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| Location | Dresden, Germany |
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| Coordinates | 51°3′12.17″N13°44′4.78″E / 51.0533806°N 13.7346611°E /51.0533806; 13.7346611 |
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TheGemäldegalerie Alte Meister (German pronunciation:[ɡəˈmɛːldəɡaləˌʁiːˈʔaltəˈmaɪstɐ],Old Masters Gallery) inDresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes majorItalian Renaissance works as well asDutch andFlemish paintings. Outstanding works byGerman,French, andSpanish painters of the period are also among the gallery's attractions.
The Old Masters are part of theDresden State Art Collections. The collection is located in theSemper Gallery, the gallery wing of theZwinger.
When theKunstkammer (Art Chamber) of theElectors of Saxony inDresden was founded byAugustus, Elector of Saxony in 1560, paintings were subordinate to collectors' pieces from science, other art works and curiosities.[1] It was not until the beginning of the 18th century thatAugustus II the Strong and his sonFrederick Augustus II started to collect paintings systematically. Over a period of less than 60 years, these two art-loving Electors of Saxony, who were alsoKings of Poland, expanded the collections significantly. In 1745, the 100 best pieces of the collection belonging to theDuke of Modena (Francesco III) were purchased, arriving in Dresden the following year.[1]
As the fast-growing painting collection soon required more space for storage and presentation, it was moved fromDresden Castle to the adjacentStallgebäude (the Electors' Stables Building) in 1747.[2]
In the meantime the collection had achieved European fame. Paintings from all over Europe, especially from Italy, Paris,[3]Amsterdam andPrague, were acquired and sent to Dresden. The purchasing activities of theElectors were crowned by the acquisition ofRaphael'sSistine Madonna in 1754.[1] The Dresden painting gallery became not only one of the most famous Old Masters collections in Northern European, but also a prototype of the modern museums that would emerge in the late 18th century.[4]
In 1838, the architectGottfried Semper was invited by a gallery commission working for KingFrederick Augustus II, to design an appropriate architectural setting for the collection. The new gallery wing of theZwinger was consequently built from 1847 to 1854. On 25 September 1855, theNeues Königliches Museum (New Royal Museum) opened in theSemper Gallery where it is still located today.[2]
Due to shortage of space in 1931, the Modern Department of the museum with paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries moved into a separate building onBrühl's Terrace, laying the foundations for what is now known as theNew Masters Gallery.
WhenWorld War II was imminent in 1938, the museum was closed. The artworks were mostly safely stored away when the gallery building itself was severely damaged in thebombing of Dresden on 13 February 1945. At the end of the war in 1945, most of the paintings were confiscated by theRed Army and transported to Moscow andKiev. On their return to Dresden in 1955, part of the collection was displayed on the ground floor of the still partly destroyed Semper Gallery. The Old Masters Gallery re-opened in 1960 after the reconstruction of the gallery building was completed. While the most important paintings survived this period, the losses were significant. Records from 1963 state that 206 paintings had been destroyed and 507 were missing.[1] Of these, some 450 are still missing today.[1]
Some 750 paintings, or 40 percent of the entire collection, are exhibited in the gallery. They date from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Paintings from the 19th century onwards are displayed in theNew Masters Gallery (Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister) in theAlbertinum.
Renaissance andBaroque masterpieces byItalian painters such asRaphael,Titian,Giorgione,Correggio,Tintoretto andGuercino are displayed. The collection contains a large number of 17th-centuryFlemish andDutch paintings byRubens,Rembrandt,Jordaens,Van Dyck andVermeer. Outstanding works byGerman,French andSpanish painters are also among the gallery's attractions.
With 58 paintings byLucas Cranach the Elder andLucas Cranach the Younger, the gallery houses the world's largest collection of Cranach paintings.Panels andcanvases of the earlyRenaissance are also exhibited, including the recently restoredSaint Sebastian byAntonello da Messina.
The color of the walls is used to structure the collection. Italian artwork is exhibited in rooms with deep red walls. Dutch and Flemish paintings are shown on green backgrounds. Spanish and French pictures from the 17th century are displayed on blue walls.
TheGemäldegalerie Alte Meister receives more than 500,000 visitors a year.
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