The White Hall and what came after: Modernism in reconstruction

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, staircase, ceiling painting by Antoine Pesne, Prometheus Stealing Fire from the Chariot of the Sun God, 1742, state in 1943

The ceiling painting above the staircase immediately preceding the White Hall was originally also painted by Antoine Pesne. This ceiling was photographed in colour before the destruction as part of Hitler’s ‘Führerauftrag Monumentalmalerei’, a campaign to record Germany’s endangered monumental painting and interiors carried out in 1943–45. It depicted Prometheus, accompanied by Athena, stealing fire from the sun chariot of the god Helios in order to bring it to mankind. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, staircase, state in 1962

Work on the reconstruction of the staircase had been completed by 1959. The original intention was to leave the ceiling white and dispense with a painting. The stucco figural groups on the cornice had been freely recreated by Harald Haacke on the basis of extant photographs. 

Hann Trier, design for the ceiling painting of the staircase in the New Wing of Charlottenburg Palace, 1974, matt paint on canvas, 77 x 64.5 cm

Despite the existence of the colour photograph of the original ceiling painting the Palaces Department decided to commission Hann Trier to paint the ceiling above the staircase. In contrast to the White Hall, this time the decision was not preceded by public discussion. Trier produced only a small number of designs in the brief period of preparation he had at his disposal.

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, staircase, ceiling painting by Hann Trier, 1974, state in 2017

The grey background of the ceiling painting echoes the colour scheme of the staircase with its grey coving and marble-stucco, providing a foil for the bright colours of the structures. In this work one can readily appreciate the dynamism of Hann Trier’s painting, which harmonizes with that of the stucco figures on the coving.

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Great Orangery, central pavilion with war damage, state in April 1949

A solution also had to be found for the lost ceiling painting of the central section of the Great Orangery at Charlottenburg Palace. In 1943 the central section and the east wing had burned down, resulting in the complete destruction of the ceiling. The Orangery was rebuilt from 1956 to 1962, and it was decided to dispense with a ceiling painting for the time being. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Great Orangery, central pavilion, ceiling painting by Karl Wendling, 1886, state in 1886/before 1914

The ceiling painting from the time of the building’s construction was overpainted by Karl Wendling in 1886. It is likely that Wendling simply restored the surrounding coving, which was painted with illusionistic architecture. The central panel of the ceiling featured the figures of Zeus, Ares and Aphrodite among other gods against a sky full of billowing clouds.

Peter Schubert, design for the ceiling painting of the central pavilion of the Great Orangery at Charlottenburg Palace, 1976/77, matt paint on canvas, 180 x 162.5 cm

In the mid-1970s the Palaces Department decided to commission a contemporary ceiling painting from the artist Peter Schubert, as the extant black-and-white photographs did not provide an adequate basis for reconstructing the painting from 1886. The original Baroque painting was recorded only in an engraving, in which little could be made out.

Peter Schubert, plaster model with design for the ceiling painting of the central pavilion of the Great Orangery at Charlottenburg Palace, before 1977 

Over eighteen months Peter Schubert produced numerous designs and plaster models for the ceiling painting and coving with a number of variations of painted trompe l’oeil architecture. At first Schubert tended towards using dark blue tones with red accents, but later abandoned these in favour of warmer grey and sandy hues.

Heinrich Jonas Ostertag and Lorenz Beger after Johann Friedrich Eosander von Göthe, View of the Garden Façade of Charlottenburg Palace, undated (1718)

By 1964 first discussions were being held on whether to install statues on the balustrade of the façade of the palace facing the garden, as depicted in this eighteenth-century engraving, a project that was never carried out. The statues were intended to break up the horizontal plane of the façade and complete the palace as a Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, garden façade, state in 1962

In the reconstruction of the garden façade the balustrade initially remained empty of statuary, as in its pre-war state; however, a terrace was installed above the semicircular projecting central section of the façade, at the foot of the tower, as seen only in the idealized engraving by Eosander. Until the destruction of 1943 this part of the building had been covered by a half-hipped roof.

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, garden façade, state in 2018

For the four lateral avant-corps Martin Sperlich designed an iconographic programme with the Muses and the Liberal Arts. Maecenas and Hercules were to stand at either end. For the central positions he chose Apollo and Minerva as patrons of the arts, and Pomona as representing the garden together with the allegory of Perspective for the architecture. 

