Augusteum, Oldenburg

The Augusteum is a German art museum in the city of Oldenburg, Lower Saxony. Completed in 1867 in Oldenburg, the Augusteum is among the first museum buildings in northern Germany. Located at Elisabethstraße 1, it hosts the ‘Old Masters Gallery’ or old master painting collection of the Oldenburg State Museum of Art and Cultural History, featuring Dutch, Italian, German, and French paintings from the 15th to 18th centuries.

History

The museum building was commissioned by Nikolaus Friedrich Peter II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1827-1900) in 1873 to house the grand ducal art collection and named in honour of his father, Paul Friedrich August (1783-1853). Designed in the Florentine palace style by architect Ernst Klingenberg (1830-1918), the building is in the neo-Renaissance style decorated with a grand staircase with paintings by Christian Griepenkerl, all commissioned by the Grand Duke. In addition to hosting the Grand Ducal collection, the building also served as an exhibition space for the Oldenburg Art Association and was opened in 1876 as Oldenburg's first art museum. The conservator Richard tom Dieck lived and worked on-site in the basement.

The foundation of the museum's collection was laid in 1804 when Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig (1755-1829) acquired 86 paintings from the private collection of artist Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein. Nikolaus Friedrich Peter further expanded the collection and established the Augusteum as a public picture gallery. In 1908, the Expressionists Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel held their first joint exhibition at the Augusteum.

The Augusteum functioned as a public museum until 1918, when Peter II's son Frederick Augustus II was forced to abdicate. In 1919, following his abdication, Grand Dule Friedrich August absconded to the Netherlands with the paintings. In a series of sales, a third of the former Grand Ducal Picture Gallery was sold off, which was exported to the Netherlands with the assistance of industrialist Georg Bölts. These works included valuable paintings by notable artists, such as Rembrandt van Rijn.

The town was subsequently left with works of secondary importance. The curators have been buying back works since then, a crusade that continues to this day.

The Augusteum presents old master artworks near the northeast corner of the Schlossgarten Oldenburg. The Prinzenpalais, Elisabeth-Anna-Palais, and Schloss Oldenburg are also close by.

Grand staircase

File:Christian Griepenkerl-Deckengemälde.jpg, Ceiling
Image:Griepenkerl, Aphrodite Urania.png, ''Venus Urania''
Image:Griepenkerl- Theft of Fire.jpg, ''Prometheus stiehlt das Feuer vom schlafenden Zeus und Ganymed''

Paintings in the gallery

Image:Prometheus and Hercules.jpg, ''Herkules befreit Prometheus''
Image:LMO 16696 breakfast.jpg, ''Frühstücksstillleben'' (Gerrit Willemsz. Heda, 1645)
Image:LMO 15682.jpg, ''Bewegte See mit Schiffen'' ( Ludolf Backhuysen, nach 1680)
Image:LMO 15583 mit rahmen.jpg, ''Bildnis eines Knaben'' ( Francesco Salviati, nach 1541)

Further reading

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See also

* Augusteum
* List of visitor attractions in Oldenburg

References

External links

1876 establishments in Germany
Buildings and structures completed in 1876
Art museums and galleries established in 1876
Buildings and structures in Oldenburg (city)
Tourist attractions in Oldenburg (city)
Museums in Lower Saxony
Art museums and galleries in Germany
Renaissance Revival architecture in Germany

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