Leseprobe

5 Giambologna himself: the Flemish sculptor made a personal gift of a celebrated small bronze statue of Mars (p. 135). In 2018, it was reacquired for the Skulp- turensammlung, having been surrendered in the context of the Fürstenabfindung (expropriation of princes in the Weimar Republic) to the Familienverein Haus Wettin in 1924, after which it was auctioned. Alongside these five masterpieces, the inventory of 1587 mentions four re- markable alabaster statuettes (p. 132), now regarded as early works by Giambolo- gna. These are heavily reduced copies of the monumental Allegories of the Times of Day which Michelangelo Buonarroti carved between 1524 and 1534 for the New Sacristy in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. These depictions of Evening, Night, Morning, and Day , probably produced between 1555 and 1558, had already been sent to Dresden by Cosimo I de’ Medici, and testify to the intense cultural exchange between Florence and the residence of the electors on the Elbe. But not all of these precious gifts arrived from Italy. During a trip to Prague in 1607, the elector received a bronze bust of Christian II (r. 1591–1611, p. 139), the work of the Dutch sculptor Adrian de Vries, from the Emperor Rudolf II. In spite of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), the Elector Johann Georg I (r. 1611–1656) too was able to expand the collection. In 1621, the estate of Gio- vanni Maria Nosseni, an important sculptor and court architect, brought further important sculptures into the collection alongside his own works. Among these was Carlo Cesare del Palagio’s Christ on the Cross , along with the Dancing Faun (p. 137) by Adriaen de Vries. Anton von Maron Johann Joachim Winckelmann , 1768 Oil on canvas, 136×99 cm Klassik Stiftung Weimar