RKD STUDIES

Dresden’s prime as an art city only takes place in the 18th century. However, in the time of the electors we find some Dutch painters who were employed at the court. Anselm van Hulle was here in 1651, as well as the aforementioned Benjamin von Block (1631-1689) around 1655.¹ Portraits by Gijsbert van Veen (c. 1562-1628) were already sent to the court in Saxony from Antwerp in the late 16th century.²

But more noteworthy are the paintings that Christopher Paudiss (1625-1666) from Lower Saxony left behind.³ He was probably born in Hamburg and came, like so many other northern German painters in the 1640s, to Holland and to Rembrandt’s workshop. The impressions he gained there, were decisive for the rest of his life. Stylistically he is of the rank of Jürgen Ovens and in some respects Paudiss is even more Dutch than he is. In contrast to Ovens, Flemish art meant nothing at all to him at first. Only later, when he has to paint altarpieces in southern Germany, he looks for ideas to Flanders to facilitate his new task. There are numerous Rembrandtesque study heads and genre-like portraits in which he softened and smoothed Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro. It becomes more grey and washed, so that his paintings often look like faded works of Aert de Gelder or Barent Fabritius. Such a mild Rembrandt is the Self-portrait with a grey hat (Dresden 1996) [1], which is painted soft and fluently and set in a shimmering light. Similar portrait studies are in Vienna [2-3], Cologne and Dresden. ⁴

1
Christopher Paudiss
Self-portrait with a grey hat, 1650's
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv./cat.nr. 1996

When Paudiss came to Dresden in 1659 (or earlier) it was said that he had lived in Hungary, in the Netherlands and in other places. To the Hungarian recollections possibly belongs the Hajduk (Dresden 1995) [4], which connects the compositions of Rembrandt’s etchings of the 1630s to the flowing Rembrandt-light of the 1640s. It seems that in Dresden Paudiss mainly painted portraits and some animal paintings [5]. Also in these genre-like paintings [6] his Rembrandt training is still visible. They are closer to Jan Victors and Constantijn à Renesse than perhaps to Dou and Ostade.

Already in 1660 Paudiss had turned his back on Dresden to move to Vienna. He did not get along with the Dresden court officials. One of them, Johann Georg von Rechenberg, even went so far that he slandered the painter in Vienna. This did not make much of an impression, since the artist carried a recommendation from the art-loving Duke Leopold Wilhelm. What happened to him in Vienna, and what he painted there, we will hear later [7].⁵

6
Christopher Paudiss
Saint Jerome, c. 1660
Kromeriz, Zámek Kroměříž, inv./cat.nr. KE 2866, O 392

Due to the recommendations of Prince Johan Maurits, Albert Eckhout managed to come into the service of the Prince Elect and future Elector of Saxony Johann Georg II in 1653.⁶ The painter was allowed ‘to take along everything he still had of the West Indies’, surely indicating the sketches from his Brazilian journey.⁷ In Hoflößnitz Castle near Dresden he decorated several rooms with exotic birds, water birds and European wild animals. In the 80 ceiling decorations with Brazilian birds of the great hall we see his main work on Saxon ground [8].⁸ Without the sketches he never would have managed to carry this out successfully.

He also made ten large paintings with representations of various indigenous people in an appropriate environment and ‘original’ costume for the Pretzsch Castle, which were later installed in Schwedt Castle. Since he only knew the inhabitants of Brazil [9-19] and Europeans from autopsy, the series turned out rather weak and boring.⁹

9
follower of Albert Eckhout
China and Japan and its inhabitants, c. 1653-1663
Schwedt an der Oder, private collection Schloss Schwedt

Eckhout stayed in Dresden until 1663 and probably went back to Groningen, where we lose track of him.¹⁰ During Johan Maurits’ government in Brazil a contemporary of Eckhout from Dresden, Zacharias Wagener (1614-1668), was a soldier and then a ‘Küchenschreiber’ (administrator of the kitchen inventory) and ‘Musterschreiber’ (administrator of the inventory of an army unit). Later he ended up in the Dutch Indies, from where he returned as a vice admiral in 1667! The drawings he brought back from his Brazilian journey (Dresden, Kupferstichkabinett) [20-21] are nothing more than copies after Eckhout’s sketches.¹¹

