State Museum Mainz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Landesmuseum Mainz (former names: Städtische Gemäldegalerie ; Altertumsmuseum ; Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum ) is one of the oldest museums in Germany. One of his predecessor institutions, the municipal painting collection, was initiated in 1803 by Jean-Antoine Chaptal at the instigation of Napoléon Bonaparte through a donation of 36 paintings and founded by the city of Mainz . The museum, which is now located in the former royal stables , has belonged to the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2009 and, together with the Roman-Germanic Central Museum and the Gutenberg Museum, one of the most important museums in Mainz. Its art and cultural history collection extends from prehistory through the Roman period, the Middle Ages and the Baroque to Art Nouveau and 20th century art. From 2004 to 2010, the Landesmuseum Mainz was partially renovated for a total of 32 million euros and adapted to the latest museum educational and technical requirements.

Landesmuseum Mainz in the former Golden Ross barracks - entrance area with the eponymous roof figure, in June 2009

history

View of the Großer Bleiche in spring 2013.

In 1803 Napoléon Bonaparte had 36 paintings transferred to the "bonne ville de l'Empire" and capital of the Donnersberg Mayence department to establish a picture gallery. This collection of paintings was exhibited in a so-called antiques hall together with altarpieces from Mainz churches and the collection of Roman finds, especially stone monuments. The collection of paintings was continuously expanded throughout the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. This happened z. B. through the amalgamation of the picture gallery with the city copper engraving cabinet or the donation of around 13,000 graphics in 1903 by the Mainz judicial advisor Adolf Laské . The collection of Roman finds was brought together in the antiquity museum with handicraft objects from the Middle Ages and Baroque and also expanded. The significant number of Roman stone monuments experienced a great increase as a result of the intensive construction work during this time, for example through the original of the Dativius Victor Arch or the Great Mainz Jupiter Column .

In 1937 the antiquity museum moved and, after the war, the picture gallery from the electoral palace to the former electoral stables on the Große Bleiche , which was used as barracks in the 19th century. The building, popularly known as the " Golden Ross Barracks " because of the larger-than-life golden horse figure on the roof , is located on the Große Bleiche and thus in the immediate vicinity of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in the Electoral Palace. Despite the destruction of the building during air raids, the collections survived the Second World War relatively unscathed due to careful and timely relocation and extensive security measures . In 1962, after extensive construction and renovation measures, the reopening of the old location was celebrated. In 1967 the state of Rhineland-Palatinate took over the financing and the antiquity museum, picture gallery and graphic collection finally merged to form the “Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum Mainz” with good financial and personnel resources.

One of the leading figures in the museum management was Wilhelm Weber , who was director of the museum from 1978 to 1983. He set up new departments and expanded existing ones for a contemporary and appropriate presentation: Department for Roman Art, Department for Judaica, Department for Medieval and Modern Times. By acquiring new important paintings, including by Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso , he strengthened the museum's reputation for a long time. His successor, Berthold Roland , continued to expand the collections, set new priorities, especially for art of the 20th century, and achieved a wide public image with well-attended special exhibitions.

In 1978 the museum complex was expanded with the reconstruction of the side wing and the construction of an exhibition pavilion (today demolished again) in the inner courtyard of the Marstall. In 1986, the state was renamed "Landesmuseum Mainz" as part of the state's new cultural policy focus. The Landesmuseum Mainz was extensively renovated between 2004 and 2010 and redesigned according to modern aspects of museum education. The costs for this totaled 32 million euros. The construction work took place in various stages of renovation, during which the museum had to be completely closed for a total of four months. The first partial opening was made in May 2007. The aim of the renovation work was the modernization of the exhibition rooms, the integration of modern presentation and multimedia technology and the complete accessibility of the museum rooms for disabled visitors. In addition to the newly designed entrance hall with a redesigned museum shop and the newly created glass arcade to the inner courtyard, there is also the new period, an action space for young and old, in which access to the epochs of art history can be experienced in a playful way.

In March 2010 the State Museum was reopened with all collections and exhibitions (except for the Prehistory and Early History departments and Roman stone monuments). However, the premises previously used by the museum in the neighboring Eltzer Höfe had to be abandoned and have been vacant since then. Even important exhibits could no longer be shown after the renovation work due to a lack of space in the new premises. On September 1, 2010, the art historian Andrea Stockhammer became director of the museum. In May 2013 the stone hall with the collection of Roman stone monuments was reopened and closed again in 2015 and completely cleared, as the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate will meet here temporarily from 2016.

The large inner courtyard was redesigned and reopened in 2014. Here contemporary sculptures are presented alternately. In addition, the inner courtyard is also used during special exhibitions for events as part of the museum's educational offer.

