It is a turning point in the history of art: Renaissance painting. From 2 November 2023 to 18 February 2024, the Städel Museum is devoting itself to this fascinating epoch of art. For the first time, the most important paintings, drawings and prints by Holbein the Elder and Burgkmair will be brought together in one exhibition, complemented by works by other Augsburg artists from the period from around 1480 to 1530 as well as important works by German, Italian and Dutch masters.
Fig. above: Hans Holbein the Elder, Portrait of a Member of the Weiss Family of Augsburg, 1522, mixed media on lime wood, 41.7 x 35.2 x min. 0.6 cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Public Domain
What began in Italy developed into something completely new in northern Europe – with the painters Hans Holbein the Elder (c. 1464-1524) and Hans Burgkmair (1473-1531) as pioneers of this unique art. Its centre was the free imperial and commercial city of Augsburg, which in just a few decades developed into the capital of a German and at the same time international Renaissance. None other than one of the greatest German Renaissance painters of the time, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), finally made this art known throughout Europe.
Albrecht Dürer, Donatello, Jan van Eyck or Hugo van der Goes had a lasting influence on the work of Holbein the Elder and Burgkmair. With around 130 important works of art from leading international museum collections, the exhibition provides an overview of the various stylistic characteristics of Renaissance painting in the North. A highlight of the Frankfurt exhibition is the presentation of two masterpieces by Hans Holbein the Younger, the Madonna of Mayor Jacob Meyer zum Hasen (1526-1528) from the Würth Collection and the Solothurn Madonna (1522) from the Solothurn Art Museum.
STÄDEL DIRECTOR PHILIPP DEMANDT ON THE EXHIBITION: “The Städel Museum is widely appreciated for its great old master exhibitions. After Rubens, Rembrandt and Reni, the public can once again look forward to an extraordinary show. The Städel Museum presents the Renaissance in the North – a new, quite unique type of painting that emerged more than 500 years ago in northern Europe on the threshold from the Middle Ages to modern times. With around 130 important works of art from leading international museum collections, we celebrate the great German Renaissance painters and their models in one exhibition. Famous paintings by Hans Holbein the Elder, Hans Burgkmair and Holbein the Younger enter into a dialogue with works by Albrecht Dürer, Jan van Eyck or Donatello. A key work in the exhibition is the Madonna by Holbein the Younger from the Würth Collection, which is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of the German Renaissance. The fact that this painting is on show in Frankfurt together with the Madonna from the Kunstmuseum Solothurn is not to be missed.”
“Around 1500, Augsburg was one of the leading centres of art north of the Alps. Among the artists of this period, the colleagues and rivals Holbein the Elder and Burgkmair the Elder stand out particularly: Their works exemplify the different stylistic possibilities of Renaissance painting in the north and also influenced subsequent generations of artists, as the works of Holbein the Younger show. How groundbreaking his engagement with art from Augsburg was can be impressively traced in his early work. In less than ten years, Holbein the Younger developed an unmistakable artistic expression of his own, which accounts for his rank as one of the most important European artists of the 16th century,” EXPLANES JOCHEN SANDER, EXHIBITION CURATOR, STANDING DIRECTOR AND COLLECTION LEADER FOR GERMAN, HOLLAND AND FLEMISH PAINTING BEFORE 1800 AT THE STÄDEL MUSEUM.
WHERE?
Städel Museum
Schaumainkai 63
60596 Frankfurt am Main
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday 2 November 2023, 10:00 – 21:00
Duration of exhibition: Thursday, 2 November 2023 to Sunday, 18 February 2024
Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun 10:00-18:00, Thu 10:00-21:00, Mon closed
COST? Adults € 16, reduced € 14, groups € 14 / person, children under 12 free.
