June, 2004 - Nr. 6
Duerer painting returned to Bremen
TWIG - A painting by 16th century Renaissance master Albrecht Duerer has been returned to the northern German city of Bremen in a ceremony attended by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Estonian counterpart Juhan Parts.
Duerer’s "John the Baptist" had gone missing during World War II. The painting forms the left wing of a larger altarpiece that is considered a masterpiece of Northern Renaissance art.
The find reunites "John the Baptist" with the painting "St. Onuphrius," which forms the altarpiece’s right wing. Both paintings can now be seen in the collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen, where they had been prized works of the city’s collection since the mid-19th century.
"To see these two paintings united after over 60 years - and back in this collection — is a moment of supreme joy," said Wul Herzogenrath, Director of the Bremen Kunsthalle.
Bremen mayor Henning Scherf praised the return of the painting as a "gift" from Estonia. The painting was presented to the public just a day thereafter, on Tuesday May 25.
The centerpiece of the altar, "Christ the World’s Savoir," is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
As a gesture of goodwill, the Foreign Office and the Kunsthalle Bremen recently organized an exhibition of Duerer’s works in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, where the two altar panels were united for the first time in over half a century.
The altarpiece, the Kunsthalle’s oldest piece of artwork,
had been removed from the premises to protect it from massive bombing in
1943. It disappeared soon thereafter.
Republished with permission from "The Week in Germany"
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