and was buried in the [[Alter Südfriedhof]] in Munich.
==Paintings== * ''Landscape with the Castle of Massa di Carrara'', 1827 * ''Reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areopagus in Athens'', 1846 * ''Der Camposanto in Pisa'' * ''Landschaft auf Capri'' * ''Der Kreuzgang von San Giovanni in Laterano in Rom'' * ''Der Palazzo Rufolo in Ravello'' * ''Porto Venere on the Gulf of La Spezia'' * ''Reconstructed view of Athens'' * ''Der Domplatz in Amalfi'' * ''Panorama of Tivoli from a Loggia''
==Architectural works== *In [[Munich|Munich (München)]]: ** [[Glyptothek]] (1816–1830) ** [[Alte Pinakothek]] (1826–1836) ** [[Residenz, Munich|Residenz]] – Königsbau, Festsaalbau and the [[Allerheiligen-Hofkirche]] (1826–1842) ** Monopteros temple in [[Englischer Garten]] (1836) ** [[Propylaea (Munich)|Propyläen]] Gate (1846–1862) ** [[Ruhmeshalle (Munich)|Ruhmeshalle]] (1850) ** Monopteros in the park of [[Nymphenburg Palace]] ** [[Ludwigstrasse]], [[Odeonsplatz]] and adjacent Wittelsbacherplatz ** [[Herzog-Max-Palais]] (1828–1831) * Ballhouse in [[Wilhelmshöhe]] castle park, ([[Kassel]]) (1809–1810) * [[Ismaning]] castle (1816) built for a stepson of [[Napoleon]], [[Eugène de Beauharnais]], and his spouse. * [[Walhalla temple]] near [[Regensburg]] (1816–1842) * Neues Schloss (New Palace) at Pappenheim (1819–1820) * [[Hermitage Museum|New Hermitage]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia (1839–1852) * [[Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite|Catholic church of St. Dionysios]] the Areopagite in [[Athens]], [[Greece]] (1853–1865) * [[Befreiungshalle]] in [[Kelheim]] (1863)
==See also== *[[Neoclassical architecture]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Leo von Klenze}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klenze, Leo von}} [[Category:Architects of the Bavarian court]] [[Category:19th-century German architects]] [[Category:19th-century German painters]] [[Category:19th-century German male artists]] [[Category:German male painters]] [[Category:German neoclassical painters]] [[Category:Greek Revival architects]] [[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]] [[Category:German neoclassical architects]] [[Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal]] [[Category:1784 births]] [[Category:1864 deaths]] [[Category:Burials at the Alter Südfriedhof]] [[Category:People from Wolfenbüttel (district)]]