The Alte Pinakothek (Old Pinakothek) is an art museum situated in the Kunstareal in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries of the world housing one of the most famous art museums for the old masters. The name (old Pinakothek) alludes to the time period covered by the art ? the Neue Pinakothek covers 19th century art and the recently opened Pinakothek der Moderne exhibits modern art, all galleries are part of Munich's "Kunstareal" (the "art area").
King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1825-1848) ordered Leo von Klenze to erect the gallery for the Wittelsbach collection in 1826. The museum galleries were designed to display Rubens' "Last Judgment", one of the largest canvasses ever painted. Very modern in its day, the building became exemplary for museum buildings in Germany and all of Europe after its inauguration in 1836, and thus became a model for new galleries in Rome, St Petersburg, Brussels and Kassel.
The museum building was severely damaged by bombing in World War II but was reconstructed and reopened to the public in the late 1950s. Unfortunately the ornate, pre-war interior has not been restored.
History
Room IX
The collection was begun by William IV (1508-1550) who ordered important contemporary painters to create several history paintings. Elector Maximilian I (1597-1651) acquired paintings especially of Albrecht Dürer. Maximilian's grandson Maximilian II Emanuel (1679-1726) purchased a lot of Dutch and Flemish paintings when he was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Also his cousin Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (1690-1716) collected Netherlandish paintings. After the reunion of Bavaria and the Palatinate in 1777, the galleries of Mannheim, Düsseldorf and Zweibrücken were moved to Munich, in part to protect the collections during the wars which followed the French revolution. With the secularisation many paintings from churches and former monasteries entered into state hands. King Ludwig I of Bavaria collected especially Early German and Early Dutch paintings but also masterpieces of the Italian renaissance.
The passion of the Wittelsbach rulers for some painters has caused the collection's incomparable excellence but also its definite weakness in some areas of collector's interest. To fill the gaps the Pinakothek has acquired especially paintings of the 18th century since the 1960s, for example loaned paintings from two Bavarian banks have been integrated into the collection, including, among other works, Lancret's "The Bird Cage" and Boucher's "Madame Pompadour."
The museum is under supervision of the Bavarian State Painting Collections which own also an expanded collection of several thousand European paintings from the 13th to 18th century. Especially its collection of Early Italian, Old German, Old Dutch and Flemish paintings belongs to the most important in the world.
More than 800 of these paintings are exhibited in the Old Pinakothek. Due to limited space in the building some associated galleries throughout Bavaria such as the baroque galleries in Schleissheim Palace and Neuburg Palace display also the Old Masters.
Though this is the smallest section all masters are represented, such as El Greco ("The Disrobing of Christ"), de la Cruz ("Infant Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain"), Velazquez ("Young Spanish Gentleman"), Jusepe de Ribera ("Saint Bartholomew"), Zurbarán ("The Entombment of St. Catharine of Alexandria on Mount Sinai") and Murillo ("Baggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon"). The paintings of Francisco de Goya were moved into the New Pinakothek.
Selected pieces:
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Image:Albrecht Altdorfer 001.jpg|Albrecht Altdorfer"The Battle of Issus"
Image:Adam Elsheimer The Flight into Egypt.jpg|Adam Elsheimer "The Flight into Egypt"
Image:Raffael 032.jpg|Raffael "Madonna Tempi"
Image:Tizian Vanity.jpg|Tizian "Vanity"
Image:Rembrandt 200.jpg|Rembrandt van Rijn "The Sacrifice of Isaac"
Image:Gerard ter Borch d. J. 012.jpg|Gerard ter Borch "The Flea-Catcher"
Image:Anthonis van Dyck Self Portrait.jpg|van Dyck "Self Portrait"
Image:Peter Paul Rubens 105.jpg|Peter Paul Rubens "Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower"
Image:Infantin Isabella Clara Eugenia von Spanien 1599.jpg|Juan Pantoja de la Cruz "Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia"
Image:Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo 004.jpg|Murillo "Baggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon"
Image:Nicolas Poussin (1594 - 1665) Midas and Bacchus.jpg|Nicolas Poussin "Midas and Bacchus"
Image:François Boucher 026.jpg|François Boucher "Declining girl" (Marie-Louise O'Murphy, 1737-1818)
</gallery>
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