Städel

Städel

Städel Art Museum on the left of Holbeinsteg

The Städel, officially the Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, is an art museum in Frankfurt am Main, with one of the most important collections in Germany.

The Städel owns 2,700 paintings (of which 600 are displayed) and a collection of 100,000 drawings and prints as well as 600 sculptures. It has around 4,000 m² of display and a library of 100,000 books and 400 periodicals.

History

The Städel was founded in 1815 by the Frankfurt banker and merchant Johann Friedrich Städel. In 1878, a new building, designed according to the Gründerzeit style, was erected on Schaumainkai street, presently the major museum district. By the start of the 20th century, the gallery was among the most prominent German collections of classic Pan-European art; the other such collections open to the public were the Dresden Gallery, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, and the Altes Museum in Berlin. In 1937, 77 paintings and 700 prints were confiscated from the museum when the National Socialists declared them "degenerate art". In 1939, the collection was moved out of Frankfurt to protect it from damage in World War II. The gallery was substantially damaged by air raids in World War II and it was rebuilt by 1966 following a design by the Frankfurt architect Johannes Krahn. An expansion building for the display of 20th-century work and special exhibits was erected in 1990, designed by Gustav Peichl. Small structural changes and renovations took place from 1997 to 1999.

Collection

The Städel has European paintings from seven centuries, beginning with the early 14th century, moving into Late Gothic, the Renaissance, Baroque, and into the 19th and 20th centuries. The large collection of prints and drawings is not on permanent display and occupies the first floor of the museum. Works on paper not on display can be viewed by appointment.

The gallery has a conservation department that performs conservation and restoration work on the collection.

Selected works

• Jan van Eyck, Lucca Madonna, 1390–1441, mixed technique, 66 x 50 cm
• Fra Angelico, Madonna with Child and Twelve Angels, 1430-1433, tempera on panel, 37 x 27 cm
• Rogier van der Weyden, Medici Madonna, c. 1460-1464, oil on panel, 61.7 x 46.1 cm
• Master of the Frankfurt Paradiesgärtlein, Paradiesgärtlein, between 1400 und 1420, mixed technique on oak, 26 x 33 cm
• Hieronymus Bosch, Ecce Homo, c. 1476, oil on panel, 75 x 61 cm
• Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1480–85, mixed technique on poplar wood, 82 x 54 cm
• Bartolomeo Veneto, Portrait of a Young Woman, between 1500–1530, mixed technique on poplar wood, 44 x 34 cm
• Rembrandt van Rijn, The Binding of Samson, 1636, oil on canvas, 205 x 272 cm
• Johannes Vermeer, The Geographer, 1668-1669, oil on canvas, 52 x 45.5 cm
• Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Goethe in the Roman Campagna, 1787, oil on canvas, 164 x 206 cm
• Edgar Degas, Musicians in the Orchestra, 1872, oil on canvas, 69 x 49 cm

The museum also features works by the 20th-century German artist Max Beckmann.

Gallery

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  Jan van Eyck, Lucca Madonna

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  Oberrheinischer Meister, Paradiesgärtlein

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  Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman

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  Bartolomeo Veneto, Portrait of a Young Woman

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  Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, The Blinding of Samson

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  Johannes Vermeer, The Geographer

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  Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Goethe in the Roman Campagna

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  Edgar Degas, Musicians in the Orchestra

Literature

• Eva Mongi-Vollmer: Meisterwerke im Städel Museum. Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main 2007. ISBN 3-9809-7013-2
• Bodo Brinkmann: Das Städel, Frankfurt am Main. Prestel Verlag (Prestel-Museumsführer), München 1999, ISBN 3-7913-2204-4
• Bodo Brinkmann und Stephan Kemperdick: Deutsche Gemälde im Städel 1500-1550 (Kataloge der Gemälde im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, hrsg. von Herbert Beck und Jochen Sander). Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 978-3-8053-3350-4

External links

• Das Städel including information in English
• Follow Städel Museum on Twitter!
• Watch Städel Museums videos on YouTube!
• Städel Museums photostream on Flickr
• Städel Museum on Facebook
• Städel Museums on Friendfeed
• Städel Museum on lifestream.fm