INTRODUCTION The Berlin Gemäldegalerie, officially founded in 1830 with the opening of the Altes Museum, holds one of the most important collections of European painting in the world. Its encyclopaedic scope makes it unique. The collection, a small part of which dates back to the former Royal Prussian court collection, began to be assembled systematically on the basis of scholarly criteria in 1815. The aim was to bring together a collection of paintings which would reflect a broad range of European countries and provide a rich source for art-historical education. The result is a diverse and unsurpassed collection of masterpieces covering every epoch and style from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, making the Berlin Gemäldegalerie one of the best galleries for the study of the Old Masters. The key highlights are German and Italian paintings from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century and Netherlandish paintings from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. It is these collections in particular that give the Gemäldegalerie world-class status. By the start of World War I in 1914 – so within a period of just 100 years – the Berlin Gemäldegalerie had risen to pre-eminence mainly through the extraordinary financial support of the Prussian royal family. This made it possible to acquire unique private collections on the one hand and, on the other, facilitated the collecting activities of individual directors. The first acquisition involved 157 paintings from the Giustiniani collection, which was then followed by the purchase of the Solly collection in 1821 (677 works), the Reimer collection in 1873 (36 works) and the Suermondt collection of around 250 works in 1874, to name but a few. In addition, over 400 paintings were purchased by the gallery’s first director, Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1794– 1868). However, the gallery achieved its rise to international status under director and general manager Wilhelm von Bode (1845–1929), who is also
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credited with founding the first museum association in the world in 1897, the Kaiser Friedrich Museumsverein. The purpose of this was to fund purchases and foster the commitment of donors and supporters of the Gemäldegalerie. James Simon (1851–1932) proved to be by far the most generous of these benefactors in donating around 350 works from his Italian Renaissance collection for the opening of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in 1904. Approximately 550 of the 3,000 paintings which were moved into storage during the Second World War have been lost, mainly the largeformat works, so today’s visitors to the Gemäldegalerie will only find occasional examples in this category. The present-day gallery has predominantly small and medium formats in comparison to the historical holdings. The Gemäldegalerie’s current collection comprises nearly 3,000 works, of which around 1,500 are on display. Having to make a small and very personal selection of at most 37 paintings from this collection (the ‘director’s choice’) is bound to have its limitations. So some readers may regret the absence of many well-known masterpieces, but perhaps they will be pleasantly surprised at the choice of other works. In addition, due to the dictates of space available for text, it was in many cases only possible to include a fraction of what could be said about each work. Yet this book will have achieved its purpose admirably if it encourages its readers to discover for themselves the manifold array of masterpieces in the Gemäldegalerie. I am very grateful to Julia Sedda for research, discussions and editorial support, as well as to Sigrid Wollmeiner for sourcing images and supervising production. I would also like to thank the publisher for including the Gemäldegalerie as one of the starting points of this series in Germany.
INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION The Berlin Gemäldegalerie, officially founded in 1830 with the opening of the Altes Museum, holds one of the most important collections of European painting in the world. Its encyclopaedic scope makes it unique. The collection, a small part of which dates back to the former Royal Prussian court collection, began to be assembled systematically on the basis of scholarly criteria in 1815. The aim was to bring together a collection of paintings which would reflect a broad range of European countries and provide a rich source for art-historical education. The result is a diverse and unsurpassed collection of masterpieces covering every epoch and style from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, making the Berlin Gemäldegalerie one of the best galleries for the study of the Old Masters. The key highlights are German and Italian paintings from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century and Netherlandish paintings from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. It is these collections in particular that give the Gemäldegalerie world-class status. By the start of World War I in 1914 – so within a period of just 100 years – the Berlin Gemäldegalerie had risen to pre-eminence mainly through the extraordinary financial support of the Prussian royal family. This made it possible to acquire unique private collections on the one hand and, on the other, facilitated the collecting activities of individual directors. The first acquisition involved 157 paintings from the Giustiniani collection, which was then followed by the purchase of the Solly collection in 1821 (677 works), the Reimer collection in 1873 (36 works) and the Suermondt collection of around 250 works in 1874, to name but a few. In addition, over 400 paintings were purchased by the gallery’s first director, Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1794– 1868). However, the gallery achieved its rise to international status under director and general manager Wilhelm von Bode (1845–1929), who is also
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credited with founding the first museum association in the world in 1897, the Kaiser Friedrich Museumsverein. The purpose of this was to fund purchases and foster the commitment of donors and supporters of the Gemäldegalerie. James Simon (1851–1932) proved to be by far the most generous of these benefactors in donating around 350 works from his Italian Renaissance collection for the opening of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in 1904. Approximately 550 of the 3,000 paintings which were moved into storage during the Second World War have been lost, mainly the largeformat works, so today’s visitors to the Gemäldegalerie will only find occasional examples in this category. The present-day gallery has predominantly small and medium formats in comparison to the historical holdings. The Gemäldegalerie’s current collection comprises nearly 3,000 works, of which around 1,500 are on display. Having to make a small and very personal selection of at most 37 paintings from this collection (the ‘director’s choice’) is bound to have its limitations. So some readers may regret the absence of many well-known masterpieces, but perhaps they will be pleasantly surprised at the choice of other works. In addition, due to the dictates of space available for text, it was in many cases only possible to include a fraction of what could be said about each work. Yet this book will have achieved its purpose admirably if it encourages its readers to discover for themselves the manifold array of masterpieces in the Gemäldegalerie. I am very grateful to Julia Sedda for research, discussions and editorial support, as well as to Sigrid Wollmeiner for sourcing images and supervising production. I would also like to thank the publisher for including the Gemäldegalerie as one of the starting points of this series in Germany.