List of directors

Organization and structure

The Landesmuseum Mainz is assigned to the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage (GDKE) of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate . There it is one of a total of six directorates that report to the GDKE. A total of 23 employees report to the management of the Landesmuseum Mainz on site, while the Max Slevogt Gallery at Villa Ludwigshöhe Palace is managed as a branch from Mainz. The Slevogt Archive (formerly Neukastel) has been in the care of the Landesmuseum Mainz since 2014, after the state of Rhineland-Palatinate with support and support. a. the Kulturstiftung der Länder was able to purchase this studio estate from Slevogts (graphic estate) from the artist's great-grandchildren.

The museum's holdings are grouped into individual departments, each headed by a scientist. The specialist departments are painting / sculpture , graphic collection , handicrafts and archeology . The tasks of the overarching areas are building services, museum education and restoration , the latter again subdivided into painting, paper, stone / glass / ceramics and wood / metal. Administrative work in the administration, personnel, finance and communication areas is partly carried out from the headquarters of the GDKE in Koblenz.

The collection

The Landesmuseum Mainz has a thematically diversified collection. The art collection is the largest and most important in Rhineland-Palatinate. With over 2000 individual copies, the collection of Roman stone monuments is one of the largest north of the Alps and also preserves exhibits that are well known, such as the "Great Mainz Jupiter Column". With over 45,000 watercolors, drawings and prints, as well as medieval miniatures from the 14th to 16th centuries and views of Mainz, the graphic collection is the largest and most important in Rhineland-Palatinate. Also worth mentioning are the collections of Art Nouveau glass and that of Höchst Porcelain from the former Electoral-Mainz porcelain factory.

Prehistory and Roman section

The Prehistory and Romans departments are currently (2014) closed due to renovation work. This part of the State Museum's collection includes exhibits from around 300,000 BC. Until the birth of Christ, which were found in the Mainz area. Among the older collection items, the "Venus vom Linsenberg", a female statuette from the Paleolithic Age (dated approx. 23,000 BC) is worth mentioning. Another, similar figure has only survived in fragments: These two sculptures can be regarded as the oldest surviving works of art in the Mainz area. The exhibited depot find of five splendid axes from Mainz-Gonsenheim is also of national importance. They are polished flat jadeite axes from the late Neolithic Age (2800 BC to 2200 BC) that were imported to Mainz from the Maritime Alps .

From the 2nd century BC The so-called " Glashund von Wallertheim " dates from BC . The figure, only 2.1 cm long and 1.6 cm high, made of blue glass decorated with white and yellow glass threads, was found in a Celtic double grave in the Rhine-Hessian community of Wallertheim . Also from Celtic times are the additions of the “Prince's or chariot grave from Armsheim ”.

Roman finds made of glass, ceramics and bronze, art and everyday objects and wall paintings can also be seen in this section. An extensive Roman glass collection, which is one of the most important north of the Alps, is part of the special inventory of this house.

Roman section (stone monuments)

The collection of Roman stone monuments includes over 2000 individual pieces. Of these, around 1050 are completely or almost completely preserved. The monuments contained in the collection include (mainly) military and civil tombstones, altars and consecrations, legionary inscriptions, four-god stones , reliefs, sarcophagi, sculptures, emperor's inscriptions , architectural parts and milestones . Until 2006, the collection was presented in the so-called “stone hall”, the former riding hall of the Marstall, and is currently not on public display. The collection is to be seen in the future in the newly planned “Archaeological Center Mainz” in the southern old town.

The oldest pieces in today's collection were published in book form by Johann Huttich as early as 1525 and, above all, described in the 18th century by Father Joseph Fuchs in his work “Old History of Mainz” and illustrated as copperplate engravings. After Fuchs' pioneering work, the expansion, investigation and journalistic evaluation of the collection came to the fore. At the beginning of the 19th century, Friedrich Lehne expanded the collection by digging in the former Roman military cemetery in the Zahlbach Valley , with sustained support from the then French prefect Jeanbon St. André . Goethe specially visited Mainz in 1815 "to see the ancient collection and a number of valuable paintings" . Goethe later pointed out the importance of the Mainz collection in his own essay and several letters.

Particularly noteworthy exhibits include:

Head of a goddess (also: "head of Rosmerta")

In 1844 the remains of a sanctuary dedicated to Mercurius were discovered in what is now the Mainz suburb of Finthen . In addition to several altars consecrated to him, there was also a life-size head made of bronze (Inv. No. R 631). Dated 16th century AD and referred to as a portrait of the Celtic goddess Rosmerta . This was often worshiped in cult community with the Roman god Mercurius or his Celtic pedant . The high quality bronze head shows clear influences of the Roman style and was probably made on site in Mainz.

