2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

This unique collection consists of over 120 drawings from the late Gothic and Dürer periods and is bound in an inconspicuous cover. The sheets were collected within a relatively short period of around 20 years from 1650 by the Electorate of Bavaria's governor of the Upper Palatinate, the hereditary princess Maximilian Willibald von Waldburg-Wolfegg (1604-67). The collection has remained almost unchanged since then. As the oldest surviving private collection of drawings in Germany, it offers an authentic view of a specific moment in art history and the history of art collecting. It is also remarkable that it is about as old as the core collection of the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, which was first mentioned in 1652 in the palace library of the Great Elector.

Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "I am delighted that this important collection of drawings is now accessible to the public and I am sure that it will enable many more discoveries to be made by researchers." Hein-Th. Schulze Altcappenberg, Director of the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, comments: "The acquisition of the so-called 'Kleines Klebeband' with its more than 120 unique works of old German drawing art is a great success not only for the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, but also for the idea of the public museum in Germany. For the first time, a cooperative acquisition and utilisation model has been developed for such an important treasure trove of graphic artefacts of national culture, without which our project would have been hopeless." Kurt Gribl, Lord Mayor of the City of Augsburg, states: "It is a great stroke of luck to be able to secure these nationally valuable old master drawings for the public purse." Christof Trepesch, Director of the Augsburg Art Collections and Museums, says: "The joint acquisition by the public sector makes it possible for the first time to conduct a joint academic study of the collection of drawings. This is expected to open up a new chapter in art history research, particularly with regard to the Augsburg drawings."

The so-called "Kleine Klebeband" occupies an outstanding position within the collection of drawings of the Princes of Waldburg-Wolfegg, both in terms of the individual quality of numerous extraordinary single works from the late Gothic and Dürer periods and in terms of its comprehensive art-historical and scientific significance. This is due above all to an extremely rare group of German sheets from the 15th century as well as master and workshop drawings from the early and mid-16th century, which - also unique in this respect - invite representative analyses of the studio practice of artists from this period. The outstanding core of the volume is formed by an extremely valuable and extensive group of drawings by Hans Holbein the Elder (c. 1465-1524) and members of his Augsburg studio - including the centrepiece, Hans Holbein's early silverpoint portrait of a nun, created around 1499. With the extensive series of portrait, type and figure studies from Holbein's studio grouped around it, the volume offers unique insights into the artists' studios of this period. A highlight of the volume, however, is undoubtedly an anonymous portrait of a young man created around 1475 in the Bavarian-Tyrolean or Swabian region, which an expert such as Peter Halm has already recognised as the "most accomplished German portrait drawing before Dürer".

The precious volume comprises a total of over 120 predominantly old German, but also some Dutch and Italian master drawings from the 15th to the early 17th century. Due to its special position in the history of German painting and the art of drawing, the Wolfegg Cimelia was entered in the register of nationally valuable cultural assets at an early stage.

After intensive efforts by all those involved, the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the Federal States) has now succeeded in acquiring this unique work of German art and collection history for the two public museums in Germany that are particularly characterised by the area of origin (Augsburg) and the context of the collection (Berlin). These museums also have outstanding expertise and facilities for the scientific cataloguing and conservation of this national treasure.

The terms of the acquisition stipulate that the Wolfegg drawing collection will be preserved as an inseparable bundle and will be permanently conserved and cared for by the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett in accordance with the funds invested. The work will be researched and exhibited together with the Augsburg Art Collections and Museums, and all other rights and obligations relating to this public cultural asset will be exercised in co-operation. A first presentation in Augsburg is planned for later this year and will be announced in good time.

The acquisition of the Waldburg-Wolfegg drawing complex is - alongside Caspar David Friedrich's Lebensalter cycle in 2006 - the most significant purchase made by the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett in recent times and emphasises its outstanding international position as a reference collection of 15th and 16th century German drawing art. For the Augsburg Art Collections and Museums, it represents an enormous gain in terms of works and knowledge of urban art production in the exciting phase between the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance and thus a decisive enrichment of the Augsburg Prints and Drawings Collection.

Maximilian Willibald von Waldburg-Wolfegg (1604-1667) founded the Wolfegg Cabinet. At his death, the collection probably comprised around 120,000 prints, mainly copperplate engravings, etchings and woodcuts from the 15th to the 17th century, but also an extensive collection of hand drawings. In 2001, the map by the Freiburg cartographer Martin Waldseemüller with the first mention of the name "America" was sold from the cabinet to the Library of Congress in Washington, and in 2008 the spectacular "House Book of the Princes of Waldburg-Wolfegg" passed into private ownership in southern Germany.

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