We’ll begin our tour with the collection’s most prized possession – The Last Judgment by Hieronymus Bosch. The modern viewer is amazed by the inferno in his famous triptych, rather than frightened. It mixes chimeras in the form of half snakes and half eggs, fear of wars and epidemics. And a great deal of the artist’s personal frustrations. I invite you to look closely at the details of the painting. Cranach’s The Holy Family, as well as the obe by Jos van Klewe, will reveal the origins of the family portrait genre to us, while the religious paintings of the Quattrocento and Cinquecento art will disclose the rules of making art for religious meditation. And Rubens’ The Abduction of Orifia will serve us as an example of what art for sensual pleasure should look like.The most valuable skill for an artist has long been the ability to reveal a complex subject by means of painting. This is why the gallery offers many outstanding examples of “stories” - paintings on biblical or antique subjects, such as Heinrich Füger’s Death of Germanicus and Angelo Caroselli’s The Suicide of Cato. Together we will try to understand the ideas behind these canvases and to feel how convincing they are for us today.