Head of a member of the Julian-Claudian imperial family ("Mainzer marble head")

The life-size marble head of a young man (inventory number 61/92) was found on May 12, 1961 during excavation work in Josefstrasse in the Neustadt district of Mainz . Experts very quickly referred to the head as "Young Augustus ". However, more recent interpretations are based on the portrait of an early imperial prince of the Julio-Claudian imperial family, Gaius Caesar . The high quality of the work as well as the fact that it is a marble head suggest that it is a work from the imperial workshops in Rome. Due to the unclear circumstances of the find - a rather accidental excavator find without any further context - the head was described by some scientists as a modern work of the 19th century or even as a forgery. Studies by Erika Simon , Heinz Kähler , Friedrich Krinzinger , Bernard Andreae and most recently by Hans G. Frenz , as well as material analyzes by Edgar Denninger, scientific teacher for materials science at the Institute for Painting Technology at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart however, refute this suspicion. The quality of the marble head and its find at this point are very likely related to the Great Mainz Jupiter Column found nearby and the Dimesser Ort, one of the settlement centers of the ancient Mogontiacum .

Great Jupiter Column in Mainz

The Great Mainz Jupiter Column (Inv. No. S 137) is a monument erected in Mogontiacum in the 2nd half of the 1st century in honor of the Roman god Jupiter . It is considered to be the largest and most elaborate Jupiter column in the German-speaking area and was the model for subsequent columns of Jupiter and Jupiter , which were mainly built in the 2nd and 3rd centuries . It was destroyed in the late period of the Roman Empire and discovered and excavated in 1904/1905.

Dativius-Victor arch

The structural remains of the Dativius Victor Arch (Inv. No. S 685) were found between 1898 and 1911 during the demolition of the Roman-medieval city wall in the area of ​​the Gautore . The Dativius Victor Arch is one of the most impressive monuments of the Roman era north of the Alps . The building dates from the middle of the 3rd century and once spanned the central passage of a portico of a public building in Mogontiacum. The donor's inscription is completely preserved, according to which the sons of the late decurios (councilor) Dativius Victor had the arch and a portico (columned hall) built in his legacy in honor of the imperial house and the god Jupiter .

A replica of the arch was erected on Ernst-Ludwig-Platz near the Roman-Germanic Central Museum as early as 1962 on the occasion of the Mainz 2000-year celebration .

Tombstone of Blussus

The tombstone of Blussus (Inv. No. S 146) was found in today's Mainz-Weisenau as early as 1848. The tombstone, which is one of the most interesting cultural and historical evidence of the early Roman history of Mainz, shows the Celtic nauta (skipper or ship owner ) Blussus , his younger wife Menimane and his son Primus . It was created around the middle of the 1st century and is clear evidence of the rapid Romanization of the Celtic population of the pre-Roman vicus in Weisenau. The richly carved tombstone on both sides shows the three named people in great detail in partly Celtic, partly Roman costumes. The front and back have almost identical inscriptions that identify the sitter as "Blussus, son of Atusirius, skipper, 75 years old ..." ; only part of the inscription on the obverse has survived.

Prince Johann Georg Collection

This collection is named after Prince Johann Georg , Duke of Saxony and brother of Friedrich August , the last reigning King of Saxony. At the beginning of the 20th century, Johann Georg traveled to the Middle East several times and acquired numerous objects there: The collection mainly includes medieval icons, Aegyptiaca (mummy portraits) as well as Byzantine and Coptic art. The State of Rhineland-Palatinate acquired the collection in 1949/50 at the instigation of Friedrich Gerke and left it to the Art History Institute of the University of Mainz . The collection has been on permanent loan in the Landesmuseum Mainz since 1981 . The collection is currently (as of 2014) not on display.

Middle Ages Department

East portal of the Liebfrauenkirche

The Middle Ages section covers the period from approx. 500 to 1500 and consists of an early medieval (5th to 10th century) and a high and late medieval part (10th to 16th century). The department's exhibits include individual finds from archaeological excavations in the early Middle Ages, as well as works of art from Mainz and its vicinity in the High and Late Middle Ages. These include building sculptures from no longer existing Mainz buildings such as For example, the “Mainz Electoral Cycle” from the Kaufhaus am Brand from the early 14th century or the Gothic ornaments on the portal of the Church of Our Lady, which was badly damaged when Mainz was bombarded by the Prussians in 1793 and demolished from 1803 to 1807 . Panel paintings, especially from the late Middle Ages, from Mainz and Rheinhessen can also be seen here.

