Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

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Damage to the background of
the “Portrait of a Lady” by
Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt
Giebelstadt”, Max Liebermann “Self­Portrait.
1929”, Max Slevogt “Sermon in a
Cairo Mosque” and Bernhard Kretschmar
“To the Ball”.
Faithful replicas of lost original frames
were produced for key works, such as
“Paradise Lost” by Franz von Stuck and
Max Slevogt’s “Nile Barges by the Granite
Rocks” resulting from his travels in Egypt.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Two Standing
Nude Girls by the Stove” was given a
frame in the style of artist’s frames from
Kirchner’s lifetime. “The Mustang Squadron”
by Gerhard Richter was again placed
in a simple wooden frame at the request
of the artist.
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
• Jan Vermeer, “Girl Reading a Letter by an
Open Window“
One of the particular highlights of the
Dresden exhibition calendar in 2010 was
the special exhibition by the Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister on the early works of
Jan Vermeer. The Dresden painting “Girl
Reading a Letter at an Open Window”,
which the artist produced shortly after
the early painting “The Procuress”, demonstrates
Vermeer’s development towards
his typical interior scenes. Special attention
was therefore devoted to this painting
during the preparatory phase of this
exhibition. The numerous alterations and
corrections made by the artist during the
anselm Feuerbach’s “Landscape with Goats”
in its restored original frame
painting process were investigated, described
and presented both in an instructional
film and
in a reconstruction.
The study of the painting using infrared
reflectography provided insights into the
lower paint layers and into the early
phase of the development of the painting
through examination of the underdrawing
and underpainting layers.
It was discovered for the first time, for
example, that the artist had originally
painted the back of a chair decorated with
four small lions’ heads, but that he had
later removed this. The chair was originally
intended to enrich the foreground of
the painting and reinforce the impression
of spatial depth. A considerable amount
of restoration work was required during
the preparations for the exhibition, for example
the thorough restoration of a portrait
of a lady by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt.
When the severely yellowed varnish
was removed from this painting, considerable
damage to the paint layer was revealed,
particularly in the background,
which had previously been concealed
under extensive overpainting conducted
in the past. Following the difficult process
of retouching these paint losses and carefully
replacing the paint layers, which had
been rubbed off the lady’s face and garments,
this outstanding work by one of
the most illustrious portrait painters and
contemporaries of Vermeer in Delft could
be returned to the Gemäldegalerie.
infra-red reflectograph of the “Girl reading a Letter
at an Open Window” by Jan Vermeer
Kupferstich-Kabinett
• Johann Mock, “The Granting of the Order
of the Garter to Elector Johann Georg IV
of Saxony in the Hall of Giants in1693”
In 2010, the gouache entitled “The Granting
of the Order of the Garter to Elector
Johann Georg IV of Saxony in the Hall of
Giants in 1693” by Johann Mock was restored
in the restoration workshop of the
Kupferstich­Kabinett. This drawing is the
only document that depicts the ornate
Renaissance interior of the Hall of Giants
(Riesensaal) in colour. Because the images
are drawn on parchment, which reacts
hygroscopically, and because the reverse
is also lined with laid paper, tension led
to flaking of the paint and small areas of
loss. The loose and powdery areas were
carefully fixed using adhesives. The parchment
was then mounted on an acid free
honeycomb board using Japanese paper.
This protects the parchment from warpage,
which could lead to further flaking.
After the first drying phase, it was necessary
to fix loose paint particles a second
time following further retouching of
the areas of loss. After that, the mounted
drawing was placed in a honeycomb
frame und fitted with a passe­partout.
In order to avoid new damage, the whole
construction was framed and hermetically
sealed.