The Wallraf–Richartz Museum (full name in German: ') is one of the three major museums in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany. It houses an art gallery with a collection of fine art from the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

period to the early twentieth century.

History

The museum dates back to the year 1824, when the comprehensive collection of

medieval art The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, gen ...

from Franz Ferdinand Wallraf came to the city of Cologne by inheritance. The first building was donated by Johann Heinrich Richartz, and the museum was opened in 1861, just after his death. The collection was regularly expanded by donations, especially the Haubrich collection of contemporary art in 1946. In 1976, on the occasion of the donation of Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig, the collection was split. The new

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lich ...

took over the exhibition of the 20th century art. The current building from 2001, near the

Cologne City Hall The City Hall (german: link=no, Kölner Rathaus) is a historical building in Cologne, western Germany. It is located off Hohe Straße in the district of Innenstadt, and set between the two squares of Rathausplatz and Alter Markt. It houses part ...

, was designed by

Oswald Mathias Ungers Oswald Mathias Ungers (12 July 1926 – 30 September 2007) was a German architect and architectural theorist, known for his rationalist designs and the use of cubic forms. Among his notable projects are museums in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Colo ...

. Also in 2001, Swiss collector Gérard Corboud gave his

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

postimpressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

collection of over 170 works to the museum as a permanent loan. The museum then added "Fondation Corboud" to its name.

Collections

Gothic collection

The ''Madonna in the Rose Bower'' is among the Gothic paintings in the collection of the Wallraf–Richartz Museum. It was created by Stefan Lochner, who lived in Germany between 1410 and 1451, mainly working in Cologne. He is considered a late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

painter. His work usually has a clean appearance, combining the Gothic attention to long flowing lines with brilliant colors and a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

influence of

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

and attention to detail. This painting is considered typical of his style. It was executed about 1450, and shows the Virgin and Child reposing in a blooming

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

arbor that is attended by Lochner's characteristic, child

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

s. Another outstanding Gothic painting in the Wallraf-Richartz's collection is an ''

Arrest of Jesus The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally sai ...

'' by the "

Master of the Karlsruhe Passion The Master of the Karlsruhe Passion is the notname of a German painter of the late Gothic period active in the Upper Rhine. Very influential on other painters in the region, he may be identified with the Strasbourg painter Hans Hirtz. He is name ...

", the only surviving panel of that painter's influential Passion cycle not kept in the

Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. The museum, created by architect Heinrich Hübsch, opened in 1846 after nine years of work in a neoclassical building next to the Karlsruhe Castle and the ...

Renaissance collection

The Wallraf-Richartz-Museum houses an

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

(1515) from the Great Saint Martin Church in Cologne, one of the few known works by

Jacob van Utrecht Jacob Claesz van Utrecht, also named by his signature Jacobus Traiectensis (c. 1479 – after 1525) was a Flemish early Renaissance painter who worked in Antwerp and Lübeck. Life Few details are known of Jacob van Utrecht's life. Researc ...

. Among other

early Renaissance Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

works in the collection are the ''Adoration of the Child'' by

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

, and a panel of the

Jabach Altarpiece The ''Jabach Altarpiece'' is an oil on lime tree panel painting by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, executed around 1503–1504. Originally a triptych, only the side panels are now preserved: the right picture, measuring 96×54 cm, i ...

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

Baroque collection

Among the artists in the collection from the Baroque through Rococo period are works by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

('' Juno and Argus'', 1610);

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

(self-portrait); Jordaens;

Frans Snyders Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11 November 1579, Antwerp – 19 August 1657, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with ...

;

van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

;

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...

;

Gerard van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickn ...

;

Pieter de Hooch Pieter de Hooch (, also spelled "Hoogh" or "Hooghe"; 20 December 1629 (baptized) – 24 March 1684 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a contemporary of ...

;

Gerard de Lairesse Gerard or Gérard (de) Lairesse (11 September 1641 – June 1711) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His broad range of skills included music, poetry, and theatre. De Lairesse was influenced by the Perugian Cesare Ripa and Fr ...

;

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

;

Nicolas de Largillierre Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

;

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ar ...

;

Marguerite Gérard Marguerite Gérard (28 January 1761 in Grasse – 18 May 1837 in Paris) .Note that contrary to all other sources, the given death date is 1 January 1832, not 18 May 1837. was a successful French painter and printmaker working in the Rococo style. ...

, and Giambattista Pittoni.

Impressionist collection

The Wallraf-Richartz collection includes works by the

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). Hi ...

Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...

Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...

, and

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...

, whose ''Child among staked roses'' or "Kind zwischen Stockrosen", was painted in 1881.

Monet forgery discovered

On 14 February 2008, the Wallraf–Richartz Museum announced that ''On the Banks of the Seine by Port Villez'', attributed to

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

, was a forgery. The discovery was made when the painting was examined by restorers prior to an upcoming Impressionism exhibition.

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

and

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

testing revealed that a "colorless substance" had been applied to the canvas to make it appear older. The picture was acquired by the museum in 1954. The museum, which will keep the forgery, still has five authentic Monet paintings in its collection.German museum discovers prized Monet is a fake

Gallery of art

File:BoschAdorationOfTheChildPainting.jpg,

, ''Adoration of the Child'', c.1568 or later File:Joos de Momper (II) - Mountain Scene with Bridges - WGA16133.jpg,

Joos de Momper Joos de Momper the Younger or Joost de Momper the Younger (1564February5, 1635) was a Flemish landscape painter active in Antwerp between the late 16th century and the early 17th century. Brueghel's influence is clearly evident in many of de Momp ...

, '' Mountain Scene with Bridges'', Late 16th century or early 17th century File:Gerard van Honthorst 001.jpg,

, '' Adoration of the Shepherds'', 1622 File:Peter Paul Rubens 059.jpg,

, ''

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...

'', 1634 File:Vincent Van Gogh 0014.jpg,

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

, ''

Langlois Bridge at Arles The Langlois Bridge at Arles is the subject of four oil paintings, one watercolor and four drawings by Vincent van Gogh. The works, made in 1888 when Van Gogh lived in Arles, in southern France, represent a melding of formal and creative aspect ...

'', 1888 File:Marianne Stokes Melisande.jpg,

Marianne Stokes Marianne Stokes (née Preindlsberger; 1855–1927) was an Austrian painter. She settled in England after her marriage to Adrian Scott Stokes (1854–1935), the landscape painter, whom she had met in Pont-Aven. Stokes was considered one of the le ...

, '' Melisande'', 1895-1898 File:DPAG 2011 150 Jahre Wallraf-Richartz-Museum.jpg, German postage stamp celebrating 150 years of the museum

References

External links

* * Literature on and by Walraf-Richartz Museu

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallraf-Richartz Museum Art museums and galleries in Germany Museums in Cologne Innenstadt, Cologne Art museums established in 1824 1824 establishments in Prussia