INTRODUCTION
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Joachim Patinier Dinant c.1480/85–1524 Antwerp
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c.1520 Oil on oak, 65.3 x 81 cm Acquired from the Edward Solly collection in 1821 Cat. no. 608
Joachim Patinier was the first to specialise in the depiction of landscapes in the art of the modern age, making him famous even during his lifetime. In Spain he is considered the outstanding Flemish painter after Jan van Eyck, and Albrecht Dürer praised Patinier as a ‘good landscape painter’ after meeting him in Antwerp in 1520. The compositional focal point is Mary and her child, resting in the foreground of the picture on their flight into Egypt. Moving on from her, the eye glides like a bird in flight over the vast landscape, swooping freely into the distance across various paths and waterways, past strange rock formations and windmills, over countless forests and out to the ships on the endless expanses of the sea. This is not a natural landscape but all-encompassing diversity, subject to a divine world order. The high horizon allows Patinier to spread out a grandiose world landscape, its depth and breadth characterised by the skilful application of a few local colours – green and brown – through to pale, crystalline blue. This is accompanied by the depiction of anecdotal events and stories surrounding the flight of the Holy Family, as well as numerous symbolic references to the animal and plant worlds which anticipate the future Passion of Christ. The idealised world landscapes invented by Patinier in Antwerp heralded a meteoric expansion in landscape painting, which reached its peak in the northern Netherlands in the seventeenth century.
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REST ON THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
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Joachim Patinier Dinant c.1480/85–1524 Antwerp
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c.1520 Oil on oak, 65.3 x 81 cm Acquired from the Edward Solly collection in 1821 Cat. no. 608
Joachim Patinier was the first to specialise in the depiction of landscapes in the art of the modern age, making him famous even during his lifetime. In Spain he is considered the outstanding Flemish painter after Jan van Eyck, and Albrecht Dürer praised Patinier as a ‘good landscape painter’ after meeting him in Antwerp in 1520. The compositional focal point is Mary and her child, resting in the foreground of the picture on their flight into Egypt. Moving on from her, the eye glides like a bird in flight over the vast landscape, swooping freely into the distance across various paths and waterways, past strange rock formations and windmills, over countless forests and out to the ships on the endless expanses of the sea. This is not a natural landscape but all-encompassing diversity, subject to a divine world order. The high horizon allows Patinier to spread out a grandiose world landscape, its depth and breadth characterised by the skilful application of a few local colours – green and brown – through to pale, crystalline blue. This is accompanied by the depiction of anecdotal events and stories surrounding the flight of the Holy Family, as well as numerous symbolic references to the animal and plant worlds which anticipate the future Passion of Christ. The idealised world landscapes invented by Patinier in Antwerp heralded a meteoric expansion in landscape painting, which reached its peak in the northern Netherlands in the seventeenth century.
