The Kunstkammer in Dresden's Royal Palace houses a fascinating variety of collected objects from the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. It owes its unique collection of plain and ornate tools, for example, to the founder of the Kunstkammer, Elector August (1526-1586). They range from gardening equipment to goldsmithing, carpentry and ironworking tools and even to so-called Brechzeugen (tools for prising or breaking things open). In addition, the museum guide presents elaborately decorated art-room cabinets, two richly embellished Augsburg cabinets, tables inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl, precious board games, and musical instruments alongside filigree woodturned pieces, items of decorative art, and objects from distant cultures. Numerous previously unpublished masterpieces from the Kunstkammer in Dresden's Royal Palace

The catalogue of works, also known as the oeuvre catalogue or catalogue raisonne, is considered a fundamental reference work for museums, collectors and art historical research. It is also indispensable for the art market as an instrument used to authenticate and distinguish works. But what requirements should catalogues raisonnes fulfill nowadays? To what extent can digital applications and multidisciplinary approaches provide added value? What part do catalogues raisonnes play in determining authenticity or in the field of provenance research? And what responsibility do authors actually bear for the accuracy of their statements? Around 30 contributions shed light on the genre with numerous case studies, looking at its past and future, theory and practice. First handbook for theory and practice of the catalogue raisonne

The publication focuses on the relationship between needs-oriented images of history and the adoption of historical artistic styles. The congruence of re-enactment or reconstruction and the collective desire for a representative image of their own past is analyzed with respect to the interaction between zeitgeist, influential protagonists, and historicizing ideologies. Critical light is shed on various dogmas, such as the idea of a beautifully white antiquity, which still has an effect on our contemporary imagination. Even though color reconstructions can help us re-examine our aesthetic perceptions, it is still unclear whether and how we want to work with preconceived notions in the context of new societal challenges.

The 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was commemorated in 2020. While the final survivors are now rapidly disappearing, mass tourism phenomena can be perceived in Auschwitz at the same time. In light of these changes, it is important to discuss the concept of remembrance and also to ask: What do the crowds of visitors see? In 2017 and 2018, Frederic Mougenot photographed the two extermination camps and locations in the so-called "Interessengebiet" (area of interest), which was largely forgotten after 1945. What is thus shown in the photographs is an invisible boundary that separates the culture of remembrance from gradual disappearance.

The Rimini Crucifixion Altarpiece is considered to be one of the finest achievements of transalpine art sculpture from the 1430s and is a major work of the Liebieghaus Sculpture Collection in Frankfurt/Main. Acquired in 1913 the 12 statuettes of apostles and the crucifixion scene accompanied by many figures has always attracted great interest not just amongst experts and not only due to the use of alabaster and the scope of the Southern Dutch ensemble but also on account of its enormous artistic quality and craftsmanship. The restoration of the altarpiece over a period of several years involved intensive research of a technological, geochemical and art-historical nature. New facts and surprising details came to light as a result. These insights but also the new restoration methods are vividly illustrated in this first monograph on the Rimini altarpiece.

Was hat es mit dem Phanomen des musealen Meisterwerks auf sich? Und wie wirkt das Meisterwerk auf sein Museum zuruck? Auf welche Weise wird Kunst durch geschickte Prasentation als Meisterwerk wahrgenommen, ja erhoben? An vier beruhmten Beispielen wird das Spektrum an Inszenierungsstrategien ausgelotet: die "Nike von Samothrake", die Kartons von Raffael, Michelangelos "David" und Rembrandts "Nachtwache". In einem wunderbaren Parforceritt durch drei Jahrhunderte Museumsgeschichte enthullt die Autorin, wie zeitgeschichtliche Vorstellungen die Inszenierung auf der musealen Buhne bestimmen, wie Aufmerksamkeit dirigiert und Bedeutung gelenkt werden: von einer romantischen Idealprojektion uber den auratisch aufgeladenen Solitar im weissen Raum bis zum Meisterwerk als "Performer" und begehrenswertem Luxusobjekt.

Beschutzen, heilen oder bestrafen - diese Krafte schrieben Menschen verschiedener Zeiten und Herkunfte den Bildwerken zu, die hier zum ersten Mal gemeinsam vorgestellt werden: sei es die Skulptur des Mangaaka aus der heutigen Republik Kongo, die Schutzgoettin Mahamayuri aus China oder die Maria auf der Weltkugel aus Suddeutschland. 45 Objekte aus zwei Berliner Museen, entstanden zwischen dem 4. und 19. Jahrhundert, vermitteln ein lebendiges Zeugnis der allgegenwartigen Bedurfnisse nach Schutz und Orientierung bei der Bewaltigung individueller oder gesellschaftlicher Krisen. Sie stehen fur die Existenz einer nicht-sichtbaren Welt von Goettern, Geistern oder Ahnen und schufen eine Verbindung zwischen dem Diesseits und einer "anderen Wirklichkeit". Durch ihre museale Prasentation ist ihr Gebrauchszusammenhang oftmals verlorengegangen - ein Umstand, der von den Autor/-innen dieses Buches kritisch reflektiert wird.

