The core of the painting collection of the Peleș National Museum is the 214 original canvases, purchased by King Carol I through the consul and historian Felix Bamberg (1820-1893), connoisseur and elite collector in the service of the king for more than three decades. The "Vechi Maestri" gallery in Sinaia counted a suite of canvases signed by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Rafael Sanzio, Titian, Paul Peter Rubens, Lucas Cranah, Diego Rodriguez de Sylva y Velásquez or Anton van Dyck.
The acquisition of the original paintings overlaps with the period of years in which Carol becomes a fervent patron of copies of old European masters, thus creating the most elaborate private art gallery in Romania. The phenomenon of the copy must be understood as a historical approach imposed by the fascination of the past that makes its way onto the 19th century art scene.
The museum has over 100 copies made over half a century by artists such as Maximilian von Schneidt (1858-1927), Gustav Bregenzer (1850-1919), Julie Leopoldine Ida Pauline Laetizia von Witzleben (1849-1922), Ottilia Michail Otetelesanu (1885-1974), Franz Matsch (1861-1942) or Gustav Klimt (1862-1918).