Highlights from The Dresden Picture Gallery, considered one of the seven wonders of the art world, are on show in Munich. Veronica Stivala is awed by the collection.

The Dresden Picture Gallery is one of the world’s most famous mu-seums and houses one of the largest collections of paintings in the world. It is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the art world.

Those visiting Munich before November should take the opportunity to view the wonderful collection of works that have been selected from the Dresden gallery and are on display at the Kunst-halle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. The exhibition is titled Rembrandt – Titian – Bellotto: Spirit and Splendour of the Dresden Picture Gallery.

The Kunsthalle Munich is showing approximately 100 masterpieces by famous artists including Carracci, Velázquez, van Dyck, Lorrain, Watteau and Canaletto. In addition to being a display of magnificent works of art, the pieces illustrate the roots of the legendary rich Dresden Picture Gallery and its flourishing throughout the Baroque era and the Age of Enlightenment.

The exhibition focuses on the reign of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670–1733), also known as the Strong, and his son Augustus III (1696–1763).

The Augustan Age was an era of economic and cultural flourishing and the many building projects, vibrant cultural life and the enhancement of the royal collections all embodied the electoral court’s new claim to power.

It was during this era that the cathedral and the Frauenkirche were built, giving Dresden its world-famous silhouette.

Prestigious painters like the Italian Bernardo Bellotto (1721–1780) or Louis de Silvestre (1675–1760) were drawn to Dresden, where they were engaged as court artists. This dynamic, prosperous era forms the backdrop behind the painted masterpieces and their stories.

Significant works from a variety of genres such as history painting, landscape, still life and portraiture highlight the profile of the royal collection, which continued to grow throughout the 18th century.

The work of artists like Belotto and Silvestre frequently served as representations of the ruling family of Saxony and Poland and depicted the political situation in Saxony.

The city was a popular motif and artists’ representations, such as Bellotto’s Dresden seen from the right Bank of the Elbe Upstream of the Augustus Bridge, are impressive.

In this painting, the eye is drawn to the Old City with the picture gallery belonging to Heinrich, count von Brühl, Frauenkirche behind it and the Catholic Cathedral of Holy Trinity.

The pieces illustrate the roots of the legendary Dresden Picture Gallery

Interestingly, the man sat sketching at the front is probably a self-portrait with court painters Christian Wilhelm and Johann Alexander. Also noteworthy in this room is Alexander Thiele’s View of Dresden with Augustus Bridge, which captures the city of Dresden so well.

Here one can see the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on the right, still under construction, Brühl’s Terrace, further upstream and the dome of Frauenkirche in the background.

I enjoyed the second room a lot not simply because of the beautiful portraits and paintings of people but also because it served as a study of paintings by artists who played an important role in establishing the Dresden Academy as well as a study on the artistic interpretation of the time.

Paintings here include Charles le Brun’s The Holy Trinity and Samuel Bottschild’s Portrait of a Man. Bottschild was the first director of the Dresden Academy.

The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1764. It was modelled on the Académie Royale, Paris.

Its founding following the Seven Years’ War marks the end of the Augustan Age.

Also worth mentioning is Charles Francois Hutin’s Girl Reading. Hutin was appointed director of the academy in 1764.

His works evoke perceptive genre works by French painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze (for example, the kind face, eyes, fair skin and use of light colours).

The portraits do not merely convey the subjects’ features; their attire and attributes also shed light on their lives.

The mid-18th century was a time when the character sketch became popular. The focus is not on portraying known people but on portraying a specific type of person. The fourth room was my favourite, themed ‘Italy Promises of Idyll and Land of Longing’.

Here are works by the vedute painters who, as the name implies, painted highly detailed, often large-scale cityscapes or vistas.

Titian’s Portrait of a Lady in White.

Strong ties existed between Dresden and Italy. Indeed, numerous painters, sculptors, architects, musicians and scientists were engaged at Dresden’s court in the early 18th century.

Here we see paintings by Claude Lorrain – idealised landscapes, evocative of ancient Arcadia.

Stars in this room are Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, and his nephew, Bernardo Bellotto. Striking are Bellotto’s View of Verona and the River Adage. This sprawling painting depicts carefully composed idealised views of the locations in the title.

The boats on the river are, interestingly, floating mills.

The exhibition closes with Bellotto’s impressive Ruins of Kreuzkirche, a study of Dresden’s oldest medieval church which was destroyed by the Prussians during the Seven Years’ War.

Hanging in a prominent position, solitary on a wall dedicated to it alone, in the last room, the painting has such a strong presence. The wreckage looks fresh as the skeleton of what remains of the church, standing unposingly and tall above the rubble. This was one of Bellotto’s last paintings created in Dresden in 1765. It also marks the end of the Augustan Age.

The exhibition runs until November 23 at the Kunsthalle Munich, Germany.

www.kunsthalle-muc.de/en/exhibitions/details/rembrandt-titian-bellotto/