Search Request | Object report
St Gregory of Nazianzus
Lost Art-ID
1652
Artist
Rubens, Peter Paul
Birth
1577.06.28, Siegen (Westfalen)
Death
1640.05.30, Antwerpen
Place of activity
Antwerpen; Venedig; Florenz; Rom; Valladolid; Mantua; Genua; Paris; Brüssel; Madrid; London
Title
St Gregory of Nazianzus
Datierung
1620 (um)
Object type
Group of reported objects
Material / Technique
oil paint : oak / painted
Height
48.00 cm
Width
62.00 cm
Inventory number
Ahv 36
Description
The saint in his white bishop's vestment, standing on a cloud and leaning backwards, jams his crosier in the face of a winged devil so that the sparks fly and the demon, standing with one foot on the clouds, reels back; an angel with a banner flies above them; one of five designs for the ceiling paintings of the Jesuit Church Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp, now defunct.
Provenance
Bought under duke Ernest II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1802 from François Xavier de Burtin, Brussels (cf. file 126); in the Kunstkammer before 1826 (cf. 1826 inventory). Art collections of the former Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As part of the process of dissolving the household assets of the ducal family, the 'Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha'sche Stifung für Kunst und Wissenschaft' (Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Foundation for Art and Science) was established in 1928 as an independent legal entity based in Gotha. The assets of this foundation included the observatory and the museum together with buildings in Gotha, the library and the scientific and art collections; exhibited in 1935 in the Ducal Museum, Oberlichtsaal 2 (file 3405); May 31, 1935 in the register of nationally valuable art monuments (ThHStAWeimar, C1624, fol. 68, 131). During the war, the Rubens painting and other parts of the scientific and art collections were moved to Coburg (still in Reinhardsbrunn in 1943 - cf. 1943 catalog, p. 44; according to the transfer protocol, moved to Coburg in March 1945) and were not returned from there. Later it became known that the former Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had removed art objects from the place of removal and sold them. Since these are not private property but foundation property, these sales are illegal. The GDR had suggested to the USA in a note of March 14, 78 that negotiations be opened. In 1979, the GDR handed over a list of cultural assets that were in the USA. According to Walter Robinson, Boston Globe, this work was sold to the Silberman Galleries, New York, after the end of the war (this gallery was also involved in the 'Lady Foster' case of the Kunstsammlungen Weimar). Current location: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo/USA; in writing. Communication dated September 5, 1967 from A.M.C. Driessen-Deelen to the institution contains the note: '1952 aus der Gotha-Sammlung gekauft .. mit Hilfe des George B. Matthews Income Fund'; purchased through the art dealer E. & A. Silberman, New York.
Literature / Source
SSFG, SM, Archiv, Akte 126; Inventar 1826 (Verzeichnis), Abt. V, Nr. 19; Inventar 1854, Abt. IV, Nr. 48; SSFG, SM, Archiv, Akte 3405 (1935); ThHStAWeimar, Thüringisches Ministerium für Volksbildung und Justiz, Abteilung Volksbildung in Weimar über Herzogvon Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha’sche Stiftung für Kunst und Wissenschaft, C1624 , fol. 68, 131 (1935); Katalog 1943, Bl. 44; Übergabeprotokoll März 1945 Coburg; Verlustdokumentation Neumeister
Published since
Contact
Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein
Gotha
Schlossplatz 1
99867 Gotha
Germany
Phone
0049 (0) 03621 8234-0
Fax
0049 (0) 03621 8234-290
Contact
Dr. Timo Trümper
Position
Kustode für Gemälde und Plastik
Phone
+49 (0) 3621 8234 553
Contact
Dr. Tobias Pfeifer-Helke
Position
Stiftungsdirektor
Phone
+49 (0) 621-8234 100
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