The Picture Gallery of Prague Castle

Fülszöveg

THE PICTURE GALLERY
OF PRAGUE CASTLE Jaromlr Neumann
In 1962 a news item stirred the broad public and experts alike: a larger number of paintings by world-famous 16th to 18th century masters had been found in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The circumstances of the discovery were unusual enough. The pictures were found in the Hradiany Castle of Prague, the ancient seat of the Kings of Bohemia, where for long decades they had been considered mere copies or worthless fragments of the ancient Castle Gallery. As such they had been used simply for decorative purposes. The publication of this news led to innumerable queries, conjectures, even doubts. For among the re-discovered masterpieces were works by the most eminent painters, such as Titian's Portrait of a Young Woman at her Toilet, an independent version of the famous painting in the Louvre; two Tintorettos, The Woman Taken in Adultery Brought before Christ, a work of the earlier period, and The Flagellation of Christ, a magnificent... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE PICTURE GALLERY
OF PRAGUE CASTLE Jaromlr Neumann
In 1962 a news item stirred the broad public and experts alike: a larger number of paintings by world-famous 16th to 18th century masters had been found in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The circumstances of the discovery were unusual enough. The pictures were found in the Hradiany Castle of Prague, the ancient seat of the Kings of Bohemia, where for long decades they had been considered mere copies or worthless fragments of the ancient Castle Gallery. As such they had been used simply for decorative purposes. The publication of this news led to innumerable queries, conjectures, even doubts. For among the re-discovered masterpieces were works by the most eminent painters, such as Titian's Portrait of a Young Woman at her Toilet, an independent version of the famous painting in the Louvre; two Tintorettos, The Woman Taken in Adultery Brought before Christ, a work of the earlier period, and The Flagellation of Christ, a magnificent example of the style of that great visionary of Bible scenes; a large canvas by the young Rubens, The Council of the Gods, which represents a focal point in his development. Veronese's work is exemplified in the painting St. Catherine and the Angel, with a highly effective depiction of a human face in great emotion, and Portrait of Goldsmith Jacop Kinig, a proof of the master's skill at portraiture. Among the paintings are canvases by Guido Reni, Domenico Fetti, members of the Bassano family, Pordenone and others.
The book we are submitting to the reading public all over the world gives a detailed and authentic account of the Prague finds, with descriptions of all important works discovered at Prague Castle and the circumstances that caused such masterpieces to fall into oblivion, and to be re-discovered and attributed only in recent years.
The author of the book is Professor Dr. Jaromh Neumann, Director of the Institute for Theory and History of Art and Corresponding Member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. It was he who initiated the investigations into the art treasures of the Castle collection, who directed all research work and attributed the works.
The book takes the form of a full catalogue of the newly established Picture Gallery of Prague Castle with 76 selected masterpieces on show. In the introductory part of this publication the author describes the history of the ancient Castle Gallery which grew out of the art collections of Emperor Rudolph II. The Gallery's subsequent highly dramatic story reflects the historical development of the Czech Lands. Explanation is provided for the reasons that led to the assumption that the whole gallery had been dispersed. The author shows why it became possible to refute such false assumptions and make correct attribution of the surviving works only after systematic research into the art treasures of Prague Castle, which is being fully restored and made accessible to the public.
The second part, the Catalogue, gives a list of all exhibited works in alphabetical order of names of painters, with brief facts on the master's life, an evaluation of his significance and basic data on each painting, its provenance and history. The subject matter is discussed, together with a brief analysis of the character of the work, its dating, facts on the restoration and bibliographical references. This part, for all its brevity, sheds light on the author's sovereign command of so complicated an undertaking as the identification of a number of hitherto unknown masterpieces on the basis of style analysis, confirmation or rejection of old data, differentiation of originals from replicas, authentic works from studio versions. The accomplishment of this task renders proof of the high standard of Czech theory and history of art. All paintings are reproduced in full. Vissza