Staatsgalerie Aschaffenburg

The Staatsgalerie Aschaffenburg is an art museum housed in Schloss Johannisburg in Aschaffenburg, Germany. With approximately 368 paintings, it is the largest of the galleries outside Munich that constitute the Bavarian State Painting Collections. Founded in 1793, the museum's core collection derives from Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, the last Elector of Mainz, and is distinguished by its concentration on German and Netherlandic paintings, particularly genre works. The gallery forms a significant node in the network of twelve branch locations through which the Bavarian State Painting Collections extend their reach beyond Munich.

The Staatsgalerie was established in 1793 when Elector-Archbishop Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, with assistance from his brother Lothar Franz von Erthal, transported 260 paintings from Mainz to his summer residence at Aschaffenburg to safeguard them from advancing French Revolutionary troops. The shipment included his library, valuable furniture, and paintings spanning genre scenes, Flemish and German landscape painting of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1802, additional works arrived from the collection of Hugo Franz Graf von Eltz, the deceased provost of Mainz Cathedral; initially a donation, these were assigned in 1809 to Prince-Primate Carl Theodor von Dalberg. A pivotal acquisition came in 1803 when Dalberg obtained altarpieces and individual panels from the secularized Aschaffenburg collegiate church. These had been commissioned by Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg for his collegiate church in Halle an der Saale and brought to Aschaffenburg in 1541 during his flight. The gallery has been presented in Schloss Johannisburg since 1794. The museum closed for renovation of the palace in 2016 and reopened on 4 May 2023 after approximately ten years.

The Staatsgalerie Aschaffenburg represents one of the most splendid painting collections of the late 18th century. Its holdings are organized by schools and masters, creating the impression of a Baroque picture gallery through dense hanging on noble wall coverings. The collection encompasses Flemish, Dutch, Italian, French, and German masters, with particular strengths in genre painting, Flemish and German landscape painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, and Baroque painting. The Bavarian State Collections in Munich have concentrated a substantial and important body of works by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his circle at Aschaffenburg to stimulate Cranach scholarship. The gallery also preserves the so-called cork model collection, the largest of its kind worldwide, comprising 38 cork replicas of ancient Roman monuments crafted by court confectioner Carl May and his son Georg beginning in 1792.济

The centerpiece of the Staatsgalerie is the Cranach-Saal, the main hall in the center of the palace's Main wing, containing large religious panels by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop. These include the Fragment from the Prague Altar, portraits of Elector Joachim I Nestor of Brandenburg and Duke George the Bearded of Saxony, Lot and His Daughters, and several altarpieces. Works by Lucas Cranach the Younger, such as Duke Johann of Saxony and Christ and the Adulteress, are also present. The Rembrandt pupil Aert de Gelder's impressive Passion cycle occupies an entire tower room, one of the few gallery spaces with windows on all four sides. From the collection of Count Eltz, ten of twenty-two panels from the Passion of Christ are displayed. The Flemish school is represented by Jacob Jordaens and Rubens, while the Dutch school includes Rembrandt's John the Baptist and Abraham Bloemaert's The Preaching of John the Baptist. Two notable cycles of views of Mainz and Aschaffenburg by Christian Georg Schütz the Elder and Ferdinand Kobell complete the aristocratic gallery presentation in the second floor. The Paramentenkammer in the east tower displays sacred objects from the possession of Mainz archbishops, including elaborately embroidered antependia, chasubles, dalmatics, pluvials, silver-gilt chalices, ciboria, monstrances, altar candlesticks, and miniature portraits of Mainz electors from 1514 to 1802.

The Staatsgalerie occupies the first upper floor of Schloss Johannisburg, the secondary residence of the Mainz elector-archbishops. The rooms are arranged in a circuit ordered by schools and masters. The sequence begins with Rubens and the Flemish school, continues through Rembrandt and the de Gelder Passion cycle in the corner tower, proceeds through cabinet rooms with small-format Dutch works, landscapes by Joos de Momper, and paintings by the Francken family, and culminates in the Cranach-Saal. Around 1782, Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal had his residential quarters redesigned by court architect Emanuel d'Herigoyen and a large Neoclassical staircase constructed in the city wing. The princely living quarters on the second floor contain high-quality furniture, bronzes, chandeliers, and clocks from the early Neoclassical period, notably mahogany furniture with brass fittings by Johannes Kroll, a former workshop member of David Roentgen, built for the elector who had the palace interior remodeled in Classical style from 1775. From the princely gallery, visitors may look into the interior of the palace chapel, whose altar and pulpit were created by Hans Juncker in 1614. The long corridor on the courtyard side displays pictures by Flemish and Dutch painters of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Stilräume preserve the Neoclassical residential atmosphere, with furniture that had been evacuated during the Second World War and reinstalled after the palace's restoration.

The Staatsgalerie Aschaffenburg is located in Schloss Johannisburg in Aschaffenburg, Germany, and operates as one of twelve branch galleries of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. The museum reopened to the public on 4 May 2023 after closure since 2016 for renovation of the palace. Visitors may explore the gallery, the Paramentenkammer, and the princely living quarters within the same building. The palace also contains the cork model collection and the Schlosskapelle. Aschaffenburg offers additional museum experiences in proximity, including the Stiftsmuseum with the reunited Magdalene Altar, the Kunsthalle Jesuitenkirche for modern and contemporary art, the Christian Schad Museum, and the KirchnerHAUS Museum documenting Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's childhood. The Bavarian State Painting Collections have made their entire holdings accessible through an online collection since 2017, comprising 25,000 artworks across Bavaria, Germany, and Europe, including deposited holdings and more than 4,000 permanent loans at over 400 locations.