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REST ON THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
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Peter Paul Rubens Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp
Landscape with Cows and Duck Hunters, c.1635/38 Oil on oak, 113.8 x 176.5 cm Purchased from a private English owner in 1927 Cat. no. 2013
Bathed in soft evening light, filtering through the stand of trees on the edge of the forest, an idyllic scenario unfolds; not even the rifle shots of the two duck hunters on the far right of the picture can disturb its pastoral mood. The view from the outside is onto a self-contained composition which generates its own narrative conditions to a certain extent. It is only beyond the anecdotal tableau in the foreground – located at the front like a visual barrier with its herd of cows and maids milking – that the rigorously conceived composition is developed. Behind the foreground scenario, two diagonal perspectives lead into the distant landscape and on to the evening horizon. The warm browns and yellows in the foreground, the dark green in the middle ground and the light blue in the background are so closely fused together that the traditional layered construction – used to create depth of field in older Flemish landscape painting (see pp. 18–19) – is no more than a distant memory. The vibrant yet harmoniously balanced palette marks the pinnacle of Baroque painting, which found one of its most famous practitioners in Rubens. The Flemish artist may have created mostly history paintings and portraits, but this painting ranks as one of the high points of Flemish landscape painting in the seventeenth century. His work in the south Netherlands and on numerous trips through southern Europe for courts and the nobility, as well as for the Catholic Church, circulated his painting more widely and had a considerable influence on the development of Flemish landscape painting as a whole.
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LANDSCAPE WITH COWS AND DUCK HUNTERS
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Peter Paul Rubens Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp
Landscape with Cows and Duck Hunters, c.1635/38 Oil on oak, 113.8 x 176.5 cm Purchased from a private English owner in 1927 Cat. no. 2013
Bathed in soft evening light, filtering through the stand of trees on the edge of the forest, an idyllic scenario unfolds; not even the rifle shots of the two duck hunters on the far right of the picture can disturb its pastoral mood. The view from the outside is onto a self-contained composition which generates its own narrative conditions to a certain extent. It is only beyond the anecdotal tableau in the foreground – located at the front like a visual barrier with its herd of cows and maids milking – that the rigorously conceived composition is developed. Behind the foreground scenario, two diagonal perspectives lead into the distant landscape and on to the evening horizon. The warm browns and yellows in the foreground, the dark green in the middle ground and the light blue in the background are so closely fused together that the traditional layered construction – used to create depth of field in older Flemish landscape painting (see pp. 18–19) – is no more than a distant memory. The vibrant yet harmoniously balanced palette marks the pinnacle of Baroque painting, which found one of its most famous practitioners in Rubens. The Flemish artist may have created mostly history paintings and portraits, but this painting ranks as one of the high points of Flemish landscape painting in the seventeenth century. His work in the south Netherlands and on numerous trips through southern Europe for courts and the nobility, as well as for the Catholic Church, circulated his painting more widely and had a considerable influence on the development of Flemish landscape painting as a whole.
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LANDSCAPE WITH COWS AND DUCK HUNTERS
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Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael Haarlem 1628/29–1682 Amsterdam
Oaks at a Lake with Waterlilies, c.1665/69 Oil on canvas, 114 x 141 cm Purchased from art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer in Paris in 1891 Cat. no. 885G
This impressive landscape is typical of the genre in seventeenth-century Dutch painting, and Ruisdael is one of its most important exponents. The central motif – the dead oak tree jutting out diagonally across the water, its bark reflecting the pale silvery light – contrasts with the greenish-brown of the oak trees in the background. The gathering dark clouds, the still surface of the murky lake and the reflection of the tree trunk on the lake juxtaposed with the flowering waterlilies are all symbolic of growth and decay in nature. The viewer appreciates the wooded landscape, which seems so natural and at the same time acts as a cautionary reminder of the transience of life. The motto docere et delectare (to teach and delight) is typical of Dutch painting at that time and can be explained by looking at the historical background. Calvinism, being the privileged doctrine, decided matters of everyday life and this had an impact on art: ornamentation in churches was forbidden, and artworks were only permitted in a domestic context. Along with portraits, these could be animal pictures, still lifes, history and genre paintings, or even the universally popular landscapes. Representations of the visible world were regarded as particularly worthy subjects for pious meditation on God’s creation. Within this moralistic context, landscape painting did not necessarily have to be copied directly from nature. In fact, like most painters of his time, Ruisdael worked mostly in his studio, where he composed his landscapes from sketches taken from nature.
