Cornelius was an artist-scholar steeped in classical and Renaissance aesthetics

Evidence

Born in 1863 in Munich into a family of composers, paintcrs, and actors, Cornelius continued to pursue aesthetic interests throughout his life. Talented both as a sculptor and a painter, he made frequent trips to Italy, where he became expert in both classical and Renaissance art. In 1908 he published a study of The Elementary Laws of Pictorial Ari,’ and during the war he ran art schools in Munich. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 195