The Gemäldegalerie in the Art-Historical Museum is one of the world’s great
art collections. It displays works that mostly belonged to the ruling Habsburgs
and therefore reflects their taste. The Dutch masters and Italian Renaissance
were particularly favored and the works on display represent some fine works
from these periods.
A grand staircase leads from the ground floor lobby to the art gallery on the
second floor: Italian to the right, German-Dutch to the left. Faced with this
difficult choice, we opted out and headed straight on to the special exhibition
of works by Bernardo Bellotto, better known as Canaletto. (In the Anglo-Saxon
world, Canaletto is usually associated with his uncle, Antonio Canal, who is
most famous for his paintings of Venice.) Like his uncle, Bellotto also painted
townscapes but rather than doing it in Venice for wealthy English tourists,
traveled to the courts in Dresden, Vienna, and Warsaw. Canaletto’s
View of Vienna from the Belvedere is probably the most famous paintings
featuring this city and his paintings of Dresden were detailed enough to help
with the rebuilding of Dresden after war damage. Impressive as this collection
was, it was enough to send the one-year old to sleep allowing us to enjoy the
rest of the museum in two hours of unexpected peace.
Although the museum’s space is physically divided into two equal sections,
the German-Dutch collection is probably more impressive than the Italian works.
The number of works is simply overwhelming. Hall X has 14 of the 45 known works
in existence by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Several works by Jacob Jordaens,
Albrecht Dürer, Lukas Cranach, and Hans Holbein entertain on the way to Hall
XII, which is dedicated exclusively to the work of Anton van Dyck. The real mind
blow follows in the next two halls where the museum flaunts its 40 Peter Paul
Rubens paintings. Most of these paintings are as large as his subjects are
voluptuous. Such a display of Rubens is a hard act to follow although the last
room in this section with a series of Rembrandts, including two self-portraits,
does its best. The museum’s very impressive Vermeer would have helped here were
it on display. (Interestingly, a sign at the cashier informed that this
well-known Vermeer is not on display, but failed to mention that almost half of
the building is closed for renovation.)
Seeing the German-Dutch collection took us the better part of two hours but
the museum café is fortunately located en route to the Italian section. The
Melange (€2.90) was of the expected high Viennese quality and the cake (€2.90)
too. We ordered three pieces this time as no one was in the mood for sharing
without quid pro quo. Just as well I ordered the Bellottotorte, especially
created to go with the special exhibition, as it was a rich chocolate cake and
the best of the three. The Sachertorte was up to expectations but then we
already had a few on preceding days. The Linzertorte was a pleasant surprise. It
is usually a fairly flat tart that can border on the dry but here it was full
size with the cake base soft and well flavored.
From the café, it is possible to enjoy the grand interior of this purpose
built museum. It was formally opened in 1891 but constructed over the two
preceding decades when "neo" architecture was popular in most parts of Europe.
It was partly designed by Gottfried Semper, who had something about Neo
Renaissance (vid. Semperoper and Zwinger in Dresden) but Neo Baroque was clearly
not out of favor either.
The ceiling painting above the grand staircase is the Apotheoses of the
Renaissance featuring several key artists from the period. The paintings
between the capitals illustrate the development of the arts –
Gustav Klimt painted some of these.
It is tempting to blame the baby, having woken up at the end of our coffee
break, for us rushing through the Italian section but it would be more honest to
admit that we overdid it in the German-Dutch galleries. We only spend a few
minutes admiring the most famous works here but there are enough works by
Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Rafael, and Caravaggio to easily have stayed
another two hours.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Maria Theresien-Platz
1010 Vienna
www.khm.at