The National Gallery in Prague
The Collection of Old Masters
21.6. – 1.10. 2006 

Wallenstein Riding School

The exhibition is held under the auspices of Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic.

The National Gallery in Prague would like to thank the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for their willingness to host the exhibition of NG in the Wallenstein Riding School which forms a part of the seat of the Senate.

Author and curator of the exhibition: Olga Kotková
Consultant: Vít Vlnas
Architectural design: Vladimír Hora
Graphic design: Nora Procházková

Entrance fees:
Full 100 CZK
Reduced 50 CZK
Family 150 CZK

Open daily except Mondays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Valdštejnská 3, Praha 1
Transport: tram 12, 18, 20, 22, 23, metro A > Malostranská

The exhibits were kindly lent by:
Akademie výtvarných umění v Praze / Academy of Fine Arts, Prague
Albertina, Wien
Arcibiskupství olomoucké / Archbishopric of Olomouc
Královská kanonie premonstrátů na Strahově, Praha / The Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov, Prague
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
Moravská galerie v Brně / Moravian Gallery in Brno
Národní muzeum, Praha /National Museum, Prague)
Národní památkový ústav, územní odborné pracoviště v Brně / National Heritage Institute, Brno Branch)
Provincie kapucínů v České republice / Capuchin Province in the Czech Republic)
Soukromá sbírka / Private Collection
Správa Pražského hradu / Prague Castle Administration
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive catalogue (ed. Olga Kotková), with contributions by: Stefan Bartilla, Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová, Oldřich Doskočil, Eliška Fučíková, Tomáš Kleisner, Lubomír Konečný, Martina Kostelníčková, Olga Kotková, Isolde Lübbeke, Andrew John Martin, Zuzana Novotná, Petr Přibyl, Hana Seifertová, Karl Schütz, Radka Šefců, Evermod Gejza Šidlovský, O. Praem., Libor Šturc, Dita Tajzichová, Jiří Třeštík, Vít Vlnas, Alena Volrábová, Heinz Widauer, Petra Zelenková

Price: 850 CZK (czech version), 950 CZK (english version)
On June 21, 2006 special price –500 CZK (czech version), 600 CZK (english version)

Realization: Exhibition Department of the National Gallery in Prague under Daniela Pompeová
Restoration works of the exhibits from the National Gallery in Prague: Restoration
Department of National Gallery in Prague under Petr Kuthan
Illumination: Václav Kubela
Translation: Barbora Štefanová and Keith Jones, Joanne P. C. Domin
Education programmes: Education department of the Collection of Old Masters of the National Gallery in Prague
Promotion: Public Relations Department of the National Gallery in Prague under Petra Jungwirthová

Main partner: HVB bank
Main media partner: Hospodářské noviny
Media partners: Art and Antiques, Classic FM, ČRO 3– Vltava, Nedělní svět, Radio 1,
ČRO1- Radiožurnál, Svět ženy, Travel in the Czech, Týden, Umění
Partners: Adjust art, AV media, Brema, Milan Horák s.r.o., Termo+. Státní fond kultury České republiky

ALBRECHT DÜRER - The Feast of the Rose Garlands 1506-2006

In 2006, five hundred years will have passed since The Feast of the Rose Garlands was created – Albrecht Dürer’s masterpiece, now housed in the collection of the National Gallery in Prague. Since this is one of the seminal paintings within the framework of Dürer’s entire oeuvre, and at the same time represents an artistic milestone of the transition from Late Gothic to Early Renaissance, the National Gallery in Prague has decided to observe this jubilee year with an exhibition. The Feast of the Rose Garlands is being presented within the context of other stylistically-related works of the period. The exhibition also features works created during the centuries that followed which relate in some way to Dürer’s composition. and recounts the turbulent history of this extraordinary painting.

