Of modern painters, this magnificent collection contains masterpieces by
Defregger, Vautier, Makart, Munkacsy, Fritz von Uhde, Böcklin, Hans
Thoma; portraits by Leon Pohle, Delaroche and Sargent; landscapes by
Andreas and Oswald Achenbach and allegorical works by Sascha Schneider.
In separate compartments there are a number of crayon portraits, most of
them by Rosalba Carriera, and views of Dresden by Canaletto and other
artists. Besides the picture gallery the museum includes a magnificent
collection of engravings and drawings. There are upwards of 400,000
specimens, arranged in twelve classes, so as to mark the great epochs in
the history of art. A collection of casts, likewise in the museum, is
designed to display the progress of plastic art from the time of the
Egyptians and Assyrians to modern ages. This collection was begun by
Raphael Mengs, who secured casts of the most valuable antiques in Italy,
some of which no longer exist.
The Japanese palace contains a public library of more than 400,000
volumes, with about 3000 MSS. and 20,000 maps. It is especially rich in
the ancient classics, and in works bearing on literary history and the
history of Germany, Poland and France. There are also a valuable cabinet
of coins and a collection of ancient works of art. A collection of
porcelain in the "Museum Johanneum" (which once contained the picture
gallery) is made up of specimens of Chinese, Japanese, East Indian,
Sèvres and Meissen manufacture, carefully arranged in chronological
order. There is in the same building an excellent Historical Museum. In
the Grüne Gewölbe (Green Vault) of the Royal Palace, so called from the
character of its original decorations, there is an unequalled collection
of precious stones, pearls and works of art in gold, silver, amber and
ivory. The objects, which are about 3000 in number, are arranged in
eight rooms. They include the regalia of Augustus II. as king of Poland;
the electoral sword of Saxony; a group by Dinglinger, in gold and
enamel, representing the court of the grand mogul Aurungzebe, and
consisting of 132 figures upon a plate of silver 4 ft. 4 in. square; the
largest onyx known, 6-2/3 in. by 2¼ in.; a pearl representing the dwarf
of Charles II. of Spain; and a green brilliant weighing 40 carats. The
royal palace also has a gallery of arms consisting of more than 2000
weapons of artistic or historical value. In the Zwinger are the
zoological and mineralogical museums and a collection of instruments
used in mathematical and physical science. Among other collections is
that of the Körner museum with numerous reminiscences of the
Goethe-Schiller epoch, and of the wars of liberation (1813-15), and
containing valuable manuscripts and relics. Founded by Hofrath Dr Emil
Peschel, it has passed into the possession of the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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