The exhibits to be highlighted include:

Byzantine spangenhelm from the princely grave of Planig

The exposed Spangenhelm type Baldenheim (Inv. No. 39/9) comes from a Franconian grave found in 1939 near Planig near Bad Kreuznach . Due to the rich furnishings of the grave, it is referred to as the Prince's grave of Planig ; In addition to the helmet, there was also a rich set of weapons with a shield, lance, battle ax, javelin and a lavishly decorated sword. The richly ornamented and well-preserved helmet with gold decoration documented the high rank of the wearer as a sign of dignity. Since 2010 the Spangenhelm has been shown in the context of the other grave finds and a reconstruction of the burial place in a separate exhibition room.

Large eagle brooch

The so-called Large Eagle Primer (Inv. No. 0/1518) comes from a treasure find discovered in Mainz during sewer work in 1880, which consisted of 27 individual pieces and is known as “Giselaschmuck” (also “Jewelry of the Empresses”). Most of the find came to the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts via Kaiser Wilhelm II .

The bird fibula is dated around 980–1000 and thus comes from the Ottonian period . Stylistic similarities exist to the German imperial crown . Because of the materials used (gold, enamel and precious stones) as well as the shapes and motifs, one can say with a high degree of probability that this is the state jewelry of an empress. While the fibula was previously attributed to the German Empress Gisela , modern research now assumes that Agnes von Poitou is the owner. The large eagle brooch is exhibited together with smaller pieces of gold jewelry from the treasure trove that also remained in Mainz.

In 2017/2018 the primer was part of the exhibition Der Mainz Goldschmuck in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt , in which the history of the Gisela treasure was presented based on the latest research. A catalog appeared.

Ivory Madonna

The enthroned Madonna with Christ Child carved from a complete ivory tooth (inv. No. 0/1517) was also made around the year 1000. The figure is almost fully carved as a high relief from the tooth and can be compared stylistically with the large sculptures of the Ottonian and Early Sali times, whereby Byzantine influences are clearly recognizable. The figure probably served as the front panel ( antependium ) of an altar or adorned the cover of a liturgical work.

Electoral cycle - replica on the banks of the Rhine in Mainz

Mainz Electoral Cycle

These are relief battlements from the former department store on the fire . These show the patron saint of Mainz, St. Martin on horseback, the Roman-German King Ludwig the Bavarian and the seven electors (the Archbishops of Mainz , Cologne , Trier , the King of Bohemia , the Count Palatine at Rhine , the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg ). The sandstone reliefs are among the oldest holdings in the Mainz State Museum. After the early Gothic department store on the fire was damaged during the siege of Mainz (1793) , the building was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century, with the relief images being salvaged beforehand. In addition to the very good state of preservation, the detailed contemporary depiction of the armor and armament of the people is remarkable.

Painting cycle "Mainzer Marienleben"

The nine-part picture cycle of the so-called “Mainz Life of Mary” shows depictions from the life of the Mother of God Maria . Since some important sections (such as birth, ascension, or coronation) are missing, it is believed that the cycle is not fully preserved. The paintings are in the formal language of the time they were created around 1500 and show fashionable items of clothing and utensils from that time. The picture cycle is one of the works of the State Museum with great international importance. The cycle is attributed to the "caretaker" or various artists from the so-called "caretaker workshop" and has been recorded in Mainz since the 17th century.

Representations of the Saints Andrew and Columba

The panel painting with the depictions of Saints Andrew and Columba also dates from the High Middle Ages. It is the right wing of a triptych ; the left wing is now in the National Gallery in London. The panel is attributed to the Cologne “ Master of the Bartholomew Altar ” and is considered to be a representative of the heyday of late medieval art at the transition to the Renaissance.

Renaissance Department and Dutch Painting

Two masterpieces of the Renaissance department form for Italian painting the painting "Madonna and Christ Child" by Lorenzo di Credi and German painting "Adam and Eve", a presumably by Hans Baldung Grien copy of the famous work performed by Albrecht Dürer , which is today located in the Prado in Madrid.

Both works belong to the “French donation”: They were confiscated by art commissioners of the French Revolutionary Army at various locations and brought to Paris; Together with 34 other pictures, they were transferred to Mainz in 1803 on the basis of a decree by the Interior Minister Jean-Antoine Chaptal and are thus part of the current collection of paintings in the Mainz State Museum.

