Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art

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The Sculpture Collection and the Museum for Byzantine Art (name of the overall department: Sculpture Collection and Museum for Byzantine Art ) is a special collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) and houses one of the world's most important collections of sculptures from late antiquity to the early 19th century Century.

history

Like most of the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the sculpture collection goes back to the art collection of the Brandenburg-Prussian rulers. In 1828, the Roman collection of the Royal Prussian Consul General Jakob Ludwig Salomon Bartholdy was purchased especially for the museum that was being founded. In addition to a remarkable collection of ancient cabaret, it also contained a number of majolica and sculptures from the Italian early Renaissance. When the museum opened, all of these holdings were attached to the antiquities department and at that time did not constitute a separate collection.

Only when the Italian painter Cesare Mussini donated two Italian Quattrocento busts to the museum in 1839 did people begin to think about expanding and supplementing the existing holdings. An excellent way to do this already resulted 1841/1842, as Gustav Friedrich Waagen , who was on a shopping trip to the art gallery in Italy, in Venice around 80 sculptures were offered from the collection of Venetian antiquarian Francesco Pajaro, which acquired this for 13,260 francs . This collection contained sarcophagi from the Longobard period , Byzantine architectural elements , Venetian decorative elements and reliefs, four busts by Alessandro Vittoria , an altar panel by Jacopo Sansovino and the two famous shield holders by Tullio Lombardo , which he had created for the tomb of Doge Andrea Vendramin . In Berlin they were enthusiastic about this acquisition and authorized Waagen to purchase other pictorial works in addition to paintings, so that on his trip to Italy he acquired around 25 other works of the Italian early Renaissance, including a girl's head by Mino da Fiesole and the famous bust of Marietta Strozzi by Desiderio da Settignano . In 1844 the Prussian envoy Alexander von Minutoli acquired the apse mosaic from the church of San Michele in Affrisco in Ravenna .

Ravensburger Schutzmantelmadonna, around 1480

The foundation stone for the later expansion of the sculpture department as a pan-European collection was laid with the acquisition of important northern Alpine sculptures for the Kunstkammer, which was later transferred to the Berlin Museum, including the late Gothic Ravensburger Schutzmantelmadonna , which was purposefully purchased in 1850 . In 1859 the sculptures were transferred from the Altes Museum to the Neues Museum .

After these hopeful beginnings, the further development of the collection stagnated because the general misconception was that there would no longer be any significant original works that were for sale. Although the general director of the Berlin museum Ignaz Maria von Olfers was an avowed lover of Italian sculptures, he wanted to present them primarily through plaster casts. In the following years only a few other works were added to the collection, including the model of a river god by Giovanni Bologna and the large bust of Pope Alexander VI. which was long considered the work of Pasquale da Caravaggio . This was only to change when in 1872 Wilhelm von Bode was appointed assistant to Julius Meyer , the new director of the Gemäldegalerie, and was thus responsible for the "Renaissance Sculpture Department". Bode accompanied Meyer on his shopping tour for the Berlin Museum to Italy in 1872/1873 and was responsible for the acquisition of the bust of the painter Carlo Maratta by Francesco Maratti Padovano and a head of Benedict XIV. By Pietro Bracci , which kept the sculptures until the 18th century. Century and thus already indicated the size of the young museum man for a sculpture collection.

In the following years Bode acquired in quick succession with the "marble bust of Niccolò Strozzi" by Mino da Fiesole , the clay bust of Filippo Strozzi by Benedetto da Maiano , the bust of a princess of Naples by Francesco Laurana and the bronze statuette of John the Baptist by Donatello some of the most famous Italian works for the sculpture collection. In 1875, with the final dissolution of the royal art chamber, numerous other objects came to the museums. At the same time, a number of other works from the royal palaces were transferred to museums. Numerous works made of ivory and works by Tilman Riemenschneider , Conrat Meit , Dutch sculptures and a number of Italian works found their way into Berlin's public collections. In 1879, Bode succeeded in purchasing the famous marble statue of the youthful John (lost in the war), which he believed to be the famous Giovannino by Michelangelo Buonarotti , but whose authorship remained controversial until the work was finally recognized as the work of a Florentine successor.

