Catalogue of German Paintings before 1540 in the KHM

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is asking for financial support to continue and complete a project compiling a critical catalogue of its German paintings dating from before 1540. The aim of the project is to present - for the first time - one of the most important collections of its kind worldwide in a scholarly publication, in combination with the most up-to-date research. The interdisciplinary approach encompasses technological investigations and art historical analysis drawing upon those results. In recent years, museums both in Europe and America have been publishing their holdings of Early German panel painting. In addition, a number of recent exhibitions devoted to this period of art, and focusing especially on Dürer and Cranach, reveal a growing interest in Early German painting, and make the call for a comprehensive cataloguing of the Kunsthistorisches Museum`s own collection increasingly urgent. The first phase of this project has already been funded by FWF (Project number P 19829-G13). It focused on extensive technological investigations of around 120 paintings dating from the early sixteenth century, and its findings form a substantial base for an art historical catalogue. The research into around 30 works by Cranach the Elder and his workshop is especially rich, having been supplemented through cooperation with the `Cranach Digital Archive`. The latest investigations have produced important and unexpected discoveries which require further research. In addition, the decision has been made to encompass the full inventory of Early German paintings dating from before 1540. The extension of the project would involve researching around 40 additional paintings. Mostly by anonymous hands, they are nevertheless artistically and art historically important works of the fifteenth century. The planned catalogue will be part of the Gemäldegalerie`s series of research publications. The work will not only provide a core inventory, but will also be aimed at readers from both the professional world and the public. It will thus not only focus on specific paintings, but also provide detailed information about the structure and the history of one of the oldest parts of the Kunsthistorische Museum`s collection.

The project has aimed to compiled the first-ever comprehensive study of the over 170 German paintings in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna produced between the fifteenth and the early sixteenth century. Comprising masterpieces by Dürer, Cranach and Holbein, this, the oldest part of the collection of German paintings, is both one of the main attractions of the Picture Gallery and one of the foremost collections of its kind in the world. By the end of this phase of the project - begun in 2013 but repeatedly interrupted we will have carried out technological analyses (incl. those done by external experts) of 138 paintings housed in Vienna and at other KHM locations, collecting the documentations and saving the results in a data bank. For 88 of these works, the technological reports have already been written summarizing the results of these studies. They form the first part of the catalogue entries, which have so far been worked out for 37 paintings in a first draft. Informed by the findings of this comprehensive study, these entries look at, among other things, the works genesis (artist and patron, date, function and content, genesis of the composition, materials) as well as its subsequent history (damage, format alterations) and reception (second versions, copies). Of particular interest are the technological analyses using infrared- and X-ray images, which reveal underdrawings and changes to the composition and/or handling not visible in visible light, generating in a wealth of new information on the history of the works genesis. We were able to discover information supporting suggested completion dates and existing attributions; however, some panel paintings until now associated with a particular artist have had to be reclassified as anonymous works. But extensive research in libraries, archives and other collections has enabled us to attribute individual pictures to a particular painter or group of works for the first time. Our proposed next step will be gradually to make these findings digitally accessible via the KHM webpage, and to publish the entire catalogue raisonné in book form.