Exhibition video
Exhibition presentation
The Peleș National Museum invites you to the opening of the exhibition "Copyist Painters in the Gallery of King Carol I". The royal painting collection is the exclusive creation of the first sovereign of Romania. Established between 1879-1899 through the acquisition of 214 paintings, the overwhelming majority of them masterpieces from the Felix Bamberg collection, the painting gallery became the perpetual property of the Romanian Crown. Intended to decorate the residence at Peleş, it was completed over the years with copies made at the request of King Carol I. Unlike most of the originals, after the inventory in the summer of 1948, the copies remained in Sinaia and are the subject of a premiere exhibition.
The phenomenon of copying can be understood from a contemporary perspective as a historicist approach, in which the fascination of the past speaks for itself. In the absence of famous originals, copies after great masters were intended to give the royal residence a sumptuous character and to contribute to aesthetic education in an era when color reproduction did not yet exist. Operated by Carol I, the selection of works to be copied clearly reflected the King's preferences for religious subjects. An educational tool, with valences for decorating the castle interiors, the copy also acquires a documentary value, attesting to a very good knowledge on the part of the commissioner of the history of European painting present in the great museums.
The collection of copies can be divided into two categories: copies after the great masters, with thematic themes of portraits of historical figures (aristocrats, governors, emperors, etc.), religious scenes, genre scenes, landscapes, etc. and the Gallery of the King's Ancestors represented by copies after original works generally kept in the castle of Sigmaringen. At the King's command, over 100 copies were made between 1880 and 1910, after famous works, landmarks of the history of art and painting from the Venetian, Flemish, German, and French schools, preserved in some of the most important museums in Europe, well known to Carol I: Alte Pinakothek, Munich; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Gemäldegalerie, Dresden; Staatliche Gemäldegalerie Kassel; Sigmaringen Castle; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Schlossmuseum, Gotha; Gallerie Schloss Schleissheim; Galerie Liechstenstein, Vienna; Galleria Borghese, Rome; Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice; Koninklijk Museum vor Schone Kunste Antwerpen; Musée du Louvre.
The King addressed the orders to both foreign artists (mainly Germans, Austrians, French, a Greek, an Italian), and Romanian scholarship holders such as Otilia Michail-Oteteleşanu (1887-1974) or Gheorghe Bălănescu (19th-20th centuries). The painters who executed children for Charles I are Gustav Bregenzer (1854-1918), the court painter from Sigmaringen, Eugen Ritter Gotha (1853-1922), Eduard Haaga (19th century), Ernst Hausmann (1845-1908), Paul Schad (1862 – 1916), Bertha Sich (19th century), Maximilian von Schneidt (1858-1937), Loni vonSchneidt (XIX century), Laetizia von Witzleben (XIX century), Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Ernst Klimt (1864-1894), Franz Matsch (1861-1942), Charles Félu (1850-1905), V. Grève (XIX century), Paul Rhodokanakis (XIX century), D. Barezzi (XIX century), etc.
Visiting the Exhibition
The exhibition was visited during:
June 7 – September 19, 2014