They fascinate us today as they did 500 years ago: elaborate compositions of exotic fruits or platters with oysters, floral arrangements and skulls, exquisitely decorated musical instruments and scientific instruments. Magical things testify to exuberant wealth and hedonism as well as to the enlightened curiosity and religious fervour of the Baroque era. This lavishly illustrated book that even features a pictorial glossary sets the stage for the internationally renowned collection of still lifes housed in Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery). Focusing on the dazzling masterpieces of Dutch and Flemish painting, this book examines the genre in all its diverse facets. What meaning, what content, and what function did still lifes have, what allegories and symbols are concealed in their coded messages? How did the artists take the game of optical illusion to extremes? More than 70 still lifes from the Dresden collection by painters such as Cornelis de Heem, Abraham Mignon, Rachel Ruysch, and Frans Snyders provide a unique insight into the golden age of this magical genre.

The permanent exhibition in the north wing of Dresden’s Royal Palace presents the surviving, magnificent vestments from the possessions of the Saxon electors, dating from around 1550 to 1650. This unique treasure trove of European fashion and textile history from the Renaissance and early Baroque has now been re-opened to the public after more than 80 years in storage and many years of conservation and restoration measures. This exhibition guide is the first work to do justice to a collection rich in silk, gold and silver. It covers all the rulers' robes on display, including complete costume ensembles, suits with doublet and trousers, ladies' dresses, and individual garments. There are also introductions to the many portraits, accessories and sumptuous armoury on display. Clothes make the man - clothes make politics: rulers' costumes and haute couture from the period 1550 to 1650

Giambologna (1529 - 1606) is regarded as the most important European sculptor between Michelangelo and Bernini. How did he achieve this status? This volume investigates this question and examines above all Giambologna's study of Michelangelo, his all-powerful role model, and how he successfully prevailed. The young Flemish artist Giambologna most probably embarked on his study trip to Rome in 1550. On his way home he visited Florence, decided to stay and became the star at the Medici court. They sent his sculptures to the princely courts of Europe, where they became sought-after gifts. Although we know a great deal about his success, we know little of his early years in Italy, because he first appeared on the scene as a sculptor from about 1560. The alabaster figures after Michelangelo's "Times of Day" in Dresden, hitherto largely ignored, seem to be early works by the master sculptor. An examination of these sculptures promises to shed fresh light on the development of a genius.

Die im Nordflügel des Dresdner Residenzschlosses eingerichtete Dauerausstellung stellt die aus dem Besitz der sächsischen Kurfürsten und Kurfürstinnen überlieferten Prunkgewänder der Zeit um 1550 bis 1650 vor. Dieser einzigartige Schatz europäischer Mode- und Textilgeschichte der Renaissance und des Frühbarock ist nach über 80 Jahren Deponierung und langjährigen Konservierungs- und Restaurierungsmaßnahmen wieder der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Der Ausstellungsführer würdigt erstmals dieses an Seide, Gold und Silber reiche Ensemble. Er berücksichtigt alle ausgestellten Herrschergewänder, worunter sich vollständige Kostümensembles, Anzüge mit Wams und Hose, Damenkleider sowie einzelne Gewandstücke befinden, und stellt auch die dazu präsentierten Bildnisse, Accessoires und preziösen Prunkwaffengarnituren vor. Kleider machen Leute – Kleider machen Politik: Herrscherkostüme und Haute Couture aus der Zeit zwischen 1550 und 1650

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 Grunes Gewoelbe was built around 1550 by Prince Elector Augustus of Saxony as a treasury and turned into a museum in 1723 by Augustus the Strong. This volume presents 80 masterpieces and a brief guide through the two collections of the "Grunes Gewoelbe" and the "Neues Grune Gewoelbe".

The highlights from the Dresden Old Masters Picture Gallery, including Raphael's "Sistine Madonna", works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer, Poussin, Lorrain, Cranach, Durer and Holbein as well as Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings. 80 masterpieces are presented with large reproductions and brief texts.

Der kostbare Juwelenschatz aus dem Grünen Gewölbe hat eine wechselvolle Vergangenheit. Nur in der Dresdner Schatzkammer haben barocke Juwelengarnituren die Zeitläufe überstanden - ein ebenso einzigartiges wie glanzvolles Erbe der europäischen Kulturgeschichte. Von August dem Starken begonnen und von seinem Sohn August III. weitergeführt, entstanden zehn Juwelengarnituren, die seit Anbeginn im Juwelenzimmer des Grünen Gewölbes aufbewahrt wurden. Sie symbolisieren eindrucksvoll die Majestät der Könige und sind einmalige Zeugnisse barocker Selbstdarstellung.

To mark the occasion of the 200th birthday of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden are organizing an exhibition that will trace the history of making precision timepieces in Saxony. The amateur Johann Heinrich Seyffert, the future master horologist Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes and the successful watch manufacturer Ferdinand Adolph Lange represent this development from the first precision watches to the high-quality serial production of pocket watches. Decisive technical innovations can be traced back to Paris and London, the watchmaking centers of the 18th and early 19th centuries, while the French-speaking western part of Switzerland perfected a production system based on a division of labor. Lange successfully carried out these standards of international watchmaking in the Saxon town of Glashütte, and his acclaim is also indebted to the existence of the Mathematisch- Physikalischer Salon. As a site used for observing astronomy, the Salon was dependent on the accuracy of time measurement and served as an authoritative interface in which scientific needs and technical skills were bound together.

Die Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden besitzen einen eindrucksvollen Bestand an Zeichnungen und Gemalden der italienischen Spatgotik und Fruhrenaissance. Rund sechzig Werke namhafter Kunstler, von Giotto und Filippino Lippi uber Andrea del Verrocchio bis hin zu Pintoricchio und Sandro Botticelli, werden nun gemeinsam in einer Ausstellung gezeigt. Der begleitende Katalog fuhrt in die Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte des 14. bis spaten 15. Jahrhunderts ein und beleuchtet den epochalen Wandel. Jungste kunsttechnologische Untersuchungen lassen verborgene Schichten von Zeichnungen und Gemalden zutage treten, die aussergewoehnliche Einblicke in die Arbeitspraxis der Werkstatten erlauben. Die Suche nach wirkungsvoller Figurengestaltung, die plastische Formulierung von Gewandern oder die perspektivische Erfassung der Bildarchitekturen koennen auf diese Weise nachvollzogen werden. Der Katalog ermoeglicht ein vergleichendes Sehen von Zeichenkunst sowie Malerei und bietet daruber hinaus erstmalig einen UEberblick uber den gesamten Bestand der Werke der italienischen Spatgotik und Fruhrenaissance in Dresden. Ausstellung im Residenzschloss in Dresden, 29.10. 2014 bis 18. Januar 2015