MUNICH.- The Lindenau Museum in Altenburg (Thuringia) houses a collection of Italian panel paintings of international importance, of which only a selection can be exhibited there at present. A fortunate opportunity has therefore arisen of supplementing the presentation of gold-ground painting at the Alte Pinakothek, for one year, through generous loans from Altenburg. The three exquisite Florentine devotional images from the 14th century that Bernhard August von Lindenau acquired around 1845, complement perfectly masterpieces by Giotto and his successors, some of which Ludwig I of Bavaria was able to secure for Munich. At the beginning of the 19th century Ludwig was one of the first collectors of Early Italian painting.

Strengthened by the Altenburg loans, the small but extremely high-quality Trecento collection in Munich provides a comprehensive impression of the exceptional quality and variety of panel painting in Florence in the late Middle Ages. It was here with Giotto, the much famed artist who broke with the so-called Byzantine style, that painting of the modern era had its beginnings. In the presentation, the ground-breaking Master is represented by three panels with scenes from the life of Christ that were painted around 1311/12. The other works selected show all the more impressively how differentiated subsequent Florentine painters – such as Bernardo Daddi, Puccio di Simone and Nardo di Cione – reacted to Giotto’s dominant prelude. Without exception, their works are traditional and executed with aplomb, stylistically however individually different, exhibiting restrained innovative or consciously conservative tendencies. In addition, the paintings exhibited document in exemplary fashion the contemporary forms and functions of devotional images in private spaces or in churches – a genre that placed even greater restrictions on artistic freedom.

The collections in the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg owe their existence in essence to the astronomer, statesman and benefactor Bernhard August von Lindenau (1779–1854). In keeping with the ideals of the Enlightenment Lindenau made the art treasures he had acquired accessible to his fellow citizens as early as 1848. A small school for art and crafts, his library and a number of plaster casts supplemented the presentation of the original works of art in a building for the collection that he had built especially. In addition to Italian painting from the 13th to the 16th centuries, Lindenau collected ceramic works from Antiquity. To this day, his collection of 180 panel paintings is among the largest specialist collection of Early Italian painting outside Italy. In compliance with Lindenau’s will, a splendid new museum was built in Altenburg twenty years after his death. A pupil of Gottfried Semper’s designed the building that was opened in 1876. In keeping with the concept behind its foundation that was aimed at promoting contemporary art, the museum has continuously expanded its holdings since 1945 to include works of Classical Modernism and contemporary art