From 1885 Bode was the sole head of the sculpture department. He made greater efforts to unite the post-antique sculptures and the works of art from the early Christian-Byzantine era, which were distributed among various departments, in a new, independent collection, the "Department of Images of the Christian Era". At the same time, he pushed the acquisition of further works, which, in addition to other Italian works, now also increasingly included German works from the Gothic and Renaissance periods. From the 1890s onwards, Bode increasingly pursued the concern of closing the qualitatively and quantitatively existing gap between antiquity and the Middle Ages and also to raise the department of late antique and Byzantine art in the Berlin museums to a higher level. As a result, numerous targeted purchases were made in Constantinople, Egypt and Rome. In doing so, he made use of the knowledge of such important scholars as Josef Strzygowski and Oskar Wulff . In addition, the Berlin excavators in Asia Minor were instructed to look increasingly for suitable objects among their finds and to secure them for Berlin.

In addition, Bode became increasingly involved in the expansion of Berlin's rich private collections, from which the Berlin collection later received numerous donations. Among the most famous patrons of the collection were Eduard and James Simon , Adolf von Beckerath , August Karl Graf von Dönhoff-Friedrichstein , Alfred Beit , Richard von Kaufmann , August Freiherr von der Heydt and Alfred Thiem . From 1897 onwards, the collection grew considerably due to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum Association founded by Bode .

Showcase with Italian sculptures badly damaged in World War II

With the opening of the building of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum (today the Bode Museum) in 1904, the collection moved into its own house for the first time and, especially in the area of ​​the early Italian Renaissance, was in so-called style rooms, together with pictures from the picture gallery, as well as furniture, original or modeled architectural elements, floors, ceilings and tapestries are shown.

In 1906, Bode initiated the new building of a "Museum for Older German Art" (i.e. the German Museum ) as part of today's Pergamon Museum , which opened in 1930. The German, Old Dutch and pre-Baroque French sculptures were transferred here to the newly created German Museum, where they remained until 1939. With the outbreak of the Second World War , the collection was closed and the movable inventory was first moved to the museum cellars and later partly to the flak towers Zoo and Friedrichshain. From there, in the last days of the war, numerous works of art, especially small sculptures, all works made of ivory and late antique jewelry, were relocated to the Merkers and Grasleben potash mines , where they fell into the hands of the American troops and were later brought to Wiesbaden. Most of the works of art that remained in the Friedrichshain flak tower probably fell victim to a devastating fire after the end of the war. The lost or only fragments preserved sculptures include works from the workshops of Erasmus Grasser , Tilman Riemenschneider , Veit Stoss , Paul Egell , Gregor Erhard , Peter Flötner , Jörg Lederer , Hans Leinberger , Benedetto da Maiano , Giovanni Bologna , Desiderio da Settignano , Donatello , Mino da Fiesole , Lorenzo Ghiberti , Francesco Laurana , Giovanni Pisano , Nicola Pisano , Andrea Della Robbia , Luca della Robbia , Antonio Rossellino , Andrea del Verrocchio and Alessandro Vittoria . Many other works exhibited today show minor damage caused by the war. The department of late antique and Byzantine art lost about a third of its holdings, the sculpture collection about 1,400 works of art.

How many works of art are looted in Russia or in collections elsewhere is unknown. What is certain is that 39 sculptures seized after the end of the war were not returned by the Soviet Union. In addition, a list of objects from the Pushkin Museum from 1955 is known, which names other works that were formerly stored in the Flakturm Friedrichshain and that are probably still there. According to recent research that was carried out as part of the compilation of a loss catalog, these include works by Donatello ( John the Baptist ; The Flagellation of Christ ), two other works ascribed to him ( Madonna ; Cupid ), by Lorenzo Ghiberti ( Caryatid ), by Giovanni Pisano (the two Sibyls ) by Nicolo Pisano ( exaltation of a bishop ), by Mino da Fiesole ( portrait bust of a girl ), by Luca della Robbia ( Madonna Friedrichstein ; Genoese Madonna ) and by Andrea del Verrocchio ( The Entombment of Christ ). Nothing is known about their condition. Other works of art, especially small sculptures, were lost at the Kaiseroda-Merkers salt mine and the Grasleben salt mine . Some of these missing works appeared in the international art trade after 1945 and some of them could be returned.

