Born into a large Italian-German family of artists, Domenico Quaglio first worked in his home town Munich as a decorative painter at the court theatre. An engraver and lithographer by trade, he created graphic prints, especially of medieval buildings. From 1819, he devoted himself exclusively to architectural painting, for which he is now regarded as the most important representative from the Romantic period. Due to the Bavarian kings’ support, he was able to travel extensively throughout Europe, during which he was particularly fond of drawing medieval buildings and Gothic churches. From these drawings, he developed views of buildings and towns in his studio, which, due to their precision, are now of documentary value. His accurately painted representations, however, occasionally contain invented elements, especially in regards to the surroundings of the main motifs or their genre-like design. In 1833, Quaglio died at Hohenschwangau Castle, which he had been commissioned to restore by Crown Prince Maximilian of Bavaria.
