North Tower - Schloss Drachenburg

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Art Gallery “… a fairytale hall apparently built solely of glass … writers and musicians, striking personalities by way of great thinkers and artists, statesmen and inventors from all countries and all epochs through to current times … how wonderful ... that he could erect such as memorial to them in his magnifi cent castle”: (Elise Polko. In: A Short Note about the Schloss Drachenburg on the Rhine, undated, c. 1900) Although the name of the room may suggest the idea of an aristocratic picture gallery, the Art Gallery here was never intended to be a place for the viewing of paintings. Its distinctiveness lay more in the presentation of glass art for which the serially arranged high windows provided more than enough surface area. As such, the iconographic programme embodied by the windows offers an array of famous personalities from all aspects of world history, art and science – discoverers, composers, painters, writers, politicians, sculptors, architects, kings, queens, emperors, empresses, and inventors. The person responsible for the overall design of the glass paintings in the Art Gallery was Wilhelm Hoffmann, one of the Schloss Drachenburg architects and formerly an apprentice at Cologne Cathedral where he worked on ornamental windows. Responsible for the production of the costly glass panes was the Royal Court Stained Glass Manufactory of Franz Xavier Zettler, based in Munich, which was taken over in 1930 by the Mayer’sche Hofkunstanstalt, an institute for the promotion of arts and crafts. As you might expect of a picture gallery in a palatial building, the “Glass Art Gallery” at Schloss Drachenburg acted to demonstrate the culture, good taste and affl uence of its haute-bourgeois owner: Stephan von Sarter. This impressive cupola hall would confi rm the social signifi cance and cosmological worldview of the host to visitors and to guests attending a festive occasion or prestigious reception. From 1931 to 1938, the Art Gallery served the Christian School Brothers as a chapel. During the Second World War, the cupola was destroyed and all the glass windows either smashed or “disappeared”. After the war, the college accommodated in the castle by the German Railways Board used the large hall, now rebuilt on a makeshift basis, to stage a signal box. The Art Gallery was to regain some of its representative, if modifi ed, character in the 1970s when the now castle owner Paul Spinat had a sumptuous Gründerzeit staircase installed there. However, the most recent renovation work carried out on the Art Gallery and completed in 2004 went back to the original appearance of the 19th century. Today, the design, the use of colour and the opulent stencilling – all modelled on the original – go to underline the splendid impression the room makes.
West side of the Art Gallery with bronze statue of Venus by Francheschi (19th century) in the foreground of the central tracery window. In the lancets, full-fi gure portraits of Rubens, Dürer and Rembrandt between ornamental windows with quotations from In the Magic Garden of the Hesperides. In the rosette: An Allegory of Poetry, postcard 1905 (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) Art Gallery with a view of the Nibelung Room to the south. In the foreground: Venus by H. C. Allegrain (1767), postcard 1905. (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) East side of the Art Gallery with bronze statue of Venus by Francheschi (front) and a copy of the Venus di Milo. The central tracery window shows full-fi gure portraits of Raffael, Murillo and Michelangelo between ornamental windows with quotations from In the Magic Garden of the Hesperides. In the rosette: An Allegory of Music, postcard 1905 (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) The Art Gallery as a chapel (view to the north), photo from the album of the Christian School Brother, 1930s. (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) The Art Gallery during the Spinat era with main staircase installed, photo 1980s (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) 27
Page 1 and 2: Schloss Drachenburg Visitors’ Gui
Page 3 and 4: Intro Dear Visitor, It is a great p
Page 5 and 6: Architectural Decoration The design
Page 7 and 8: Venus Terrace The Venus Terrace pla
Page 9 and 10: „Save the Petersberg!“ The Pete
Page 11 and 12: The Icon of Rhine Romanticism: the
Page 13 and 14: Nordic Summer Houses The second own
Page 15 and 16: Wotan Summer House After Jacob Hube
Page 17 and 18: Sea of Rocks Geologically speaking,
Page 19 and 20: Roland‘s Arch, Rhine Romanticism
Page 21 and 22: Nature Conversationists and the Dra
Page 23 and 24: A view from the east into the Main
Page 25 and 26: Joseph Flüggen: Sleeping Beauty Po
Page 27 and 28: Looking into the Hunting Trophy and
Page 29 and 30: Lacunae in the Main Staircase paint
Page 31 and 32: Reception Room, postcard 1905 (Arch
Page 33 and 34: For further information about the C
Page 35 and 36: Dining Room, postcard 1905 (Archiv
Page 37: Nibelung Room with a view through t
Page 41 and 42: Uhland window with lacunae Found 20
Page 43 and 44: Looking into the Tavern Room with t
Page 45 and 46: Hunt & Billiard Room, postcard 1905
Page 47 and 48: Library and Study Postcard 1903 (Ar
Page 49 and 50: Music Room, postcard 1905 - showing
Page 51 and 52: Layout of the Private Floor Porcela
Page 53 and 54: Preserved glass painting entitled Y
Page 55 and 56: Guest Bedroom, postcard 1905 (Archi
Page 57: Reconstructed stencils in the south

North Tower - Schloss Drachenburg

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