Scientific and research projects
With its spreading branches, this precious figure of Daphne (Grünes Gewölbe) is symbolic of the “Daphne” provenance research project. The congress on “Trophies – Losses – Equivalents” at the Deutsches Historisches Institut in Moscow: with Prof. Dr. Gilbert Lupfer, Head of the SKD’s DAPHNE project, ... SCI ENtI FIC PROJ ECtS AN D COOPERAtION The financial and economic crisis which dominated the year <strong>2009</strong> also adversely affected the projects undertaken by the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong>. It was felt not only through the difficulty of obtaining third party funding. Promising prospective projects in association with the Emirate of Dubai had to be put on ice before reaching the concrete planning stage. Fortunately, research at the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong> did not suffer any substantial effects. It continued in its full abundance throughout <strong>2009</strong>, whether conducted independently or in cooperation with university research institutes, whether related directly to the holdings of a specific museum or involving several museums, whether in the form of “classic” art historical research or with an interdisciplinary approach involving both the humanities and the natural sciences, whether financed by the Saxon government or through third party funding. Only a few examples from the rich spectrum of research activities can be recorded here. EXAMPLE: “DAPH N E” – PROVENANCE RESEARCH AN D MORE To briefly recap, in spring 2008 the Saxon state government gave the green light to the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong>’s application to conduct a project in which the entire holdings of its museums, which contain more than ... Andrei Bussygin, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Culture, ... Page 58: Restoration work on Canaletto’s painting “<strong>Dresden</strong> from the Right Bank of the Elbe with the Augustus Bridge” ... Prof. Dr. Martin Roth, Director-General of the SKD 1.1 million objects, are to be identified and recorded. Furthermore, where possible, all uncertain provenances are to be clarified and the findings subsequently published. This work is based on a database developed jointly by the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> and the <strong>Dresden</strong> software company “Robotron”. The database is called “Daphne”, which is also the name of the project. In Greek mythology, Daphne was a nymph who turned herself into a laurel bush while fleeing the advances of Apollo. Branches grew from her body and this “branching out” symbolises the structure of a database and also the structure of the project. After the start-up phase in the second half of 2008, the Daphne project was able to work in a concentrated way in all the museums throughout <strong>2009</strong>. More than 70 researchers were involved, many of them in the registration and recording of the data, some in the provenance research. In the first collections, which are relatively small in terms of the number of objects in their holdings, such as the Galerie Neue Meister and the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, it was possible to complete the recording process, i.e. the registration of all the important data concerning each work of art on the basis of the existing documents (inventory catalogues, acquisition records, file cards etc). Art historians, historians, archive specialists and lawyers are working together in the “Daphne” project, searching for sources that are of interest for provenance research. Their search is not restricted to sources within the museums or in the Saxon Main State Archives, but also involves consulting the Federal Archives in Berlin and Koblenz. Some initial results of this provenance research are presented in the chapter on “Restitutions”. 59