Soon after the end of the war, the salvage and reconstruction of the Berlin museums began. A first inspection of the art objects that remained on the Museum Island revealed that, among other things, 583 sculptures were still there. In addition, there were another 32 works of art from the private art collection Gerhard Bollert and three objects from other private collections that had been stored at the state museums for fear of war damage. In the years 1950 to 1952, under the direction of curator Klaus Wessel , the remaining collections were examined. The focus of this work was the world-famous apse mosaic that had largely disintegrated into its individual parts. Nevertheless, it was possible to restore the plant. In 1952 the late antique and Byzantine holdings were spun off from the association with the sculpture collection and were given the new name "Early Christian Byzantine Collection". In 1953, parts of the now two collections were made accessible to the public again for the first time after the end of the war. In 1958 some of the works of art brought to the Soviet Union returned to Museum Island, including large parts of the late antique works and around 450 works of art from the sculpture collection. On October 4, 1959, the first new permanent exhibition of works of art was opened in the Bode Museum.

Antonio Canova: dancer. around 1809 - 1812; Acquired in 1981

The works of art brought to Wiesbaden were transferred to West Berlin after 1955 , where they were incorporated into the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . Due to a lack of suitable space, both the sculptures and the late antique-Byzantine works of art initially remained largely in storage. Only after the expansion of the museum building in Berlin-Dahlem, built by Bruno Paul as the Asian Museum between 1912 and 1916, could the works of art be exhibited again as an independent ensemble from 1966.

Nevertheless, both collections remained provisional until 2006. Both suffered from an acute lack of space and were only able to display small parts of their rich holdings in public. Without the connection to the international art market, it was almost impossible to close the existing gaps in the collection on Museum Island with new acquisitions. Despite this, the museums managed to acquire a few works in the period that followed. The “Early Christian Byzantine Collection” bought, among other things, an early Russian Bible and post-Byzantine icons . In addition, it benefited from a few transfers of exhibits, especially small everyday objects, from the antique collection and the Egyptian Museum . The sculpture collection has been expanded to include works by Peter Breuer , Michael Pacher's circle and works by Andreas Schlueter recovered from the rubble of the war .

The acquisition policy of the West Berlin collection was all the richer. Until the reunification of the collection holdings for the Byzantine collection, among other things , some grave reliefs and sarcophagi, a relief with the empty throne of Christ , barrier plates , reliquaries , various everyday objects and utensils, seals, medallions, some fabric fragments and a number of post-Byzantine icons were acquired. The sculpture collection acquired works by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini , Simone Bianco , Giovanni Bologna , Bernardino Cametti , Antonio Canova , Laurent Delvaux , François Duquesnoy , Erasmus Grasser , Francesco Laurana , Michael Pacher, Antonio del Pollaiuolo , Pierre Puget , Camillo Rusconi and Martin Zürn . In addition, there were numerous permanent loans from the Kaiser Friedrich Museum Association , the museum's support association.

In the course of the unification of the GDR and FRG , the merging of the divided holdings of the Berlin State Museums was also on the agenda. Despite the organizational unification of the collections, the works of art were initially distributed across their two locations. The collection of early Christian-Byzantine works of art was initially run as an independent “Museum for Late Antiquity and Byzantine Art”. In the course of the relocation of the works of art back to the Museum Island and the renovation of the Bode Museum building, the holdings of both sub-collections were deposited from 1997 and were largely inaccessible, apart from a few examples at various exhibitions. In 2000 the two sub-collections were merged again and were given the common name "Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art". The Bode Museum was reopened on October 17, 2006 and opened to the public on October 19. At the beginning of 2007, the collection of Tilman Riemenschneider's Heilige Anna and her husbands Joachim, Kleophas and Salomon were acquired; In 2008 the marble bust of a young man by Baccio Bandinelli followed ; 2009 the Beautiful Madonna - Mother of God Enthroned by a Bohemian master active in southern Germany around 1390.

collection

The collection, which emerged from the "Department of Sculptures of the Christian Era", is housed in the Bode Museum and takes up the majority of the existing space of almost 70 rooms. There are 58 cabinets and halls plus a basilica, Kamecke-Halle, small domed hall and children's gallery. The Münzkabinett has six other rooms ; Large-format paintings from the inventory or the administration of the Gemäldegalerie are on display in the Gobelinsaal .

Around 1,700 sculptures are currently on display on an exhibition area of ​​almost 6,200 m², including around 700 large and 1,000 small objects as well as around 300 late antique and Byzantine works of art. In addition to works from late antiquity, the collection mainly includes German, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish sculptures. The focus of the collection is on works from the German Gothic and Renaissance periods, as well as the early Italian Renaissance.