Carl Graeb, View of a wall fountain at Schloss Charlottenhof, c. 1855

The watercolour by Carl Graeb shows a wall fountain at Schloss Charlottenhof, the upper part of which had been stolen. The subject of the relief was a scene from the Old Testament depicting Hagar in the desert with her son Ishmael as they are about to die of thirst. An angel shows her a spring that saves their lives. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, chapel, south wall with painting by Anthonie Coxie, 1706–1708, state in 1943

The painting in the palace chapel was also reconstructed during the 1970s. It had been documented in colour photographs in 1943. However, considerations here initially took a completely different direction: around 1950 Margarete Kühn had been envisaging a modern ceiling painting, but from 1953 she planned to leave the chapel without painted decoration. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, chapel, south wall with painting by Manfred Blessmann after Anthonie Coxie, 1975–1977, state in 2017

After initial tests it became clear that it would be eminently possible to reconstruct the painting. Around thirty per cent of the chapel’s painted decoration had been preserved. In 1971 Gunnar Vogt started restoring it and completing missing portions, work that was continued by Manfred Blessmann from 1976. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, Writing Room of Frederick II, ceiling painting by Antoine Pesne, c. 1746, state before 1943

Like the ceiling painting in the White Hall, the oval ceiling painting of Frederick II’s Writing Room in the New Wing was the work of the artist Antoine Pesne and had been destroyed in the Second World War. It depicted a torch-bearing putto against a cloudy sky. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, Writing Room of Frederick II, ceiling painting by Manfred Blessmann after Antoine Pesne, 1979, state in 2017

The Palaces Department decided to have Pesne’s painting reconstructed, not only since it had been recorded in extant colour photographs but also because it had a relatively small surface area and a simple motif. Manfred Blessmann, who had already worked on the Palace Chapel, sought to emulate the coloration and quality of Antoine Pesne’s original painting. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, staircase, ceiling painting by Augustin Terwesten, Apollo and the Muses, c. 1704, state before 1943

The ceiling of the staircase in the Old Palace was painted around 1704 by the Dutch artist Augustin Terwesten, court painter to King Frederick I and shows Apollo and the Muses. Terwesten’s successor at the Prussian court was Antoine Pesne, who executed the ceiling painting in the White Hall.

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, staircase, ceiling painting by Herbert Sommerfeld, 1961, state in 2017

Terwesten’s ceiling painting was also destroyed. In this case the Palaces Department decided in 1961 not to reconstruct the painting but to have it replaced with a sky of clouds, which was duly executed by Herbert Sommerfeld. In 1969 he was to reconstruct the coving of the White Hall that surrounds the ceiling painting by Hann Trier. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, First Hautelice Room, ceiling painting by Johann Christoph Kimpfel, 1796, state in 1944

In the First Hautelice Room of his Winter Chambers, King Frederick William II had the walls decorated with hangings incorporating four tapestries (hautelices) of scenes from Don Quixote. In 1796, taking up the same theme, Johann Christoph Kimpfel painted the room’s oval ceiling with the scene ‘Tilting at Windmills’ after Charles-Antoine Coypel. 

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, New Wing, First Hautelice Room, ceiling painting by Manfred Blessmann after Johann Christoph Kimpfel, 1989, state in 2017

In the mid-1980s the Palaces Department decided to have the Winter Chambers of Frederick William II restored, since there were extant holdings of original furniture and works of art. Manfred Blessmann was commissioned to create a reconstruction of the ceiling painting; however, it fails to convince, not least owing to the mediocre quality of the original. 

Rome, Residence of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Holy See, dining room, ceiling painting by Hann Trier, 1984

In designing and executing his work for the residence of the German ambassador to the Holy See, Hann Trier had to take into account that the fourteen metre-long room can be divided with mirrored sliding panels and has a very low ceiling. 

Rome, Residence of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Holy See, dining room, ceiling painting by Hann Trier, 1984, state in 2021

Cologne, Museum Ludwig and Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, staircase, mural by Hann Trier, The Triumph of Painting, 1985

A large-format contemporary work of art was being sought for the new staircase shared by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and the Museum Ludwig. The choice fell on Hann Trier. The painting was intended to provide a thematic link between the two museums, connecting historical with contemporary art, a connection that Trier had evoked time and again in his works.