MUNICH.- The Hubert Burda Stiftung is supporting research on Italian painting at the
Alte Pinakothek with a generous financial contribution.
The four-year funding programme provides for the establishment of a full-time research associate position with the aim of carrying out a thorough scholarly review of the internationally prominent collection of Venetian Renaissance painting with works by Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and many others, and preparing an exhibition on the portrait in Venice.
Annette Kranz, an expert on portrait art of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, took up the newly created post as assistant curator on 1 April 2019. Following exhibition projects in Augsburg, Munich and Innsbruck, Annette Kranz most recently contributed decisively to the preparations for the successful exhibition Florence and Its Painters: From Giotto to Leonardo da Vinci as well as the catalogue raisonné of Florentine painting at the Alte Pinakothek, published in 2017.
By financing an assistant curator position, the Hubert Burda Stiftung and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen are following a time-proven Anglo-American model for supporting the research and curatorial capacities of museums. Over the coming years, this funding programme will provide a decisive boost to the scholarly work on the extensive holdings of the Italian painting collection headed by Andreas Schumacher.
Speaking of his contribution, Dr Hubert Burda commented: Since I studied art history with Professor Hans Sedlmayr in the early 1960s, I have felt magically drawn to the collection of the Alte Pinakothek. I think Im acquainted with nearly all of the paintings on permanent display there. The museum and its collection have become like a second home to me. They are one of the chief reasons why I a native of Offenburg feel at home in Munich. I find it deeply gratifying to have the opportunity to contribute to the scholarly review of the impressive collection of Venetian Renaissance painting in the Alte Pinakothek. I believe this is a way for me to give Munich and its Alte Pinakothek something in return for the pleasure they have both afforded me over and over again.
Prof Dr Bernhard Maaz, the director general of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, thanked Dr Hubert Burda and the foundation: Without external funding, the museum is limited in its ability to carry out its scholarly work. Financial support is particularly necessary for large-scale research projects. We therefore thank Dr Hubert Burda most kindly for his exceptional personal dedication and for this wonderful initiative, and the Hubert Burda Stiftung for its generous, precedent-setting donation.