Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum


The Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum is an art museum in the German city of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony.

History

Founded in 1754, the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum is one of the oldest museums in Europe. The museum has its origins in the art and natural history cabinet of Duke Charles I of Brunswick, which he opened in 1754 at the suggestion of the Dutch physician Daniel de Superville. It was one of the first museums in Germany to open to the public and was opened only one year after the British Museum in London. This "cabinet" included a collection of handicraft works and sculptures from the Baroque and Renaissance, but also ancient works of art from outside Europe. The natural history collection later became the basis of the Natural History Museum.
The current museum building was opened in 1887. Its architect, :de:Oskar Sommer|Oskar Sommer, planned the building in Italian Renaissance style. In 2010 an extension building was added to the museum. The historical building was closed for renovation for seven years. The museum reopened on 23 October 2016.

Collection

The museum houses an important collection of Western old master paintings, and is especially strong in Northern European art since the Renaissance, including works by Cranach, Holbein, Dürer, Van Dyck, Rubens, and Rembrandt. Rarities include a single work each by Vermeer, Giorgione and Rosso Fiorentino. The museum is based on the Schloss Salzdahlum art collection of Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, after whom it is named. In old catalogs, the term Bilder-Galerie zu Salzthalen refers to this collection.
The print room, with over 100,000 prints and 10,000 drawings, is of international importance. There are also temporary exhibitions of art from all over the world. Among the manuscript items is the journal of Matthaeus Schwarz, an accountant very interested in fashion who documented his outfits throughout his adult life at a time when it was thought that people not of the highest rank dressed drably. It is the first known fashion book.
The museum's collection of medieval objects is housed at Dankwarderode Castle.

Selected works in the museun