Franz Post: Brazilian Landscape , 1652

The collection of Dutch painting in the Landesmuseum Mainz consists of paintings from various painting schools in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Examples of particularly noteworthy paintings in the collection are a painting “Flower Piece” (Inv. No. 83) attributed to Peter Binoit (* around 1590; † 1632). The 1620 probably in Hanau - a 1597 founded by the Earl of Münzenberg-Hanau settlement of religious refugees from the southern Netherlands and Wallonia - resulting image makes use of the popular at that time subjects of painting of bouquets of not simultaneously blooming flowers, which in addition to the correct reproduction of botanical and zoological details also provided a sophisticated artistic symbolic language - in toto for the transience of life. Paul de Vos (around 1591–1678) large-format painting “Allegory of Marital Faithfulness” (Inv. No. 73) was created around 1650. This painting was also part of the collection of pictures sent to Mainz by the French in 1803. At that time it was called "Woman in the Poultry Farm"; Since the picture has a clear symbolism, especially in the choice of animals and their moral meaning (s), it was given a new title in the Mainz painting collection. A “still life” (inv. No. 598) by Willem Claesz from around 1640 . Heda (1593 / 94–1680 / 82) also represents this style. Heda is considered to be one of the most important representatives of Dutch still life painting . This picture also makes use of a profound symbolic language, as it was popular in the Baroque era. Mention should also be made of a picture by Frans Post , taken during his stay in Brazil.

French painting of the 17th and 18th centuries

Jean Bardin: Tullia drives over her father's corpse , 1765

19th and 20th century painting collection

The collection of paintings from the 19th century was mainly created through the work of the "Association for Literature and Art", which was founded in Mainz in 1823. From 1831 to 1885, the association acquired numerous pictures that were transferred to the municipal picture gallery. Mainly regional painters were taken into account, e.g. B. the brothers Johann Caspar and Georg Schneider with their ideal Rhineland landscapes, city views of Mainz and portraits. The 19th century collection also includes works by Mainz painters. Works by Philipp Veit , who in old age became the honorary director of the Mainz Gemäldegalerie and bequeathed his artistic estate to her, will be shown. Benjamin Orth , of whom a number of portraits are shown, is considered the leading portrait painter of the Mainz bourgeoisie between the Biedermeier and the early days. Finally, the collection also includes works by his contemporary, the history painter Wilhelm Lindenschmit the Elder .

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, wealthy citizens of Mainz often donated and bequeathed paintings or collections of paintings to the then municipal picture gallery. As a result, the collection's initially regional character was eliminated, and works from the “ Düsseldorfer Schule ” and “ Münchner Schule ” were added to the collection.

The holdings of the Museum of Art of the Nazarenes are of particular importance .

The collection of paintings from the 20th century includes works by both regional and internationally known painters. The Landesmuseum Mainz (Max Slevogt Gallery) preserves the richest inventory of works by Max Slevogt , a representative of so-called "German Impressionism". This was recently extensively expanded through the purchase of the artist's graphic estate. The Max Slevogt Research Center was founded there as the central research center for the scientific processing of the artist's oeuvre. A selection of the paintings from the estate is shown in a permanent exhibition in the Max Slevogt Gallery, which belongs to the Mainz State Museum, in Villa Ludwigshöhe Castle near Edenkoben. The painters Friedrich Ferdinand Koch and Heinrich von Zügel , who also come from the Palatinate, are also represented with their own works. The works of the painter Hans Purrmann , who was born in Speyer and was influenced in Paris by Henri Matisse , form a further focus of the collection. A representative of Orientalism is the work "Rest in the Desert" by Eugen Bracht .

The exhibited works by internationally known artists include works by Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth . Corinth's work "Capture of Simsons", painted in 1907, was donated to the collection in 1920. Pablo Picasso's work "Woman's Head" from the early phase of Cubism , along with other works by French artists, belonged to a gift from members of the French occupation authorities at the beginning of the 1950s. One focus of the collection of 20th century paintings up to 2010 was the “material pictures” by the Spanish painter Antoni Tàpies . These were on permanent loan from private collections in the museum; But Tàpies is also represented in the company's own inventory.

Graphic collection

The graphic collection consists of approx. 45,000 sheets and is the most extensive in Rhineland-Palatinate. It is made up of watercolors, hand drawings, prints, artist autographs and old photographs. The collection items date from a period that spans five centuries and begins in the 15th century. The focus of the collection is the period of German Romanticism in the 19th century.

The foundation for the graphic collection in its current form was laid in 1895. This year, corresponding individual collections from the city library and the picture gallery were combined to form a copper engraving cabinet in the Electoral Palace. The graphic collection has repeatedly received donations, such as B. through the legacy of the Mayor of Mainz Alexis Dumont in 1885, whose collection should form the basis of the department of prints. The collection of approx. 13,400 sheets of the Mainz judicial councilor Adolf Laské from 1903 was also a bequest to the museum. It meant an expansion of the prints collection to include exhibits from the 16th to the late 19th century.

It was not until after 1900 that the collection was professionally cared for and a systematic purchasing policy followed. This was followed by the purchase of sheets by important contemporary German graphic artists such as Max Klinger , Käthe Kollwitz and Max Liebermann . In the 20s and early 30s, the collection was expanded to include important prints from German Expressionism. However, these works fell victim to the Nazi regime's “ Degenerate Art ” campaign in 1937 . During the Second World War, the graphic collection was moved to Thuringia. During this time, important works such as B. Graphics by Albrecht Dürer lost.