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OAKS AT A LAKE WITH WATERLILIES
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Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael Haarlem 1628/29–1682 Amsterdam
Oaks at a Lake with Waterlilies, c.1665/69 Oil on canvas, 114 x 141 cm Purchased from art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer in Paris in 1891 Cat. no. 885G
This impressive landscape is typical of the genre in seventeenth-century Dutch painting, and Ruisdael is one of its most important exponents. The central motif – the dead oak tree jutting out diagonally across the water, its bark reflecting the pale silvery light – contrasts with the greenish-brown of the oak trees in the background. The gathering dark clouds, the still surface of the murky lake and the reflection of the tree trunk on the lake juxtaposed with the flowering waterlilies are all symbolic of growth and decay in nature. The viewer appreciates the wooded landscape, which seems so natural and at the same time acts as a cautionary reminder of the transience of life. The motto docere et delectare (to teach and delight) is typical of Dutch painting at that time and can be explained by looking at the historical background. Calvinism, being the privileged doctrine, decided matters of everyday life and this had an impact on art: ornamentation in churches was forbidden, and artworks were only permitted in a domestic context. Along with portraits, these could be animal pictures, still lifes, history and genre paintings, or even the universally popular landscapes. Representations of the visible world were regarded as particularly worthy subjects for pious meditation on God’s creation. Within this moralistic context, landscape painting did not necessarily have to be copied directly from nature. In fact, like most painters of his time, Ruisdael worked mostly in his studio, where he composed his landscapes from sketches taken from nature.
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OAKS AT A LAKE WITH WATERLILIES
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Georges de La Tour Vic-sur-Seille 1593–1652 Lunéville
The Pea-Eaters, c.1622/25 Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 90.8 cm Purchased from art dealers Paul and Dominic Colnaghi in London in 1976 Cat. no. 76.1
The aged couple are lit from the side by a strong bright light, creating the chiaroscuro effect with areas of vibrant colour and very dark sections. We see them in almost life-size, half-portrait form. They are both eating their meagre meal of cooked split peas from brown earthenware bowls, using short-handled spoons. The peasant woman seems to pause briefly and, with her toothless mouth half-open, she looks at us as far as this is possible with her deep-set, almost invisible eyes. What is remarkable is the natural dignity the painter gives his models in all their poverty, old age and physical frailty. The indeterminate setting – a grey background painted almost sketchily – and the strong chiaroscuro contrast are in the tradition of Caravaggio (1571–1610); La Tour may have been familiar with Caravaggio’s work from engravings or from his Annunciation, installed as a high altarpiece in Nancy cathedral in 1609. Despite being renowned in his own lifetime, La Tour faded into obscurity shortly after his death. His argumentative, obstinate nature, which was documented in archives, may have contributed to this fate. It took a seminal essay by Hermann Voss in 1915, reproducing three of his works, to reintroduce the artist’s name into the history of art. Since then our knowledge has extended to around 80 works – some repeated in several versions, almost like a series, and others copied. The picture in Berlin is without doubt an early original, from which at least three later copies from the seventeenth century are known.
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THE PEA-EATERS
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Georges de La Tour Vic-sur-Seille 1593–1652 Lunéville
The Pea-Eaters, c.1622/25 Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 90.8 cm Purchased from art dealers Paul and Dominic Colnaghi in London in 1976 Cat. no. 76.1
The aged couple are lit from the side by a strong bright light, creating the chiaroscuro effect with areas of vibrant colour and very dark sections. We see them in almost life-size, half-portrait form. They are both eating their meagre meal of cooked split peas from brown earthenware bowls, using short-handled spoons. The peasant woman seems to pause briefly and, with her toothless mouth half-open, she looks at us as far as this is possible with her deep-set, almost invisible eyes. What is remarkable is the natural dignity the painter gives his models in all their poverty, old age and physical frailty. The indeterminate setting – a grey background painted almost sketchily – and the strong chiaroscuro contrast are in the tradition of Caravaggio (1571–1610); La Tour may have been familiar with Caravaggio’s work from engravings or from his Annunciation, installed as a high altarpiece in Nancy cathedral in 1609. Despite being renowned in his own lifetime, La Tour faded into obscurity shortly after his death. His argumentative, obstinate nature, which was documented in archives, may have contributed to this fate. It took a seminal essay by Hermann Voss in 1915, reproducing three of his works, to reintroduce the artist’s name into the history of art. Since then our knowledge has extended to around 80 works – some repeated in several versions, almost like a series, and others copied. The picture in Berlin is without doubt an early original, from which at least three later copies from the seventeenth century are known.
