The Collection of Old European Graphic Art contains around 3,500
works. The compilation of approximately 500 sheets that the SNG acquired
through transfers from the former Slovak Museum in Bratislava in 1950
and 1951 became its foundation. Since then, it has been systematically
built through acquisitions from private owners, antique shops and
antiquarian bookshops. Thus, this relatively extensive collection
contains works from significant circles and the schools of German,
Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian and English graphic art from the end of
the 15th century up to the 19th century.
The graphic art of
the German areas is represented by a relatively extensive set, which
features some of the most significant figures of several periods,
starting with the extensive German woodcut collection. The oldest period
is represented by the works from the cycles by Albrecht Dürer and
artists of the Nuremberg and the Augsburg circles, including the masters
of small formats, such as Hopfer, Burgkmair, Penz.
The works
of artists from the period of Mannerism and Baroque, such as Merian,
von Sandrart, Roos, Rugendas, Vogel and Ridinger, also represent a wide
scale of motifs: from sacral and worldly histories, through allegories,
genres and portraits, landscape compositions and vedute, up to animal
motifs and hunting themes.
Rentz (active in the Czech lands),
Kleiner (the vedutista) and Hollar (a native of the Czech lands who
later settled in London) can be described as Central European artists of
a similar formal nature. The collection of Dutch and Flemish graphic
art also includes great figures such as L. van Leyden, Heemskerck and M.
de Vos. The virtuoso of Mannerism H. Goltzius, J. de Gheyn or C. J.
Visscher and the members of large graphic family of the Sadelers are
represented with a larger set of copper engravings. Baroque portrait art
in our collection is embodied by the works of van Dyck, particularly in
the production of the excellent reproduction graphic artist Vorsterman.
The Dutch part of the collection, with works created by
artists such as van de Velde, Swanevelt, Rembrandt, van Ostade and
Luyken, contains a balanced selection of all categories of graphic art;
from portraits, through biblical and genre scenes, and allegories, to
landscapes.
Callot, a native of Lorraine, is extensively
represented in the collection of French graphic art, which also includes
the works of the well known reproductive graphic school of such artists
as Nanteuil, Edelinck, Masson, and Cars. Likewise, we can again find
several famous artists who graphically adapted their own designs in the
Italian part of the collection. This excellent line of graphic art
includes the works of della Bella, Testa, Maratta, and, last but not
least, the prolific veduttista of Roma, Piranesi.
Less than twenty works acquired by the SNG through administrative transfer from the Slovak National Museum became the foundation of the collection of European drawing of the 16th - 18th centuries. Through regular purchases from the 1950s until the end of the 1980s, the gallery's collection grew to almost 250 drawings. Works of Italian masters from the Bologna, Roma and Venice schools particularly prevail. French, German, Dutch and non-specified central European artists are represented more modestly. The most numerous are the works from the 17th and 18th centuries which also represent the collection's best works.
From 2006 to 2010, a
set of 20 drawings of Italian origin was restored and subsequently
presented in a separate exhibition (Sketch - Design - Copy: Restored
Italian Drawings from the 16th and 17th Centuries from the SNG
Collection, 2010). We intend to continue restoring the works from this
collection in order to create a Cabinet of Graphic Art, which will
provide gradual access to selected works through exhibitions.
Recently
we also successfully participated in large gallery projects and the
works of this collection enriched the following exhibitions: Stories of
the New Testament. Iconography (2000-2001), Figures and Stories of the
Old Testament. Iconography (2006), The Flying Dutchmen. Masterpieces of
Dutch Art in Slovakia (2006-2007) and the recent project, History of
Slovak Fine Art - the Renaissance (2009). The selection of the most
remarkable works of graphic art was also represented at the exhibition
dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the SNG and in the
publication for this exhibition (111 Works from the Collections, 2008).
Last but not least, after a longer break which occurred after major exhibitions of the early 90s (Netherlandish, Flemish and Dutch Graphic Art of the 16th and 17th Centuries from the SNG Collection, 1992 and Italian Graphic Art of the 16th - 18th Centuries from the SNG Collections, 1993), drawing and graphic art have been again presented at their separate exhibitions such as Upside Down (K. Škréta, M. Küssel, Pictures of Jesuit Martyrs, 2003) and more recently, Architecture in Graphic Art of the 16th - 18th Centuries (Chateau Strážky, 2009 - 2010) and The Golden Age of Dutch Graphic Art. From Goltzius to Rembrandt (2010 - 2011).
