NETHERLANDISH PAINTING BEFORE 1800 IN PROMINENT COLLECTIONS
An Illustrated Comprehensive Catalogue
Published by Gerhard Holland
Volume 1: Netherlandish Painting before 1800 at the Städel

Edited by Jochen Sander and Bodo Brinkmann

336 pp., size: 24 x 30 cm. with 178 full-page colour plates and 149 half-page black-and-white illustrations
ISBN 3-88284-005-6   (English edition)
ISBN 3-88284-002-1   (German edition)

€ 127.-

The publication of Netherlandish Paintings before 1800 in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut marks the beginning of a series called Niederländische Gemälde vor 1800 in bedeu-tenden Sammlungen. Gesamtverzeichnis. (Netherlandish Paintings before 1800 in Important Collections. Complete Illustrated Catalogue.
   A new series treating only one branch of art history: is it necessary? This question inevitably arises: certainly there are already numerous publications, a great many richly illustrated as well, treating the subject of Dutch and Flemish painting, as well as similar collections. Nevertheless, interested experts, art lovers, collectors and dealers will not find a single volume, let alone a whole series, which presents the entire collection of Netherlandish paintings produced before 1800, both those exhibited in museums and those kept in storage, in large-format and, where possible, colour illustrations, with reliable information on both the painter and the painting. This new series means to fill the existing gap, beginning with the first volume, which is dedicated to Netherlandish paintings before 1800 in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and the Städtische Galerie in Frankfurt am Main. Expected to follow this example is a second series on the early German paintings and a third on the Romanesque paintings before 1800 in important collections.
   This first volume, with the Städel's splendid Netherlandish collection, comprises 327 paintings of the early Netherlandish, Flemish, and Dutch schools' important works by Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier van der Weyden, Hieronymus Bosch, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Gerard Terborch, Peter Paul Rubens, Adriaen Brouwer, Adriaen and Isaac van Ostade, Jan Brueghel the Elder as well as the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Frans Hals, Cornelis and Jan Davidsz de Heem, as well as Willem Kalf, Jan van Goyen, Meindert Hobbema, Aert van der Neer, Jacob and Salomon van Ruisdael, Roeland Savery, Jan Steen, David Teniers the Younger, Jan and Jan Baptist Weenix, Lucas van Valckenborch and Philips Wouwerman.
   Of the 327 Netherlandish paintings in the Städel, the 178 paintings normally on exhibition are reproduced in full-page colour plates, while the 149 paintings kept in storage and therefore usually hidden from the public eye, are reproduced in half-page black-and-white photographs. In the text the reader finds in alphabetical order concise information on each artist (life history, main areas of activity, the most important literature) and, in still more detail, information on the paintings reproduced. Besides the usual information such as inventory numbers, materials and measurements, there follow details on the signature, date of origin, and its significance in the history of painting, as well as inscriptions on the reverse side, in so far as these contain important information regarding its place of origin. Provenance in chronological order and the most important literature complete the information given on each painting, which has been specially collected or at least scrupulously verified for this volume. Registers of inventory numbers, previous attributions, provenance, and subject matter provide for quick orientation.

   The authors of this first volume, Niederländische Gemälde vor 1800 im Städel, are Jochen Sander, director of the department of painting of the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and the Städtische Galerie in Frankfurt am Main, author of the in 1993 published prize-winning catalogue on early Netherlandish paintings in the Städel and Bodo Brinkmann, curator of early German and Netherlandish painting at the Städel.