Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden
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The Kupferstichkabinett (English: Collection of Prints, Drawings and Photographs) is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen (State Art Collections) of Dresden, Germany. Since 2004 it has been located in Dresden Castle.
History
Like many of Dresden's notable collections, this print room traces its origins to the Prince-electors of Saxony. The art chamber of the House of Wettin, established around 1560, became an independent museum of prints and drawings in 1720. The collection was expanded in the following centuries. It now describes itself as the oldest museum of graphic arts in the German-speaking world.
The bombing of Dresden in February 1945 had a severe impact on the collection. Despite evacuation of the items, losses were high. Some of the most famous exhibits were confiscated by the Soviet Union after the war and did not return to Dresden until the late 1950s, when they were put back on display in the Albertinum.
Collection
The collection includes over 500,000 items, only a fraction of which can be exhibited. The most renowned artists in the collection include Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Jan van Eyck, Francisco de Goya, Hans Holbein the Younger, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Rubens. There is also a large number of works by artists with strong connections to Dresden, such as Caspar David Friedrich, Ludwig Richter, Georg Baselitz and Johannes Heisig. The collection of Käthe Kollwitz was started in 1898 and now numbers over 200 works from her oeuvre of drawings and graphics.
Besides the permanent exhibition, the Kupferstichkabinett also hosts regular special exhibitions featuring both its own works and those on loan from other notable museums.
See also