In 1950, the French High Commissioner André François-Poncet donated sheets by Edgar Degas , Paul Signac , Alfred Sisley and Pablo Picasso to the museum in order to give the museum a new impetus in the post-war period. However, the following years were marked by stagnation and only a few acquisitions. It was not until the beginning of the 1990s that suitable framework conditions for the expansion of the collection and adequate scientific support and processing of the collection items were created.

Particularly noteworthy exhibits include:

Sheets from the "Missale Hallense" (miniatures)

The sheets from the "Missale Hallense" (Inv. No. GS 1919/75) are part of the liturgical miniatures Missale Hallense . It was created in 1524 and was made by Nikolaus Glockendon (* ?; † 1534) on behalf of the Archbishop of Mainz and Elector Albrecht of Brandenburg . The graphic collection contains four complete pages and several cut-out initials.

"Mainz from the south" (watercolor)

The watercolor "Mainz from the South" (Inv. No. GS 1994/62) was painted in 1817 by the English painter William Turner (1775–1851). Turner also visited Mainz in August 1817 as part of a trip to the Rhine, which he shows in this watercolor from its southern view. The picture was probably taken later in London, although Turner was probably based on hand-drawn sketches made on site.

"The choir stalls of the Mainz Cathedral" (gouache)

"The choir stalls of the Mainz Cathedral" (Inv. No. GS 1959/18) is a gouache created in 1869 by Adolph von Menzel (1815–1905). At the same time, Menzel painted an oil sketch and another gouache on this subject. The Landesmuseum Mainz acquired the gouache in 1959: It is one of the few new acquisitions of the post-war period known beyond the region.

"The woman in the bath" (pastel)

One of the works donated to the museum by the French High Commissioner in 1950 was the pastel “The Woman in the Bath” (Inv. No. GS 1950/3) by Edgar Degas (1834–1917). The work is dated around 1900 and thus in Degas' late creative phase.

"Help! The snake is there / can't! "(Drawing)

The expressionist work “Help! The snake is there / can't! ”(Inv. No. GS 1993/121) by Paul Klee (1879–1940) is one of the few works of this art style in the graphic arts collection. It was created during Klee's activity at the Düsseldorf Academy , which lasted only two years until his dismissal by the National Socialists in 1933. The drawing is one of the series of drawings that Klee himself described as “psychological improvisations”.

Mainz Baroque Collection

Measuring set of Maximilian von Welsch

In keeping with the importance of Mainz in the baroque era, but also the museum building itself, the Landesmuseum Mainz has its own collection from the Mainz baroque era. After the devastation of the Thirty Years' War and the War of the Palatinate Succession in 1689, Mainz began to flourish for more than a hundred years under Elector Johann Philipp von Schönborn .

The exhibits are sculptures, furniture and porcelain from the 17th and 18th centuries from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy. In addition to a collection of paintings from this period with many works from the "French donation" made in 1803, but also from the electoral court painters of that time, you will also find furniture by well-known furniture makers of the Mainz carpenters' guild such as B. the writing cabinet (so-called "Cantourgen") made by Peter Schuß (around 1730–1773) 1762–1763 as a masterpiece.

One of the focal points of the Mainz Baroque collection is the porcelain from the electoral porcelain factory in Höchst . The collection contains both individual figures and thematically matching groups, e.g. B. the whole court of the Emperor of China.

The collection also includes exhibits on the history of the city of Mainz. The aforementioned portraits of the Electors of Mainz or the copper engravings by Salomon Kleiner depicting the Favorite pleasure palace are exhibited here. Works by the electoral court sculptor Franz Matthias Hiernle and his successor sons can be found here, as well as two large-scale wooden models of the Favorite pleasure palace (as it was built around 1725) and the Church of Our Lady. The so-called Welsch suitcase is exhibited by the Mainz architect and military man Maximilian von Welsch . It is a completely preserved measuring utensils and drawing utensils case from the architect, probably made in Paris before 1714. The extent and quality of the valuable furnishings document the high social rank of Welsch in the electoral Mainz.

Judaica

The Judaica Collection represents the 1000 year history of the Jewish Magenza . The oldest exhibit in the collection is the tombstone of Yehuda , son of Schneor. The year of death is given in the inscription as 1049, making the tombstone of the old Jewish cemetery in Mainz the oldest still legible Jewish tombstone in Central Europe.

