Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Presentation of the € 10 commemorative silver
coin minted to mark the anniversary of the
invention of European hard-paste porcelain
coming speech by the Director­General of the Stiftung
Stadtmuseum Berlin was followed by addresses delivered
by the Ambassador of Italy, Michele Valensise, and the
Head of the Department of Culture and Communication
in the German Foreign Office, Werner Wnendt.
State Secretary Iris Spranger then spoke on behalf of the
city administration of Berlin. In her address she turned her
attention away from the role of porcelain in the diplomatic
context to the importance of this versatile material
in our everyday life today – we can hardly imagine being
without it. These thoughts were also taken up by State
Secretary Werner Gatzer from the Federal Ministry of Finance.
He also presented the € 10 commemorative silver
coin produced by his Ministry in honour of the tercentenary
of the invention of European hard­paste porcelain.
At this point the speeches had come full circle and many
different levels of meaning and various historical narratives
that had been discussed came together in a single
moment: a moment which lies 300 years in the past,
when August the Strong took advantage of Johann Friedrich
Böttger’s invention – both for himself and, as a result,
also for everyone else, thus creating a Europe which
still cannot resist the charms of “white gold”.
The early works of Vermeer: “Diana and her Companions”
c. 1632 – 1654; “Christ with Mary and Martha”, c. 1654 – 1655;
“The Procuress”, 1656
B eAutI Fu l An D Au DACIouS –
tH e eARlY VeRMeeR
In the second half of the anniversary year, the Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister surprised its visitors with a very special
exhibition: from 3 September until 28 November, 2010
it showed the “early Vermeer”. The Dutch master Jan Vermeer
is one of the most famous painters in the history of
art. As part of an international joint project, the Gemäldegalerie
collaborated with the Mauritshuis in The Hague
and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh to
present the three early paintings by the young artist:
“Diana and her Companions”, c. 1653/54; “Christ with
Mary and Martha”, c. 1654/55 and “The Procuress”, 1656.
After being restored, they were on view together for the
first time ­ an event which is unlikely to be repeated for a
long time to come and which was a worthy addition to the
highlights of the anniversary year 2010. The exhibition
had previously been on display in The Hague and was then
also shown in Edinburgh.
An article (entitled “Eine schöne Frechheit”) in the newspaper
Die ZEIT at the time of the opening of the exhibition
in Dresden praised the beauty of the works of art, but also
remarked upon the museum’s audacity in presenting such
a small number of carefully selected paintings. In the
same breath, however, it commended the way in which
the organisers had developed a convincing exhibition
from a clearly defined starting point. “A beguiling exhibition”
was how it was described in a headline in the Frank­
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