Old Masters at the Städel

I spent several hours on Friday at Frankfurt's Städel Art Museum.  The top floor is devoted to old masters from 1300 to 1800.

I generally do not have a great deal of interest in old religious paintings, but there were some pieces here that were so impressive that they could not be ignored.

This altarpiece was created in 1330 for a church in the city of Altenberg.

 

This triptych was done by an unknown Dutch artist between 1530 and 1540.  It hung unnotice in a Frankfurt church until restoration revealed its beauty.  It is now on permanent loan to the Städel.

 

This enormous series of panels was done by Hans Holbein the Elder (his better-known son was the court painter of King Henry VIII of England) in 1501.  They were commissioned for the high altar of the Dominican monastery in Frankfurt.  There were paintings on the front and rear of the wings of the altarpiece.  In the 19th century when the fronts and backs were separated, one of the paintings, "The Entombment" was lost.  A replica of that missing panel is shown in black and white.

Lucas Cranach the Elder, one of the most important German Renaissance painters, did this triptych in 1509.

  

Here are some more paintings by some of the better-known old masters...

"Portrait of Cardinal Gaspar de Borja y Velasco"

by the Spanish master Diego Velázquez

circa 1643 - 1645

"The Adoration of the Magi in a Winter Landscape"

by Pieter Bruegel the Younger

circa 1630

This subject was originally done by Pieter's father, but the son painted numerous variations of  it, each slightly different.

"Portrait of the Artist's Father"

by Albrecht Dürer

circa 1600

"Idealized Portrait of a Lady"

by Sandro Boticelli

circa 1480 -1485

"Portrait of Pope Julius II"

by Raphael

1511

"Portrait of a Young Man"

by Titian

circa 1510

"Portrait of Simon George of Cornwall"

by Hans Holbein the Younger"

circa 1535 -1540

The museum has two, possibly three paintings by Rembrandt.

"Portrait of Maertgen van Bilderbeecq"

by Rembrandt

1633

"The Blinding of Samson"

by Rembrandt

1636

This portrait of Rembrandt's housekeeper and lover, Hendrickje Stoffels, was attributed to the Dutch master.  In 1969 a Rembrandt expert determined that the painting was done by an imitator.  But then in 2015, another Dutch art historian re-attributed the work to Rembrandt.

For me a highlight of the visit was to see a painting by one of my favorite old masters, the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.  Due to the fact that his paintings are done with painstaking, almost photographic precision, he did relatively few paintings.  They are usually interior scenes, illuminated by light coming in from a window to the left.

"The Geographer"

by Johannes Vermeer

1669

Next, we will go downstairs to see some more modern paintings.