Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
Encyclopedia
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, located in the Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the baroque Palais Rohan
Palais Rohan, Strasbourg
The Palais Rohan is one of the most important buildings in the city of Strasbourg in Alsace, France. It represents not only the high point of local baroque architecture, according to widespread opinion among art historians, but has also housed three of the most important museums in the city since...
since 1898. The museum displays works by non-Upper Rhenish
Upper Rhine
The Upper Rhine is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basel, Switzerland and Bingen, Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometers 170 to 529 ....
artists from between the 14th century and 1871 and by Upper Rhenish artist from between 1681 and 1871. The museum owns circa 865 works (as of 2009), of which 250 are on permanent display. The old masters from the upper-Rhenish area until 1681 are exhibited in the neighboring Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
The Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame is the city of Strasbourg's museum for Upper Rhenish fine and decorative arts from the early Middle Ages until 1681...
.
Historical overview
The first municipal art collection of the city of Strasbourg was the result of the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and was a consequence of the expropriation of churches and cloisters. Through the years, the collection, which was founded in 1801, grew by private donations, as well as government loans from the inventory of the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
. On August 24, 1870, the museum, which was housed in the Aubette on Place Kléber
Place Kléber
The Place Kléber is the central square of Strasbourg, France.Place Kleber, the largest square at the center of the city of Strasbourg in the heart of the city's commercial area, was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, born in Strasbourg in 1753. In the square is a statue of Kléber, under...
, was set on fire by Prussian artillery fire and completely destroyed. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, it was resolved to re-establish the museum, and the imperial art historian Wilhelm von Bode
Wilhelm von Bode
Wilhelm von Bode was a German art historian and curator. Born Arnold William Bode in Calvörde, he was ennobled in 1913...
was commissioned with the task in 1889. In 1890, the museum was launched and was re-stocked since that time by acquisitions and gifts. In 1931 under the leadership of Hans Haug (1890-1965), the collection of medieval art and upper-Rhenish painting (Konrad Witz
Konrad Witz
Konrad Witz - c. Winter 1445/Spring 1446 in Basel, Switzerland) was a German painter, active mainly in Basel, Switzerland.Witz is most famous for painting three altarpieces, all of which survive only partially...
, Hans Baldung
Hans Baldung
Hans Baldung, known as Hans Baldung Grien/Grün was a German Renaissance artist in painting and printmaking in woodcut. He was considered the most gifted student of Albrecht Dürer.-Life:...
, Sebastian Stoskopff
Sebastian Stoskopff
Sebastian Stoskopff was an Alsatian painter. He is considered one of the most important German still life painters of his time. His works, which were rediscovered after 1930, portray goblets, cups and especially glasses...
) was transferred to the newly-founded Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
The Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame is the city of Strasbourg's museum for Upper Rhenish fine and decorative arts from the early Middle Ages until 1681...
. The collection of modern art went to the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg
Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
The Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg is an art museum in Strasbourg, France, which was founded in 1973 and opened in its own building in November 1998....
(Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg).
On August 13, 1947, fire destroyed part of the re-established collection, including works of Francesco Guardi
Francesco Guardi
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi was a Venetian painter of veduta, a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of painting....
, Thomas de Keyser
Thomas de Keyser
Thomas de Keyser was a Dutch painter and architect.De Keyser was born and died in Amsterdam. He excelled as a portrait painter, and was the most in-demand portrait painter in the Netherlands until the 1630s, when Rembrandt eclipsed him in popularity...
, Antonio del Pollaiolo and Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
. However with the money from the insurance, it was possible to acquire other artistically valuable paintings. The collection of the museum is also regularly being expanded by donations, notably in 1987 and 1994 by collectors Othon Kaufman and François Schlageter (Italian paintings), in 2004 by collectors Roger and Elisabeth Eisenbeth (Dutch paintings) and in 2009 by the collector Ann L. Oppenheimer (Italian, Flemish and Dutch paintings).
Italian
- Giotto di BondoneGiotto di BondoneGiotto di Bondone , better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages...
- Sano di PietroSano di PietroSano di Pietro was an early Italian Renaissance painter and miniaturist from Siena.No works by Sano are known before 1443; he apprenticed under Sassetta and Giovanni di Paolo...
- Sandro BotticelliSandro BotticelliAlessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
- Cima da ConeglianoCima da ConeglianoGiovanni Battista Cima, also called Cima da Conegliano was an Italian Renaissance painter.-Biography:Giovanni Battista Cima was born at Conegliano, now part of the province of Treviso, in 1459 or 1460...
- Carlo CrivelliCarlo CrivelliCarlo Crivelli was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivarini, Squarcione and Mantegna...
- Filippino LippiFilippino LippiFilippino Lippi was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy.-Biography:...
- Piero di CosimoPiero di CosimoPiero di Cosimo , also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian Renaissance painter.-Biography:The son of a goldsmith, Piero was born in Florence and apprenticed under the artist Cosimo Rosseli, from whom he derived his popular name and whom he assisted in the painting of the Sistine Chapel in...
