Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

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an astrolabe
from the
Mathematisch-
Physikalischer
salon like those
seen on paintings
by Vermeer
View of the Tapestry Hall of the Gemäldegalerie alte Meister
furter Allgemeine Zeitung in an article which went on to
say, “Wherever three or four paintings come together in
his name, we have to speak of a major Vermeer exhibition.
For more genuine Vermeers are rarely found in one place.
Too great is the reluctance of the museums to lend the
precious originals, too huge is the insurance value, and
perhaps too justified is the fear of art robbers or importunate
visitors”.
the early works
The aim of the exhibition was not to impress with a great
abundance of works, but to focus on the early paintings
by this great artist. Even in his early works, Jan Vermeer
(1632 – 1675) shows himself to be a master of his trade. In
Dresden each of the three early works by Vermeer was
compared with paintings by other artists, which both
demonstrated the starting point for Vermeer’s search for
his own style and showed his independence from earlier
precedents. National and international loans by important
painters such as Jacob van Loo, Jan van Bijlert, Matteo
Rosselli and Simon Peter Tilmann provided a deep insight
into Vermeer’s early artistic phase and clearly showed the
path of his development from his early works to his particularly
acclaimed interior scenes.
One of these interior scenes is indisputably his famous
work “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window”, which
was painted in about 1659. It entered the collection of the
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in 1742 and was thenceforth
presented in a gilt rococo frame, one of the famous “Dresden
Gallery frames”. This painting is today regarded as one
of the major works of world art and, along with Raphael’s
“Sistine Madonna” and Giorgione’s “Sleeping Venus”, it is
one of the most popular paintings in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister. After more than 250 years, this
painting was shown in the exhibition for the first time in
a typical Dutch frame. A selection of important works of
Dutch craftsmanship, such as furniture, vases, glasses and
plates accompanied the exhibition and set the paintings
in their contemporary context.
experimental setup and reconstruction
The exhibition “The Early Vermeer” also provided an opportunity
to take a rather different look at the “Girl Reading
a Letter at the Open Window” and to view the work
from a completely different perspective. For a museum
education project, the room depicted in the painting was
reconstructed. Visitors to the exhibition could experience
the room and its perspective in an installation. It was pos­
Ladies’ garments like
this one can be seen in
Vermeer’s paintings