The online catalogue

The aim is the compilation of a research-based online catalogue satisfying the highest academic standards of the »Legacy of Schinkel« preserved by the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings). It will contain approximately 5,000 drawings, for the most part by the artist's own hand, and approximately 500 prints by and after Schinkel. The launch will take place after the conclusion of the research project at the end of 2012.

The entire oeuvre of the »universal genius« – the architect, painter, stage designer, designer and, of course, the draughtsman Schinkel – will be presented: Schinkel's early drawings, created still in dependency on Friedrich Gilly, as well as the travel sketches, the preparatory drawings and drafts for panoramas, paintings and stage designs, the works for the applied arts and – constituting the majority of his work – the architectural oeuvre.

The catalogue is to feature encompassing research and search possibilities by which Schinkel's oeuvre in its entire complexity and diversity is rendered accessible for the first time ever, both for the scientific world as well as for interested public audiences.

Each drawing will be represented in its entirety. A zoom function enables the enlargement of details. The goal is an entirely new subject cataloguing as a basis for continued findings. At the same time, the user can leaf through the sketch books online, which is possible only to a very limited extent with the extremely sensitive originals, therefore decisively contributing to their protection.

The results of the art technological analyses will constitute a fundamental part of the catalogue. Regarding the depth and scope,this level of exploration of nineteenth century drawings is unprecedented.

Introductory texts and contributions by renowned scholars, who in part could be won over especially for this project, elucidate the individual drawings, projects and bodies of work and place these within the context of Schinkel's oeuvre and, furthermore, within the overall context of the development of art and architecture in the first half of the nineteenth century. The results of the art technological analyses will also be incorporated here.

Direct contact and worldwide academic exchange will be enabled via e-mail, thereby supporting the continuous further development of the catalogue.