To point out only some of the most important artefacts on display: Dürer’s preparatory drawings from the Albertina, Vienna; Veronese’s Portrait of Jakob König (Picture Gallery of the Prague Castle); the engravings of Aegidius Sadeler, court engraver by appointment to Rudolf II; and sophisticated paintings by several Rudolphine artists (Daniel Fröschl, Hans Hoffmann, Bartholomäus Spranger). The exhibition also draws attention to the Dürerian cult, and the influence of Dürer’s art in the 19th century (works by František Tkadlík, Joseph Ritter von Führich, or Vilém Kandler), with a special focus on the painter Johann Gruss the Elder, who restored The Feast of the Rose Garlands in the years 1839-1841. In total, the exhibition comprises around seventy works, drawn from both local and foreign collections. It is divided into four sections, corresponding to the stages in the painting’s history: From Nuremberg to Venice 1506-1606; Prague Castle 1606-1782; Strahov Monastery 1793-1934 and State Collections 1934-2006.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was born in Nuremberg, Germany. His father was a goldsmith, and it was with him that Dürer originally apprenticed. His mother brought eighteen children into the world, of whom, however, only three lived to adulthood. It is therefore sometimes said, with slight exaggeration, that Albrecht´s childhood unraveled between the glitter of gold and the constant presence of death. He remained loyal to his native city till the end of his life, even though he was frequently away on his travels.

The Feast of the Rose Garlands was created during Dürer´s sojourn in Venice in 1506. It was commissioned by German merchants, who had settled around the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice, as an altar painting for their chaple in the Church of San Bartolomeo.  The commissioners selected the theme: the painting depicts an ideal congregation of the Brotherhood of the Rosary. The Virgin and Child, Saint Dominic and the Angels bestow on the gathered faithful a symbolic blessing in the form of rose wreaths. All are grouped symmetrically around the Virgin – on the left, from the point of view of the viewer, can be seen the representatives of ecclesiastical power, with the Pope at their head (positive identification of the latter remains, due to later repainting of the figure’s face, merely speculative). As the highest representative of secular power we may recognize the King of the Romans and later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, on whom the Virgin is conferring a rose wreath. A unique testimony of the circumstances in which The Feast of the Rose Garlands was created is borne by the ten surviving letters that Albrecht Dürer addressed from Venice to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer in Nuremberg over the course of 1506. We learn from them that at first the artist felt lonely there, as the local artists viewed him as a competitor, and would not accept him in their ranks; at times Dürer also suffered from poor health. The effort he expended, however, eventually brought him deserved admiration and praise. The Feast of the Rose Garlands was a milestone in his career – he became a highly acclaimed artist throughout Europe. Dürer’s satisfaction with his achievement can be summed up in the proud words he wrote to Pirckheimer in a letter from Venice of September 23, 1506: “Let me tell you that there is no better Madonna picture in the land than mine.”

The self-assurance of the young artist is also expressed in his self-portrait, placed in the background, right, in The Feast of the Rose Garlands. A carefully stylized and extravagantly dressed young man with long fair hair fixes the viewer´s gaze. He is holding a sheet with his signature.

In 1606 Albrecht Dürer´s masterpiece left Venice. Its subsequent fate was not a happy one – in the course of centuries the painting was damaged. The heaviest damage was sustained by the central part of the painting – and thus one tiny detail went the way of all flesh: originally, in order to deceive the viewer, Dürer had placed a fly on the Virgin´s knee (trompe-l´oeil) – in the spirit of Classical tradition, it was meant to create an impression of a real fly that has settled on the painting. This detail has not survived in the original, but numerous copies have recorded what the insect looked like (some of these can be seen in the exhibition). For the musca dureriana won prodigious fame – it was frequently imitated; on a copy of Dürer´s self-portrait from The Feast of the Rose Garlands, for instance, it appears on the cartelllino, which in the original painting bears Dürer´s signature. It also features in countless anecdotes recounting fictitious episodes from the artist´s life. Thanks to The Feast of the Rose Garlands the fly has thus become Dürer´s signature of sorts – to put it simply, Dürer and the fly have become inseparable. 

Public Relations Department of the National Gallery in Prague:
Petra Jungwirthová, 222 321 459, 606 166 513, jungwirthova@ngprague.cz