Schleissheim Palace
Under William's son Maximilian I the buildings were extended between 1617 and 1623 by Heinrich Schön and Hans Krumpper to form the so-called Old Palace.
Then Enrico Zuccalli built Lustheim Palace as a garden villa in Italian style in 1684–1688 for Maximilian II Emanuel and his first wife, the Austrian princess Maria Antonia.
Lustheim lies on a circular island and forms as a point de vue the conclusion of the baroque court garden.
The brick built and plastered building has two storeys, the middle section is dominated by a belvedere, which provides a wide view of the surrounding countryside.
The center of the palace is the great hall in the middle section, which is flanked laterally by the apartments of the Elector and Electress.
The main building, the corps de logis, is divided by 37 garden-sided window bays, eleven axes fall on the middle section with the grand staircase, the ballroom and the gallery.
This terrace is the result of a change in the draft, after parts of the garden facade were still collapsed during construction due to an insufficient foundation.
Important examples of German baroque architecture are especially the Grand Hall, the Grand Gallery, the wide staircase, the Maximilian's Chapel and the four state apartments decorated by artists such as Charles Dubut, Franz Joachim Beich, Johann Baptist Zimmermann, Cosmas Damian Asam, Jacopo Amigoni, Giuseppe Volpini, Guillielmus de Grof (Wilhelm de Groff) and Antoine Motté.
The dome fresco by Cosmas Damian Asam depicts Venus in the blacksmiths of the volcano, where the weapons are made for her son Aeneas, who is wearing the facial features of Elector Max Emanuel.
The entirely preserved Gobelin tapestries were acquired by Max Emanuel from Flemish manufacturies when he served as Governor for the Spanish Netherlands.
Max Emanuels's son Emperor Charles VII Albert preferred the more private atmosphere of Nymphenburg Palace, so only one of four planned wings was completed.
The gallery of baroque paintings owned by the Bavarian State Picture Collections is today exhibited in several rooms.
Among the artists are Flemish Baroque painters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, Italians like Guido Reni, Luca Giordano, Guercino, Carlo Saraceni, Marcantonio Bassetti, Alessandro Turchi, Carlo Dolci and Pietro da Cortona, but also the Germans Joachim von Sandrart, Johann Heinrich Schönfeld and Johann Carl Loth and the Spanish painters Alonso Cano, José Antolínez and José de Ribera.
The French paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries exhibited in the palace are for the most part historically closely related to Elector Max Emanuel and his family.
In 1852, over 1000 paintings that had been in storage at the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Schleißheim, Augsburg and Nuremberg were sold at a public auction with the permission of the Bavarian royal house.
[1] Under the shade of chestnut trees Hofbräuhaus beers and traditional Bavarian fare are served today, enjoyed with a picturesque view of the palace, particularly at sunset.