Fotografien sind kulturhistorische oder zeitgeschichtliche Dokumente mit einem schier unerschoepflichen Themenspektrum und damit fur Forschung und Vermittlung zentrale Informationsquellen. Doch auch als Form des Kunstschaffens wird die Fotografie zum Gegenstand von Sammlungen und vielbeachteten Ausstellungen. Der Band stellt die Stufen der technischen Entwicklung der Fotografie bis zur Gegenwart vor. Die Lichtbild-Techniken von den Anfangen in der ersten Halfte des 19. Jahrhunderts werden in ihren Herstellungsverfahren beschrieben, die jeweiligen konservatorischen Problemstellungen skizziert und Massnahmen vorgeschlagen. Nicht zuletzt widmet sich ein Beitrag den Aspekten der Langzeitarchivierung digitaler Bildaufnahmen. Die Publikation bietet ubersichtlich und reich bebildert praktische Hilfen zur Identifikation und gibt Hinweise auf spezielle Risiken bei der Handhabung. Ausfuhrliche Informationen zur Archivierung, Prasentation und zu konservatorischen Massnahmen erleichtern den Umgang mit diesen empfindlichen Materialien. Der beliebte Band liegt nun als durchgesehene, aktualisierte Auflage vor!

Am 15. August 1935 kaufte das Land Preussen zugunsten der Berliner Museen fur die enorme Summe von 7,5 Millionen Reichsmark mehr als 4.000 Kunstwerke von der Dresdner Bank. Dieses in seiner Konstellation und Dimension einmalige Geschaft ist kaum bekannt und wird hier zum ersten Mal aus kunst- und bankhistorischer Sicht erforscht. Bis heute befinden sich zahlreiche Kunstwerke mit der Provenienz "Dresdner Bank" in oeffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen; sie zirkulieren wissentlich oder unwissentlich im Kunstmarkt. Dieses Buch ist grundlegend fur die historische Aufarbeitung von Kunstwerken im Zusammenhang mit Kreditgeschaften. Die erstmalige Veroeffentlichung der Herkunft der Kunstwerke ist Voraussetzung fur die Provenienzforschung heutiger Eigentumer.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Antonio Stradivari of Cremona (1644-1737) was the noblest of bowed wooden stringed instrument makers. His work remains the Platonic ideal and template for contemporary 'luthiers'; present day technology may hope to match but not alter the standard of such craftsmanship. Extant examples of the master's instruments are numerous--but cellos from the 'great period' (1707-1720) are relatively few. The Countess of Stanlein-ex Paganini Stradivarius violoncello of 1707 is one of the best known in this exalted group. It has been copied often, physically dissected, discovered in a barrow on its way to a municipal dump, owned by Paganini, and applauded in hall after hall.
Today the 'Stanlein' belongs to the cellist Bernard Greenhouse. In his eighties and semi-retired, he determined 'to give back something of value to the world of music that had given him so much.' In September 1998 he deposited the cello in the New York atelier of virtuoso luthier Rene Morel. The craft of instrument repair remains rooted in tradition; its practitioners belong to a quasi-mediaeval guild. Morel began a complete restoration of the instrument, a painstaking and meticulous enterprise that took him nearly two years. This book tracks that process--the intricacies, anxieties and pleasures that precede the cello's triumphal unveiling at the World Cello Congress in June 2000. Its subject is a work of art that must prove nonetheless functional, for the Countess of Stanlein-ex Paganini Stradivarius is only itself when played.

Housed in the former sixteenth-century convent of Santo Domingo Church, now the Regional Museum of Oaxaco, Mexico, is an important collection of textiles representing the area's indigenous cultures. The collection includes a wealth of exquisitely made traditional weavings, many now considered rare. This book details a joint project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico to conserve the collection. The book contains 145 color photographs as well as a wealth of information on weaving, cultural contexts, and conservation issues.

The Canterbury Quadrangle at St. John's College is one of the most famous and beautiful of Oxford's historic buildings. It was built in 1631-6 at the expense of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, as a gift to his old college and to celebrate his own rise to power as Chancellor of the University and one of the greatest men in Charles I's England. This book describes how the quadrangle was built, investigates the sources of the design and the iconography of the sculptural decoration, and puts forward some new ideas about the place of the Canterbury Quadrangle in English architectural history. The author also investigates the complicated history of the library which occupies two of its sides, and discusses the changing attitudes towards the conservation of the quadrangle that have prevailed during the last hundred years.