Alte Pinakothek

Coordinates: 48°08′54″N 11°34′12″E / 48.14833°N 11.57000°E / 48.14833; 11.57000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Alte Pinakothek
Photo of the museum
Alte Pinakothek, eastern façade
Map
Established1836
LocationKunstareal, Munich, Germany
Coordinates48°08′54″N 11°34′12″E / 48.14833°N 11.57000°E / 48.14833; 11.57000
TypeArt museum
AccreditationBavarian State Painting Collections
CollectionsOld Masters
Public transit access
  • No. 27 tram to Pinakotheken
  • Underground U2 to Königsplatz
Websitewww.pinakothek.de

The Alte Pinakothek (German: [ˈʔaltə pinakoˈteːk], Old Pinakothek) is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany.[1] It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinakothek refers to the time period covered by the collection—from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century.[2] The Neue Pinakothek, re-built in 1981, covers nineteenth-century art, and Pinakothek der Moderne, opened in 2002, exhibits modern art. All three galleries are part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, an organization of the Free state of Bavaria.[3]

The building

King

Neo-Renaissance exterior of the Pinakothek clearly stands out from the castle-like museum type common in the early 19th century. It is closely associated with the function and structure of the building as a museum. Very modern in its day, the building became exemplary for museum buildings in Germany and in Europe after its inauguration in 1836, and thus became a model for new galleries like the Hermitage Museum[4] in Saint Petersburg, and galleries in Rome, Brussels and Kassel
.

The museum building was severely damaged by bombing in World War II but was reconstructed and reopened to the public on 7 June 1957, with President Theodor Heuss attending.[5] Director Ernst Buckner oversaw the rebuilding project, ensuring that the building remained true to its original architecture. The ornate, pre-war interior, including the large loggia facing the south façade in the upper floor, was not restored. A new wall covering was created in 2008 for the rooms on the upper floor of the Alte Pinakothek with a woven and dyed silk from Lyon. The new color scheme of green and red draws on the design of the rooms dating back to the time of construction of the Alte Pinakothek, and was predominant until the 20th century. Already for King Ludwig I and his architect Leo von Klenze, the use of a wall covering alternately in red and green represented the continuation of a tradition that dates back to the exhibition of the old masters of the late 16th century in many of the major art galleries of Europe (Florence, London, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Paris, Vienna).

Panorama of the façade
Alte Pinakothek, south façade

History

Alte Pinakothek, hand-painted photograph, c. 1890

The Wittelsbach collection was begun by Duke

Van Dyck, with the pictures of Rubens from the personal estate of the artist which were therefore not intended for sale. Under Max Emanuel's successors, the purchases were largely discontinued due to the tight budget.[7]

Also Max Emanuel's cousin

The Big Last Judgment and received Raphael's Canigiani Holy Family as a dowry of his wife. Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria (1742–1799) had a strong preference for Netherlandish paintings as well, among other paintings he acquired Rembrandt's The Holy Family. By the late 18th century a large number of the paintings were displayed in Schleissheim Palace
, and accessible to the public.

Room IX

After the reunion of

Napoleon I (1769–1821),[8] who was a noted admirer of Alexander the Great. The Louvre held it until 1804, when Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France and took it for his own use. When the Prussians captured the Château de Saint-Cloud in 1814 as part of the War of the Sixth Coalition, they supposedly found the painting hanging in Napoleon's bathroom.[9]
Most of the paintings have not been returned.

With the

secularisation many paintings from churches and former monasteries entered into state hands. King Ludwig I of Bavaria collected especially Early German and Early Dutch paintings but also masterpieces of the Italian renaissance. In 1827 he acquired the collection Boisserée with 216 Old German and Old Dutch masters; in 1828, the king managed to also purchase the collection of the Prince Wallerstein, with 219 Upper German and Upper Swabian paintings. In 1838 Johann Georg von Dillis
issued the first catalogue.

After the times of King Ludwig I the acquisitions almost ended. Only from 1875 the directors Franz von Reber and Hugo von Tschudi secured important new acquisitions, such as the Madonna of the Carnation of Leonardo da Vinci and The Disrobing of Christ of El Greco.

The predilection of the Wittelsbach rulers for some painters made the collection quite strong in those areas but neglected others. Since the 1960s the Pinakothek has filled some of these gaps: for example, a deficit of 18th-century paintings was addressed by the integration into the collection of works loaned from two Bavarian banks. Among these paintings were Nicolas Lancret's The Bird Cage and François Boucher's Madame Pompadour.