However, the majority of the exhibits are Jewish cult objects from the 18th and 19th centuries. The gold and silversmith's work comes from the collection of the “Association for the Care of Jewish Antiquities in Mainz”, founded in 1925. From 1926 onwards they were exhibited in a “Museum of Jewish Antiquities” in a side wing of the main synagogue in Mainz Neustadt, which was inaugurated in 1912 . The museum was closed by the National Socialists in 1933. The curator of the Gemäldegalerie, Rudolf Busch , who was relieved of his office due to his Jewish descent , hid the most valuable items in the collection in a wooden box marked with a swastika in the depot of the Gemäldegalerie, thus saving the valuable collection: it was found again in 1958. As the “Judaica” collection, the cult objects were made accessible to the public again in 1983 on permanent loan from the Mainz Jewish Community.

Museum education, events and funding

The interest of younger museum visitors in the museum and its exhibits is promoted through various activities under the aspect of modern museum education. A separate experience room in the museum provides children and young people with knowledge about the various epochs of the exhibits and works in a playful way. The website has dedicated areas for children with a specially created mascot, Kelti the Celtic dog (based on the Celtic animal figure on display ). Further museum educational activities take place e.g. B. held as part of the official holiday program of the city of Mainz. The regular museum education program includes weekly courses for 5 to 8 year olds and for children aged 8 and over. For kindergartens and school classes of all types of schools, museum education offers its own program with changing themes.

The museum offers its visitors numerous audio guides, such as tours of the highlights of the house in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish, tours for the blind and visually impaired, and video guides for the deaf and hearing impaired, but (as of March 11, 2018) no audio guides for Children.

In addition to the regular lecture and guided tour program, there are other special events: once a month, for example, a so-called audience consultation takes place, during which scientists offer an appraisal of art and cultural assets from the fields of archeology, painting, graphics, sculpture and handicrafts. Twice a week there is the "Art in the lunch break": In half an hour, scientists from the museum give lectures to an art-interested audience on a selected individual item or a selected topic.

Since 1965 there has been a support association for the Landesmuseum Mainz, the Association of Friends of the Landesmuseum Mainz e. V. (founded at that time as "Friends of the Antiquities Museum and the Picture Gallery of the City of Mainz"). With more than 400 members, it supports the museum ideally and materially with the purchase of works of art, with publications and in public relations such as B. at lectures, guided tours and other events.

Support association

The Association of Friends of the Landesmuseum Mainz eV, founded on May 25, 1965, supports the museum financially and ideally and offers its members an extensive program of events. It also promotes acquisitions and restorations of works of art and supports publications and catalogs.

Special and changing exhibitions

  • 2015/16: Mainz - one view, many views (an exhibition by the State Monument Preservation and the State Museum Mainz ( GDKE Rhineland-Palatinate))
  • 2016: A piece of northern German heaven. Emil Nolde and the artists of the bridge (a cooperation with the Museumsberg Flensburg )
  • 2016: Friedrich Pützer - Buildings and Projects .
  • 2016/17: Rheinhessen. A cultural journey through two millennia. Theme island presentation for the anniversary "200 years of Rheinhessen"
  • 2016: Herbert Piel arrival: Rhineland-Palatinate
  • 2017: State exhibition vorZEITEN - Archaeological treasures on the Rhine and Moselle (on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of state archeology )
  • 2017: Cabinet exhibition in the Graphic Collection: Peter Ackermann "Utopian Landscapes"
  • 2018/19: A day by the sea. Slevogt, Liebermann & Cassirer
  • 2018/19: as interventions in the permanent exhibition and in the inner courtyard: Madeleine Dietz : Correspondences sculptures, installations, painting
  • 2019: many paths - one goal. 50 years of the craft association in Rhineland-Palatinate
  • 2019/20: bauhaus - form and reform. From the reform movement in the arts and crafts to living with icons

literature

Museum history
  • Sigrun Paas, Sabine Mertens (ed.): Looted art under Napoleon. The "French donation" to Mainz 1803. Zabern, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-8053-2950-4 .
Collection catalogs
  • Wolfgang Selzer , Karl-Viktor Decker , Anibal Do Paço : Roman stone monuments. Mainz in Roman times. Catalog for the collection in the Steinhalle. (= Landesmuseum Mainz, catalog series on the departments and collections , vol. 1). Zabern, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-8053-0993-7 .
  • Wolfgang Venzmer: Art Nouveau. Inventory catalog of glasses as well as ceramics, metalwork, furniture, textiles and jewelry. (= Landesmuseum Mainz, catalog series on the departments and collections , vol. 2). Zabern, Mainz 1990, ISBN 3-8053-1141-9 .
  • Carsten Voss: Dutch painting of the 16th and 17th centuries in the Landesmuseum Mainz. Landesmuseum, Mainz 1996, ISBN 3-9803605-2-0 .
  • Andrea Arens: Sculptures from the 13th to 15th centuries in the Landesmuseum Mainz. Landesmuseum, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-932310-01-2 .
  • Susanne Kern: German painting of the 15th and 16th centuries in the Landesmuseum Mainz. Landesmuseum, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-932310-13-6 .
  • Heidrun Ludwig: The paintings of the 18th century in the Landesmuseum Mainz. Zabern, Mainz 2007, ISBN 978-3-8053-3747-2 .
  • Gernot Frankhäuser, Sigrun Paas: Gods, heroes, saints. Italian Baroque painting from the Landesmuseum Mainz; with a directory of all French, Italian and Spanish paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-422-02157-0 .