- Cima da ConeglianoCima da ConeglianoGiovanni Battista Cima, also called Cima da Conegliano was an Italian Renaissance painter.-Biography:Giovanni Battista Cima was born at Conegliano, now part of the province of Treviso, in 1459 or 1460...
- RaphaelRaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
- Correggio
- VeronesePaolo VeronesePaolo Veronese was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi...
- TintorettoTintorettoTintoretto , real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso...
- Guercino
- CanalettoCanalettoGiovanni Antonio Canal better known as Canaletto , was a Venetian painter famous for his landscapes, or vedute, of Venice. He was also an important printmaker in etching.- Early career :...
- Giambattista Tiepolo
- Salvator RosaSalvator RosaSalvator Rosa was an Italian Baroque painter, poet and printmaker, active in Naples, Rome and Florence. As a painter, he is best known as an "unorthodox and extravagant" and a "perpetual rebel" proto-Romantic.-Early life:...
- Alessandro MagnascoAlessandro MagnascoAlessandro Magnasco , also known as il Lissandrino, was an Italian late-Baroque painter active mostly in Milan and Genoa...
- Giuseppe Maria CrespiGiuseppe CrespiGiuseppe Maria Crespi , nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo , was an Italian late Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. His eclectic output includes religious paintings and portraits, but he is now most famous for his genre paintings.-Biography:Crespi was born in Bologna to Girolamo Crespi and Isabella Cospi...
Flemish and Dutch
- Simon MarmionSimon MarmionSimon Marmion was a French or Burgundian Early Netherlandish painter of panels and illuminated manuscripts...
- Hans MemlingHans MemlingHans Memling was a German-born Early Netherlandish painter.-Life and works:Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Rhein region, it is believed that Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne, and later worked in the Netherlands under Rogier van der Weyden...
- Lucas van LeydenLucas van LeydenLucas van Leyden , also named either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, was a Dutch engraver and painter, born and mainly active in Leiden...
- Gerard DavidGerard DavidGerard David was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color.-Life:...
- Maarten van HeemskerckMarten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van VeenMaarten van Heemskerck or Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, known for his depictions of the Seven Wonders of the World.-Biography:...
- Peter Paul Rubens
- Jacob JordaensJacob JordaensJacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
- Salomon van Ruysdael
- Pieter de HoochPieter de HoochPieter de Hooch was a genre painter during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a contemporary of Dutch Master Jan Vermeer, with whom his work shared themes and style.-Biography:...
- Anthony van DyckAnthony van DyckSir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
- Willem KalfWillem Kalf- Life and work :Willem Kalf was born in Rotterdam, in 1619. He was previously thought to have been born in 1622, but H. E. van Gelder’s important archival research has established the painter’s correct place and date of birth. Kalf was born into a prosperous patrician family in Rotterdam, where...
- Pieter ClaeszPieter ClaeszPieter Claesz was a Dutch Golden Age still life painter.-Biography:He was born in Berchem, Belgium, near Antwerp, where he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1620. He moved to Haarlem in 1621, where his son, the landscape painter Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem was born...
Spanish
- El GrecoEl GrecoEl Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
- Jusepe de Ribera
- Francisco de ZurbaránFrancisco ZurbaránFrancisco de Zurbarán was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes...
- Francisco de Goya
French
- Philippe de ChampaignePhilippe de ChampaignePhilippe de Champaigne was a Flemish-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school.-Early life:Born in Brussels of a poor family, Champaigne was a pupil of the landscape painter Jacques Fouquières...
- Claude LorrainClaude LorrainClaude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, , dit le Lorrain) Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French...
- Nicolas de LargillièreNicolas de LargillièreNicolas de Largillière was a painter born in Paris, France.-Early life:Largillière's father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at the age of three. As a boy, he spent nearly two years in London. Sometime after his return to Antwerp, a failed attempt at business led him to the studio of Goubeau...
- François BoucherFrançois BoucherFrançois Boucher was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture...
- Simon VouetSimon VouetSimon Vouet was a French painter and draftsman, who today is perhaps best remembered for helping to introduce the Italian Baroque style of painting to France.-Life:...
- Antoine WatteauAntoine WatteauJean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement...
- Jean Siméon Chardin
- Philip James de LoutherbourgPhilip James de LoutherbourgPhilip James de Loutherbourg, also seen as Philippe-Jacques and Philipp Jakob and with the appellation the Younger was an English artist of German origin who became known for his elaborate set designs for London theatres.-Early life:He was born in Strasbourg, where his father, the representative...
- Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
- Théodore ChassériauThéodore ChassériauThéodore Chassériau was a French romantic painter noted for his portraits, historical and religious paintings, allegorical murals, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to Algeria.-Life and work:...
- Gustave CourbetGustave CourbetJean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...
- Théodore RousseauThéodore RousseauPierre Étienne Théodore Rousseau , French painter of the Barbizon school, was born in Paris, of a bourgeois family.-Youth:At first he received a business training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting...
- Edgar DegasEdgar DegasEdgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...