The Alte Pinakothek Munich [antikvár]

The Alte Pinakothek, which reflects the genealogy of the Wittelsbach rulersand their love of art, is one of the largest and finest paintings galleries in theworld. This is true both of the pictures themselves and also of the museumbuildings, which are the product of the congenial collaboration between KingLudwig I and his architect Leo von Klenze.The first reference to ducal collecting is recorded in Johann Fickler's inventoryof 1598 where he simply lists 3,407 miscellaneous objects of which, however,778 are paintings. The mos*t important items are two series of historicalpaintings which Duke Wilhelm IV (reigned 1508-1550) and his duchessJacobea von Baden commissioned from the best known South German paintersbetween 1528 and 1540 to adorn the walls of their Munich Residenz. Thesepictures celebrate manly virtue and bravery and extol the deeds of famouswomen, very much in accordance with the humanistic outlook of theirpatrons. Fifteen of them have been preserved, including Alexander's battle byAlbrecht Altdorfer (p. 123). This series, which was assembled in one room ofthe Alte Pinakothek in 1963, forms the nucleus of the Wittelsbach collection.Maximilian I, who reigned 1597-1651, as Elector from 1623, was the mostimportant German prince of his time and the first passionate collector ofEuropean stature among the Wittelsbachs. His favourite was Albrecht Dürerand he acquired eleven of his works, mostly in keen competition with the othergreat Dürer collector of the time, the Emperor Rudolf II. His efforts werecrowned by the purchase of the Four Apostles (p.l 15) which Dürer had presentedto his native town of Nuremberg. This period of the early seventeenthcentury, in which the greatest German painter came back into favour, is evenreferred to as the 'Dürer Renaissance'. At the same time Maximilian was alsointerested in Rubens, his contemporary.In the person of Elector Max Emanuel (reigned 1679-1726), the paintingscollection gained another outstanding collector. As governor of the Netherlandsand also later as an emigré in France, he was particularly concerned withFlemish baroque painting and at the same time keenly interested in Italian,Dutch and French works. The most outstanding acquisition he made for thecollection was his purchase in 1698 of 105 pictures from the Antwerp dealerGisbert van Colen for the considerable sum of 90,000 Brabantine guilders.Among them were twelve paintings by Rubens including major works such asThe honeysuckle bower (p.77), portraits of Hélene Fourment and the DrunkenSilenus (p.79).No substantial gains accrued to the collection under his successors CarlAlbrecht (reigned 1726-1745) and Max III Joseph (reigned 1745-1777). With thesecond of these the Bavarian electoral line of the Wittelsbachs died out andwas followed by the Palatine lines, to which the Bavarian royal house can betraced back. Among the Palatine Wittelsbachs, Elector Johann Wilhelm von