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THE PEA-EATERS
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Thomas Gainsborough Sudbury 1727–1788 London
The Marsham Children, 1787 Oil on canvas, 242.9 x 181.9 cm Purchased from the Baron de Rothschild collection in Paris in 1982 Cat. no. 82.4
Although these four siblings are part of the English aristocracy, Gainsborough depicts them in extremely casual, informal and natural surroundings. Commissioned by the children’s father, the 1st Earl of Romney, Charles Marsham (1744–1811), the painting is not a formal, official portrait marked by the airs and graces of rank, but instead a very lively group portrait of children playing. On the right, somewhat apart yet clearly given prominence, stands the only son, heir and successor to the family line, 10-year-old Charles (1777–1845). He is in the process of placing freshly picked hazelnuts into the gathered skirt of his sisters Frances (1778–1868) and Harriot (1780–1825), who are snuggling closely together. The youngest girl, Amelia Charlotte (1782–1868), is playing with the family dogs, and gazes directly at the viewer. Using short, deft brushstrokes, Gainsborough portrays the children in a soft light infused with a delicately tinted ambience. Placing them in a wild, inaccessible landscape and reflecting their childlike spontaneity in this relaxed manner was consistent with the eighteenth-century English educational theory prescribed in the works of the early Enlightenment. Children were supposed to grow up in the natural surroundings of the countryside, as far away from civilisation as possible. Here they would learn to act independently and responsibly in their environment and develop into considerate individuals full of self-confidence. Translating this theory into artistic form with such extraordinary virtuosity – without formal austerity, yet with appropriate dignity – made Gainsborough the portrait painter of choice in English high society of his day.
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Thomas Gainsborough Sudbury 1727–1788 London
The Marsham Children, 1787 Oil on canvas, 242.9 x 181.9 cm Purchased from the Baron de Rothschild collection in Paris in 1982 Cat. no. 82.4
Although these four siblings are part of the English aristocracy, Gainsborough depicts them in extremely casual, informal and natural surroundings. Commissioned by the children’s father, the 1st Earl of Romney, Charles Marsham (1744–1811), the painting is not a formal, official portrait marked by the airs and graces of rank, but instead a very lively group portrait of children playing. On the right, somewhat apart yet clearly given prominence, stands the only son, heir and successor to the family line, 10-year-old Charles (1777–1845). He is in the process of placing freshly picked hazelnuts into the gathered skirt of his sisters Frances (1778–1868) and Harriot (1780–1825), who are snuggling closely together. The youngest girl, Amelia Charlotte (1782–1868), is playing with the family dogs, and gazes directly at the viewer. Using short, deft brushstrokes, Gainsborough portrays the children in a soft light infused with a delicately tinted ambience. Placing them in a wild, inaccessible landscape and reflecting their childlike spontaneity in this relaxed manner was consistent with the eighteenth-century English educational theory prescribed in the works of the early Enlightenment. Children were supposed to grow up in the natural surroundings of the countryside, as far away from civilisation as possible. Here they would learn to act independently and responsibly in their environment and develop into considerate individuals full of self-confidence. Translating this theory into artistic form with such extraordinary virtuosity – without formal austerity, yet with appropriate dignity – made Gainsborough the portrait painter of choice in English high society of his day.
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This edition © Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2017 Text © Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and Michael Eissenhauer Images © Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Jörg P. Anders: pp. 6, 7, 10–12, 16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 28, 29, 32, 34, 35–38, 40, 44–52, 57, 58, 61, 63–66, 68, 71, 73–79, frontispiece, back cover; Christoph Schmidt: pp. 9, 14, 15, 27, 31, 53, 60, front cover; Volker-H. Schneider: pp. 42, 43, 54, 55; Achim Kleuker: pp. 4, 5, front flap; Daniel Hofer: back flap; P. 8 Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister; p. 13 Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp © Lukas Art in Flanders vzw, Photo: Hugo Maertens; p. 17 National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. First published in 2017 by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd 10 Lion Yard Tremadoc Road London SW4 7NQ, UK www.scalapublishers.com for the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin www.smb.museum ISBN: 978 1 78551 098 4 Coordination and editing for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Julia Sedda and Sigrid Wollmeiner Edited by Sandra Pisano (Scala Publishers) and Ingrid Price-Gschlossl in association with First Edition Translations Ltd, Cambridge, UK Design: Nigel Soper Printed in Turkey 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the author, and Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd. Every effort has been made to state the correct copyright of images. The publisher should be notified of any errors or omissions, which are unintentional, in order to ensure that the appropriate corrections can be made in reprints.
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Front cover: Gerard David, Christ on the Cross (detail), c.1515 (see pp. 14–15) Front inside flap: Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Frontispiece: Ludolf Backhuysen, Slightly Choppy Sea with Ships (detail), 1664 (see pp. 40–41) Back cover: Annibale Carracci, Roman River Landscape with Castle and Bridge (detail), c.1600 (see pp. 62–63)