In April 1988, the serial

Dierick Bouts' Ecce agnus dei was acquired.[11]

On 5 August 2014, the museum rejected a request by a descendant of the banker Carl Hagen for the repatriation of Jacob Ochtervelt's Das Zitronenscheibchen (The Lemon Slice) on the grounds that it had been unlawfully acquired as a result of Nazi persecution. An investigation by the museum established that it had been lawfully purchased at the time for a fair price and that the Hagen family's interest extended only to a security on the painting.[12]

Collection

Kreuzigung Christi (English: Crucifixion of Christ) by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin and Child (Madonna of the Carnation)

The museum is under the supervision of the Bavarian State Painting Collections which also owns an expanded collection of several thousand European paintings from the 13th to 18th centuries. Especially its collection of Early Italian, Old German, Old Dutch and Flemish paintings is one of the most important in the world.

More than 800 of these paintings are exhibited at the Old Pinakothek. Due to limited space in the building, some associated galleries throughout Bavaria such as the baroque galleries in Schleissheim Palace and Neuburg Palace additionally have works by the Old Masters on display. From 2014 through 2017, wings of the museum were sequentially closed for renovation, and the artworks in closed sections were unavailable for viewing.[13]

  • German paintings 14th–17th century:
The Alte Pinakothek comes with the most comprehensive collection of German Old Masters worldwide. Among many others, the Pinakothek shows works of
The Battle of Issus), Cranach (Lamentation Beneath the Cross), Holbein (St. Sebastian Altar; Central panel: Martyrdom of St. Sebastian), Matthias Grünewald (SS. Erasmus und Maurice), Hans von Aachen (The Triumph of Truth), Adam Elsheimer (The Flight into Egypt), and Johann Liss
(Death of Cleopatra).
  • Early Netherlandish paintings 15th–16th century:
One of the most impressive collections worldwide especially for
Fragment from the Last Judgment), Hans Memling (The Seven Joys of the Virgin), and Jan Gossaert
, aka. Mabuse (Danae).
  • Dutch paintings 17th–18th century:
Due to the passion of the Wittelsbach rulers this section contains numerous exquisite paintings. Among the masters are
Gerard Terborch (The Flea-Catcher (Boy with His Dog)), Jacob van Ruisdael
(Torrent with Oak Trees) and many others.
  • Flemish paintings 16th–18th century:
The collection contains masterpieces of painters like
van Dyck (Deposition, Self-Portrait, Susanna and the Elders), Jacob Jordaens (Satyr with Peasants) and Adriaen Brouwer
(Village Barbar's Shop).
The Rubens Collection with 72 paintings the largest permanent one worldwide.
  • Italian paintings 13th–18th century:
The Italian
Madonna Tempi), Leonardo da Vinci (Madonna of the Carnation), Antonello da Messina (Annunciata), Titian (Vanity, Charles V), Tintoretto (Christ in the House of Mary and Martha), Paolo Veronese (Amor with two dogs), Guido Reni (The Assumption of the Virgin), Luca Giordano (A Cynical Philosopher), Tiepolo (The Adoration of the Kings), Francesco Guardi (Regatta on the Canale della Guidecca), Canaletto
(Piazetta in Venice) and others.
  • French paintings 16th–18th century:
In spite of the close relationship of the
Claude Joseph Vernet (Eastern Harbour at Dawn) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard
(Girl with Dog).
  • Spanish paintings, 16th–18th century:
Though this is the smallest section, all major masters are represented, such as
Velázquez (Young Spanish Gentleman), Jusepe de Ribera (Saint Bartholomew), Francisco de Zurbarán (The Entombment of St. Catharine of Alexandria on Mount Sinai, St. Francis in Ecstasy), and Murillo (Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon). The paintings of Francisco de Goya were moved into the New Pinakothek
.

Gallery

References

  1. ^ "Alte Pinakothek". pinakothek.de. Archived from the original on 18 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Alte Pinakothek | DIE PINAKOTHEKEN". www.pinakothek.de. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  3. ^ "History | DIE PINAKOTHEKEN". www.pinakothek.de. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  4. ^ a b muenchen.de. "Alte Pinakothek". muenchen.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  5. JSTOR 872096
    .
  6. ^ "Natural History and History Painting in Rubens' Animals". Max Planck Institute. Archived from the original on 2016-11-19. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  7. ^ "ALTE PINAKOTHEK REVIEW". Fodor's. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  8. ^ Alte Pinakothek, pp. 24–29
  9. ^ Wood, p. 22
  10. .
  11. ^ "pinakothek.de – Förderer und Partner". Pinakothek.de. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  12. ^ "Alte Pinakothek rejects restitution claim for 'Das Zitronenscheibchen' by Jacob Ochtervelt". codart.nl. 5 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Pinakothek.de – Renovation to Improve Energy Efficiency 2014–2017". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-17.

Sources

External links