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The Alte Pinakothek (Old Pinakothek) is an art museum situated in the Kunstareal in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries of the world housing one of the most famous art museums for the old masters. The name (old Pinakothek) alludes to the time period covered by the art — the Neue Pinakothek covers 19th century art and the recently opened Pinakothek der Moderne exhibits modern art, all galleries are part of Munich's "Kunstareal" (the "art area").
The building
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King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1825-1848) ordered Leo von Klenze to erect the gallery for the Wittelsbach collection in 1826. The museum galleries were designed to display Rubens' "Last Judgment", one of the largest canvasses ever painted. Very modern in its day, the building became exemplary for museum buildings in Germany and all of Europe after its inauguration in 1836, and thus became a model for new galleries in Rome, St Petersburg, Brussels and Kassel.
The museum building was severely damaged by bombing in World War II but was reconstructed and reopened to the public in the late 1950s. Unfortunately the ornate, pre-war interior has not been restored.
History
The collection was begun by William IV (1508-1550) who ordered important contemporary painters to create several history paintings. Elector Maximilian I (1597-1651) acquired paintings especially of Albrecht Dürer. Maximilian's grandson Maximilian II Emanuel (1679-1726) purchased a lot of Dutch and Flemish paintings when he was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Also his cousin Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (1690-1716) collected Netherlandish paintings. After the reunion of Bavaria and the Palatinate in 1777, the galleries of Mannheim, Düsseldorf and Zweibrücken were moved to Munich, in part to protect the collections during the wars which followed the French revolution. 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.
The passion of the Wittelsbach rulers for some painters has caused the collection's incomparable excellence but also its definite weakness in some areas of collector's interest. To fill the gaps the Pinakothek has acquired especially paintings of the 18th century since the 1960s, for example loaned paintings from two Bavarian banks have been integrated into the collection, including, among other works, Lancret's "The Bird Cage" and Boucher's "Madame Pompadour."
Collection
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The museum is under supervision of the Bavarian State Painting Collections which own also an expanded collection of several thousand European paintings from the 13th to 18th century. Especially its collection of Early Italian, Old German, Old Dutch and Flemish paintings belongs to the most important in the world.
More than 800 of these paintings are exhibited in 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 display also the Old Masters.
- German paintings 14th–17th century:
- Dutch paintings 15th–18th century:
- Flemish paintings 16th–18th century:
- Italian paintings 13th–18th century:
- French paintings 16th–18th century:
- Spanish paintings 16th–18th century:
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Alte Pinakothek. This article uses material from that Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.