A new exhibition will open at Kinský Chateau in Žďár nad Sázavou in early May Baroque painting and sculpture from the collections of the National Gallery in Prague Baroque Art from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague

The new exhibition will open on May 8, 2009

 

Exhibition organizers: The National Gallery in Prague in cooperation with ŽĎAS a. s.

Concept: Lenka Stolárová, Vít Vlnas

Curator: Lenka Stolárová

Expert cooperation: Tomáš Hladík, Dušan Foltýn, Martina Jandlová, Petr Přibyl, Andrea Rousová

Main partner of the National Gallery in Prague: UniCredit Bank Czech Republic

Sponsor of the National Gallery in Prague: SYNOT TIP

Project partners: Kinský a. s., Žďár nad Sázavou Municipality, Vysočina Region

Main media partner of the National Gallery in Prague: Hospodářské noviny

Media partner of the National Gallery in Prague: Classic, ČRO 3 - Vltava

Kinský Chateau in Žďár nad Sázavou is hosting the exhibition Baroque Painting and Sculpture from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague co-organised by the National Gallery in Prague with the considerable assistance of the company ŽĎAS. The unique complex of the former monastery in Žďár and its environs constitutes a remarkable landscape and urbanistic Baroque unit, with the monastic church and the pilgrimage grounds with the Chapel of St John Nepomucene on Zelená Hora (UNESCO Heritage) as its focal point. The exhibition seeks both to enhance and take full advantage of this unique location. The collection of selected central European artworks (from Bohemia, Moravia, Austria as well as Italian and Spanish imports) seeks in particular to evoke the cultural atmosphere of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century monasteries. While artworks with religious (monastic) themes are the exhibition's focal point, paintings and sculptures characteristic of Baroque monastery collections are also displayed. The exhibition of Baroque Art from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague thus follows the historical tradition of monastery galleries as well as the local genius loci linked primarily with a Baroque legacy of European significance. The fact that the original Žďár monastery art collection is not historically documented gave the exhibition authors a free hand. The content and arrangement of the resulting display evoke the atmosphere of monastery art museums as a unique type of collection based on a combination of scientific knowledge, aesthetic predilection and liturgical need. The collection primarily presents artworks of Baroque artists who created paintings and sculptures for the monastery in Žďár and its surrounding grounds.

Silesian painter Michael Leopold Willmann, who travelled to the Bohemia-Moravia border to execute his commission, occupies a major place on the list of artists linked with the two "Baroque" centuries of Žďár monastery history. It was in Žďár that he did a painting designed for the base of the main altarpiece to complement his admirable composition of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The work of this artist, deemed a pictor familiaris of the Cistercian order, is represented at the exhibition by the painting Crucifixion of St Andrew (1701-1703). The expressively depicted martyrdom is enhanced by the artist's spontaneous brushwork, while his treatment of the light cast on the apostle's sharply illuminated body adds a dramatic touch to the scene. Light became the painting's most important element of expression for the artist.

The milieu of the Žďár monastery and its vicinity was created in part by the work of the brilliant sculptor Matouš Václav Jäckel. Of his sculptures made specifically for this Cistercian monastery, the exhibition presents the statue of the Madonna (1709). The early work of this master, who for forty years promoted the original variant of Gianlorenzo Bernini's Roman sculptural illusionism, is represented by his carving of St Joseph with the Infant Jesus (before 1700).

Visitors will also find a broader selection of works by artists who were at least tangentially linked to central European monastic art. Karel Škréta, Michael Václav Halbax, Petr Brandl and Jan Kupecký are among the well-known figures from the world of Bohemian Baroque painting who are represented here; in sculpture we have Matyáš Bernard Braun and his little-known, but no less skilled, nephew Antonín, as well as sculptures from the workshops of Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokof and Ignác František Platzer. The artwork selection was deliberately taken beyond the narrow circle of Bohemia and Moravia. Monastic art was always characterised by a cosmopolitan cultural orientation that fostered the mutual exchange of ideas and inspiration. Owing to the Cistercians' artistic investment in Baroque Bohemian art, Willmann was not the only one to settle in the country for good; church commissions also helped Willmann's step-son Jan Kryštof Liška, the heir to his artistic legacy, demonstrate his skills. Moravian and south Bohemian monasteries, in particular, often offered commissions to prominent artists from neighbouring Austria. This exhibition in Žďár recalls this fact in paintings by Johann Wenzel Bergl, Paul Troger and Franz Anton Maulbertsch. The painting Foundation of the Monastery in Louka by Joseph Winterhalder is directly connected with the artistically remarkable decoration of the historical Premonstratensian canonry built on the border between Moravia and Lower Austria. The rich contacts that central European Baroque art had with Italy are evoked by the excellent cavalier portrait of Jan Jáchym Pachta by the well-known Francesco Trevisani. Gregorio Guglielmi followed in his footsteps - his paintings on the altarpieces in the Church of St Catherine in Prague's New Town are part of the history of Bohemian painting. Visitors to Žďár will see a uniquely preserved sketch for one of these paintings. Many of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sculptures that form a major part of the exhibition are on display for the first time.

The permanent exhibition Baroque Art from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague offers the visitor an attractive tour focused on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century art that will appeal to both layman and expert. In this manner, the chateau complex will be ideologically re-united with the jewel of Baroque architecture on the Bohemian-Moravian border - Zelená Hora. The project will not only stimulate interest in the region's cultural legacy and tourism development, but will also help invigorate and deepen traditional cultural-historical ties.

The catalogue Baroque Art from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague was published on the occasion of the exhibition opening, (100 pages, 44 colour reproductions).

www.ngprague.cz

Press release of May 4, 2009

Contact for journalists: Petra Jungwirthová, National Gallery in Prague spokesperson
cell: 606 166 513, e-mail: jungwirthova@ngprague.cz