The arrangement of the sculptures is almost chronological, with the northern Alpine works of art being housed mainly on the Spree wing of the museum and the southern Alpine works of art in the Kupfergraben wing. Also housed in the Spree wing are the Byzantine collection, which is tied to its traditional premises mainly due to the apse mosaic , and the collection of Italian Trecento works, which can now be better compared with one another in the context of the late antique works.

In the basic concept, the presentation of the exhibits follows the concept of style rooms developed by Wilhelm von Bode , whereby efforts were made to adapt this to a modern perspective. Only the basilica was largely reconstructed in its original state. All other works of art are given a larger space to unfold. Although these are now being presented again in some contemporary rooms with original furniture, paintings and architectural elements, the focus was now primarily on modern exhibition concepts and no longer on the accommodation of private, upper-class art collections in which as many objects as possible are housed in the smallest of spaces were. An exception is the study collection, in which Italian sculptures are presented closely hung. There are also numerous works of art damaged by the effects of the war on display in showcases.

Apse mosaic. 545 donated

Museum of Byzantine Art

Today, the collection, exhibited in four halls, includes works of art from the 3rd to the 19th century, of which currently mainly objects up to the fall of Constantinople (1453) are on display. The exhibits are roughly classified into the following sub-sections:

  • Rome and the West
  • Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire
  • Late Antique and Early Byzantine Egypt

The oldest exhibits on display include numerous sarcophagi and fragments of such, which can be divided into different types. These are mainly relief, frieze and columnar sarcophagi, most of which date from the 3rd to 4th centuries. Numerous sculptures, reliefs and architectural sculptures as well as a large number of column capitals are represented. In addition to some portraits of emperors from Constantine times, a torso made of Egyptian porphyry , probably the statue of a son of Constantine the Elder , belongs in particular . Gr., Among the world-famous objects in the collection. No less well-known is the statue of Isis enthroned with the boy Horus , also from Egypt and currently not on display , which presumably comes from a former pagan cult site that has been converted into a place of devotion to Mary and was perhaps a prototype of the later depiction of Our Lady with the Christ child. A very special object is the so-called "ball game" from around 500 that was found at the Hippodrome of Constantinople. It is the only known example of an ancient gambling machine that was used to replay horse races and place bets. It is controversial whether it was also used to draw places in the chariot race. One of the most puzzling works of art of this time is the relief with the liberation of a besieged city from the 5th century, made of boxwood, which probably represents a real historical event that has not yet been interpreted. The most famous work of art in the Byzantine collection is the apse mosaic donated in 545 with the representation of Christ between Saints Michael and Gabriel . It was acquired in the 19th century by Alexander von Minutoli from the church of San Michele in Affrisco in Ravenna for the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV . The collection of Byzantine ivory cabaret is particularly rich, with the so-called Berlin Pyxis , from around 400, at the top . Another focus of the collection is a small but fine collection of painted and mosaic icons. With the panel of Bishop Apa Abraham painted in Egypt around 600 , the collection has one of the oldest surviving Coptic tempera paintings. The mosaic icon Christ the Merciful, created around 1100 in Byzantium, and a mosaic icon with the crucified Christ from the end of the 13th century from Sicily are also of great art historical importance . Further examples of Greek, Italian and above all Russian icon painting from the 14th to 19th centuries are in the depot, a large part of the post-Byzantine icons has been on permanent loan in the Icon Museum in Frankfurt am Main since 1999 . In addition, the Byzantine collection has a rich fund of antique textiles, mostly fragments, some fine examples of which are on display. A Venetian decorative plate from the 12th century belonging to the collection already points the way to Italian art of the Duecento.

Sculpture collection

Room of the Italian Sculptures of the Trecento

The sculpture collection is one of the world's largest collections of sculptures and offers a comprehensive overview of European art history from Romanesque to early classicism. The collection is divided according to their countries of origin and includes the following departments:

  • German sculptures
  • Dutch sculptures
  • French sculptures
  • Italian sculptures
  • Spanish and Portuguese sculptures

German sculptures

The collection of German sculptures is one of the most important collections of its kind worldwide and offers a comprehensive overview of sculpture from the 10th to the 18th century. Some of the oldest exhibits include some ivory panels from the 10th and 11th centuries. Early highlights of the collection are the stucco reliefs in the west gallery of the Gröningen monastery church by a Lower Saxon master around 1170 and a monumental crucifixion group from the Moritzkirche in Naumburg from 1220. Other important works by artists who are no longer known by name point the way into the 15th century, whose most important masters are represented almost entirely with one or more works. By Hans Multscher one finds a Saint Mary Magdalene, carried by angels to heaven . Niclas Gerhaert van Leyden , whose main work, the Dangolsheim Mother of God is one of the most beautiful exhibits in the Berlin sculpture collection, Michel Erhart and above all Tilman Riemenschneider , who is represented with outstanding works from all creative periods, are represented with several first-class works . The 16th century presents itself with numerous works by Hans Leinberger around whom such well-known names as Jörg Lederer , Conrat Meit and Sebastian Loscher are grouped. The 17th and 18th centuries are represented by excellent works by Paul Egell , Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer , Ignaz Günther , Leonhard Kern , Balthasar Permoser and Andreas Schlüter .