See the directory of publications on the museum's holdings

Web links

Commons : Landesmuseum Mainz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Rhein-Main-Presse of March 14, 2012: State Museum Director Andrea Stockhammer on cooperation, new exhibitions and budgetary constraints , accessed on August 9, 2013
  2. ^ Karl Viktor Decker in: Franz Dumont, Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz (Hrsg.): Mainz - The history of the city. Zabern, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-8053-2000-0 , p. 3.
  3. ^ Wolfgang Selzer, Karl-Victor Decker, Anibal Do Paço: Roman stone monuments. Mainz in Roman times. 1988
  4. ^ Picture ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), from Gerhart Bauchhenß:  Rosmerta . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume VII, Zurich / Munich 1994, pp. 644-648. the head is not recorded as an image of Rosmerta.
  5. ^ Wolfgang Selzer, Karl-Victor Decker, Anibal Do Paço: Roman stone monuments. Mainz in Roman times. 1988, p. 86 ff.
  6. ↑ Hans G. Frenz gives an overview with all literature references: Der Mainzer “Augustus”, 30 years of scholarly dispute. In: Yearbook of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz 39, 2, 1992, pp. 615–702.
  7. ↑ CIL 13, 7067 ; Gravestone at ubi-erat-lupa.org .
  8. ↑ Landesmuseum Mainz and the Christian Archeology and Byzantine Art History department at the Institute for Art History at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (ed.): Collector-Pilgrim-Pathfinder. The collection of Prince Johann Georg of Saxony. Zabern, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-3447-8 .
  9. ↑ Alexandra Hilgner: The magnificent grave of Planig. Revising an old find. In: Mainzer Zeitschrift 105, 2010, pp. 41–86.
  10. ↑ Antje Krug : The so-called "Mainz gold jewelry of Empress Gisela". 1. Find history and acquisition. In: Yearbook of the Berlin Museums 41, 1999, pp. 7–24.
  11. ↑ Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm: The Mainz treasure of Empress Agnes from the middle 11th century. New studies on the so-called Gisela jewelry. (= Monographs of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum , Volume 24). Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern, 1991, ISBN 3-7995-4137-3 .
  12. ↑ How Giselas Kronschatz caused a sensation in FAZ of December 8, 2017, page 38
  13. ^ Rudolf Wesenberg : The Mainzer Ivory Madonna. Contribution to dating and localization. In: Festschrift for Gert Von Der Osten. Cologne 1970, pp. 33-38; The Ivory Madonna at museum-digital.de .
  14. ^ Alfred Stange : The Mainz life of the Virgin in the works of the Mainz caretaker. In: Mainzer Zeitschrift 48/49, 1953/54, pp. 89-92; Jane Campbell Hutchinson: The Housebook Master and the 'Mainzer Marienleben' . In: Print Review 5, 1976, pp. 96-113.
  15. ↑ Inv. 220: Figure ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).
  16. ↑ Inv. 438a and b: Joachim Sander: Dürer. Art - artist - context. Exhibition catalog Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main. Prestel, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-7913-5318-0 , pp. 206-207 No. 7.6; Figure ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) The pictures hung in the Nuremberg town hall until 1801 .
  17. ^ Frans Post (1612–1680): Brazilian landscape, oil / oak. Inv. No. 153. (No longer available online.) 1652, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; Retrieved February 9, 2014 .
  18. ^ Norbert Suhr, Nico Kirchberger: The Nazarenes - From the Tiber to the Rhine. Three painting schools from the 29th century. Exhibition at the Landesmuseum Mainz June 10–25. November 2012. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012. ISBN 978-3-7954-2602-6 .
  19. ^ Norbert Suhr: Joseph Mallord William Turner, Mainz from the south. In: Landesmuseum Mainz, Graphische Sammlung 11, new acquisitions 1993 to 2000. Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-932310-15-2 , pp. 238–239; The watercolor at museum-digital.de .
  20. ^ Jens Hoppe: Jewish history and culture in museums. On the non-Jewish museology of the Jewish in Germany. Waxmann, Münster a. a. 2001, ISBN 978-3-8309-1178-4 , pp. 111-121.
  21. ↑ Savior of the Mainz Citadel in FAZ of May 3, 2016, page 41

Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 13.86 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 4.01 ″  E