Finally Jan Ruyscher must be mentioned, who succeeded Christopher Paudiss as a court painter in 1662.¹² We already saw that he came to Berlin on the recommendation of Johan Maurits¹³ and it is quite possible that he owed his position in Dresden to the same prince. Jan Ruyscher is primarily a landscape painter and draughtsman and also in his case the works that originated abroad do not belong to his best ones.¹⁴ The view of the fortress Königsstadt (Stadtisches Historisches Museum in Dresden) [22] is a very respectable vedute in Dutch style, but not painted with such a flair that one would praise the painter as a ‘young Hercules’ (Seghers). The payment of his salary must have stuttered quite often, as we gather from the letters of complaints by his widow.¹⁵

20
Zacharias Wagener after Albert Eckhout
Negro woman with child and basket, 1637-1641
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Kupferstich-Kabinett, inv./cat.nr. Ca 226a M. (a) 7a, fol. 98

Already Johann Georg II and his successor Johann Georg III collected paintings for their Kunstkammer, but particularly Italian and old-German ones (Cranach). Occasionally we also learn of the acquisitions of contemporary Dutch artworks, such as ‘two pots of flowers and a festoon’ of Maria van Oosterwijck (1630-1693). The Elector saw and bought these in The Hague.¹⁶

As early as 1666 the Dresden cabinet of arts acquired works from Anthony van Dyck, Johannes Fijt, Jan Lievens and Paul Bril.¹⁷ A collecting activity in grand style began only during the government of August the Strong (ruling 1694-1733), which was even surpassed by his son August III (ruling 1733-1763).¹⁸ It was an incredibly fortunate coincidence, which did not occur in any other German court, that two generations of rulers had such a passion for collecting art. In Düsseldorf for example cultural life ended with the death of Johann Wilhelm and the gallery in Kassel primarily is the creation of Wilhelm VIII only. Around 1700 the art collection in Dresden already included works of Rembrandt [23], Ruisdael, Wouwermans, Bakhuizen, Dou [24], Metsu, as well as from minor masters such as Bloemaert, Both, Willmann, let alone of the late fine painters like Van Mieris, Elliger [25], Toorenvliet and Jan van Huijsum, artists that were also represented elsewhere in Germany. In the inventory of 1722 we find about all the Dutch names, both of great artists and minor masters, that contribute to the fame of the Dresden gallery even today.

23
Rembrandt
The wedding of Samson, 1638 (dated)
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv./cat.nr. 1560

A small flock of agents were constantly engaged in buying and negotiating for the court. Many Netherlands paintings were acquired in Antwerp and not only Flemish works, but also very valuable Dutch works by Wouwermans, Dou and Van Mieris. Minister August Christoph von Wackerbarth (1662-1734) and Jacob Heinrich Graf von Flemming (1667-1728) almost exclusively collected Dutch paintings for the king. The paintings came also from Bohemia, among them very precious ones from the collections Czernin and Wrzowecz and not least from the Wallenstein collection in Dux. The latter includes the large painting of Johannes Vermeer [26] and two portraits by Frans Hals [27-28].¹⁹

Many things were acquired from the imperial collection in Vienna, other things were bought in Paris and even Italy. Two still-lifes by Jan Weenix [29] were considered to be among the most valuable paintings that were sent from Venice. Details about the acquisition are found in the introduction of the Dresden museum catalogue.²⁰

26
Johannes Vermeer
The Procuress, dated 1656
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv./cat.nr. 1335

During the reign of August III Minister Heinrich von Brühl (1700-1763) was actively involved in the art acquisitions.²¹ He himself had a fine collection of Dutch paintings, which were sold for the larger part to Catherine the Great after his death [30] -- insofar as Frederick the Great had not confiscated them. The actual connoisseur and advisor however was Carl Heinrich von Heinecken (1707-1791), the well-known author [31].²²

After Brühl’s fall in 1763 the widely-travelled Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn (1712-1780) [32] was appointed as general director of the arts. He bought paintings in Frankfurt, Mainz, Vienna and other places and knew very well to recount about the practices the art trade at the time. Earlier, when he settled in Dresden in 1750, he straightaway had to cede some paintings to Brühl and to the king, while his compensation took a long time coming.²³ Hagedorn’s own collection ended up in Denmark and got lost in a fire. But it was not as valuable as the one Brühl assembled.²⁴ Also from Hagedorn are the well-known words that characterize the passion for collecting by his King August the Strong: Wouwermans was the king’s favourite taste, and the king is in love with Aert van der Neer.²⁵

The collection of the disgraced Dresden envoy at the court in Paris, Charles Henri d’Hoym also contained many Dutch paintings: that one could acquire good paintings from the Low Countries in Paris, is not new to us.²⁶

31
Rembrandt
The rape of Ganymede, dated 1635
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv./cat.nr. 1558

32
Anton Graff
Portrait of Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn (1712-1780), dated 1772
Leipzig, University of Leipzig