Dutch sculptures

The works on display range from the 15th to the 18th centuries and offer a good overview of the skill of Dutch sculptors. In addition to numerous sculptures by artists no longer known by name, you will find works by Adriaen van Wesel , Artus Quellinus the Elder. Ä. and Adriaen de Vries .

French sculptures

The collection contains works from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The oldest exhibits are works made of ivory, which are followed by numerous valuable works by artists who are no longer known by name. Among the artists known by name are works by Edmé Bouchardon and Jean-Baptiste Pigalle .

Italian sculptures

Andrea Della Robbia: Mary with the Child and Saints Francis and Cosmas

The collection includes a rich collection of works from the 11th to the 18th centuries and is one of the most important collections in the world. The earliest significant works include an ivory tablet of the so-called Paliotto de Salerno and the famous Madonna by Presbyter Martinus . The Trecento is well represented with works by Niccolò , Giovanni and Andrea Pisano . They are accompanied by important works by Arnolfo di Cambio and the fragment of a Madonna by Tino di Camaino . The subsequent collection of Italian Quattrocento sculptures is one of the most important in the world and contains works by almost all the major masters of the time, such as Benedetto da Maiano , Antonio Bonvicino , Matteo Civitali , Donatello , Jacopo della Quercia , Francesco Laurana , Francesco di Giorgio , Mino da Fiesole , Nanni di Bartolo , Antonio Pollaiuolo , Luca and Andrea Della Robbia , Antonio Rossellino , Desiderio da Settignano , Giovanni Tedesco and Andrea del Verrocchio . The collection of the following generations of artists is less extensive, but with important works by artists such as Baccio Bandinelli , Pietro and Gian Lorenzo Bernini , Simone Bianco , Giovanni Bologna , Andrea Briosco , Antonio Canova , Daniele da Volterra , Jacopo da Pontormo , Jacopo Sansovino , Antonio Susini (1572–1624) and Alessandro Vittoria can be presented.

Spanish and Portuguese sculptures

The numerically smallest section of the sculpture collection includes works from the 14th to the 18th century and contains works by Jaume Cascalls , Pedro Roldán , Diego de Siloé , Juan de Valmaseda and Gregorio Pardo Vigarni in addition to works by artists who are no longer known by name .

literature

  • Peter Metz: The new sculpture museum in Berlin-Dahlem. Berlin 1966.
  • Edith Fründt , Arne Effenberger : In manual of the art collections of the GDR. Leipzig 1984.
  • Edith Fründt, Thea Joksch: In world treasures of art - mankind preserved. Berlin 1985.
  • Ursula Schlegel : Italian Sculptures. Berlin 1989, ISSN  0522-9790
  • Antje-Fee Köllermann, Iris Wenderholm : The Bode Museum - a hundred masterpieces. Museum of Byzantine Art, Sculpture Collection, Coin Cabinet. Berlin 2006.
  • Prestel museum guide. Sculpture collection in the Bode Museum. Munich / Berlin / London / New York 2006, ISBN 3-7913-3744-0 .
  • Prestel museum guide. The Museum of Byzantine Art in the Bode Museum. Munich / Berlin / London / New York 2006, ISBN 3-7913-3745-9 .
  • Bode Museum formerly Kaiser Friedrich Museum. Exhibition and conception of the sculpture collection. Museum of Byzantine Art. Edition Minerva, Wolfratshausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88609-574-2 ; ISBN 978-3-938832-19-6 . (With contributions by Arne Effenberger, Hartmut Krohm and Bodo Buczynski.)

Web links

Commons : Sculpture  Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Press articles

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Lothar Lambacher, Rainer Michaelis, Lothar Brauner, Caren Dreyer, Michael Knuth: Documentation of the losses. Sculpture collection. Volume VII. Sculptures. Furniture. Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-88609-562-2 .