Exhibition dedicated to the arts produced under Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437)
A joint project of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest and the Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art, Luxembourg, the exhibition which will be held in 2006 is on display first in Budapest, and then will travel to Luxembourg. The display consists of nearly 400 works on loan from some 100 collections from 19 different countries of the world.
The goal of the exhibition is to present the personality and times as well as the artistic milieu of Sigismund of Luxemburg, the king of Hungary (1387), and king (1410/11) and later emperor (1433) of the Holy Roman Empire. The exhibition will centre on Sigismund's colourful personality, his political career and his patronage, although other objectives include the detailed presentation of the cultural and artistic phenomena and works associated with the emperor's lifework. Special emphasis will be given to those elements that place both the ruler's mode of thinking and Central Europe as a cultural region in new light.
Features:
The Angevin Inheritance:
Remains of courtly culture from Hungary from the 1370-1380s, the last phase of the rule of the Angevin dynasty. It was this sophisticated courtly milieu where the young Sigismund, as fiancée of Mary, was raised. The high quality of metalwork and goldsmith art is represented by the series of Angevin crowns and the works associated with the Hungarian chapel at Aachen, while the refined nature of courtly sculpture is best evoked by statues and reliefs from the bishop's chapel at Pécs and fragments of royal funerary monuments from Székesfehérvár. Monuments and seals associated with the last members of the Angevin dynasty, Queen Mary, Hedwig and Charles II, will also be exhibited in this section.
Portraits of Sigismund: The main character of the exhibition, King and Emperor Sigismund himself appears before visitors in the form of a rich gallery of portraits. The central theme is analysis of individual portraits of Sigismund. This period saw the emergence of real portraiture based on a real-life study of the sitter (cf. the drawings of Pisanello) instead of an official image, where an office holder was identified through coats of arms and insignia. The most frequently depicted personality of the period was no doubt Sigismund himself, whose characteristic profile and large hat also appears in dozens of portraits. The section includes the true portrait likenesses of Sigismund, as well as the series of his hidden and disguised portraits.
Coins and Seals: This section will present the Hungarian and imperial seals of Sigismund, as well as coins issued by him in Hungary and in the Empire. In the exhibition, seals will be exhibited on charters at the places where they belong because of their content, but the catalogue will provide the full corpus of his seals.
The World of the Knights of the Dragon: The exhibition reaches one of its high points in this section, dedicated to Sigismund as a patron of the arts. The first focus here is his central residence at Buda, to which he always returned from his long trips abroad, although after 1426 Pozsony (today Bratislava) emerged as his new seat. There are objects of royal display and representation, table decorations, jewels and ceremonial swords included along with the series of bone saddles associated with Sigismund's Order of the Dragon. A chief aim of the exhibition is to present all the surviving monuments associated with the Order of the Dragon, a knightly order founded by Sigismund in 1408. Placed in the context of contemporary European knightly orders, the display of insignia once worn by rulers and aristocrats demonstrates the international nature of the court of Sigismund and courtly aristocrats are represented through their heraldic monuments and artistic commissions.
Sigismund as European Political Leader: This part is devoted to those events and themes from the life of Sigismund that had a European significance (such as the battle of Nicopolis or the Council of Constance), culminating in his imperial coronation in Rome in 1433. The defence of Hungary against the rising power of the Ottoman Empire had great effect. After the disastrous defeat at Nicopolis in 1396, Sigismund built up a defensive system. It is in this context that his connections with the rulers of neighbouring Bosnia and the Romanian principalities are featured. The imperial policies of Sigismund after his 1410 election as King of the Romans and his diplomatic activities are also included. The chief event of his career was the Council of Constance. His coronations and extensive travels - including the Romzug of 1432-33 – will be shown through pictorial and other sources, as well as artworks associated with the events, bringing this phase of history to life.
Succession and Memory: This unit will display the objects of V?rad Cathedral, Sigismund’s chosen burial place in 1437. The figure of the emperor, as it appears in later chronicles and historical images is part of this section, with special attention given to his memory in Nuremberg. The immediate successors of Sigismund, the first Habsburg kings on the throne of Hungary – Albrecht I and Ladislas V – appears in portraits, manuscripts and seals.
Art of the Sigismund Era in the Kingdom of Hungary: The International Gothic: The high point of the exhibition is the art of the Kingdom of Hungary from the age of Sigismund, placed in its Central European artistic context. Attention is focussed on Hungarian monuments from the International Gothic – a group of artworks much less known internationally than contemporary Bohemian works – among them such outstanding pieces as the large wooden statues from Barka (Budapest, National Gallery) or the important group of stone sculptures from Nagyszeben (Sibiu, Brukenthal Museum). In the field of painting, the masterful triptych of Thomas of Kolozsv?r (1427, Esztergom, Christian Museum) is presented along with analogous works from Austria and Bohemia.
Budapest, Szépmúvészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts)
Heroes' Square
18 March – 18 June 2006
Opening times: Every day except Mondays 10 AM to 6 PM, on Thursdays until 10PM
Entrance fee: adults 1600Ft (with Budapest Card: 1300Ft) reduced fee: 800Ft family ticket: 2600 or 3400Ft
information: sigismundus@szepmuveszeti.hu www.szepmuveszeti.hu
Luxembourg, Musée national d'histoire et d'art 13 July – 15 October 2006
Opening times : Every day except Mondays 10 AM to 5 PM
Entrance fee : adults 6 ˆ; reduced fee: 3 ˆ; family ticket: 10 ˆ
information: francois.reinert@mnha.etat.lu www.mnha.lu
Publications associated with the exhibition: Sigismundus Rex et Imperator – Kunst und Kultur zur Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg, 1387-1437(Exhibition catalogue)
The scholarly catalogue of the exhibition is available in German and Hungarian editions at the museum shop. For the opening of the exhibition in Luxembourg (July 2006), a French edition will also be available. Edited by: Imre Takács, with the assistance of Zsombor Jékely, Szilárd Papp, Györgyi Poszler.
Price at the museum shop: Hungarian version 7900 HUF; German version 9900 HUF.
Contents of the catalogue (pdf, German)
Paperback, 24x28 cm, XVIII + 734 pages, c. 1000 colour and black and white photographs.
Sigismund von Luxemburg: Ein Kaiser in Europa
Ein internationaler historischer und kunsthistorischer Kongress in Luxemburg, 8–10. Juni 2005. Edited by: Michel Pauly, Francois Reinert
The volume contains the studies presented at the scholarly conference held in Luxembourg in June 2005. Hardback, 24x28 cm, 376 pages, 220 ills.
Price at the museum shop: 8320 HUF.
Sigismund of Luxemburg: Art and Culture 1387-1437 (Exhibition Guide)
Guide to the exhibition, published in Hungarian, English, German, French and Slovakian versions. 96 pages, 150 colour photos.
Price at the museum shop: 2400 HUF. Download sample pages of this book (pdf).
Saladin und die Kreuzfahrer
This special exhibition (a cooperative project of the Reiss Engelhorn Museums Mannheim, the State Museum Nature and Man Oldenburg and the State Museum of Prehistory Halle) deals with the encounter of the cultures in the Near East at the time of the crusaders and shows that this encounter also included – besides armed conflicts – peaceful relations and cultural exchange.
Sultan Saladin – since Lessing’s play “Nathan the Wise” (1779) considered as the epitome of religious tolerance – and his opponent King Richard I. the Lionheart – already in medieval times an ideal of knightly virtuousness – are the focus of attention in this exhibition. With the help of these two characters, the show takes the visitor on a journey into the fascinating world of encounters and confrontations in the Near East at the time of the crusades. However, the display is not a common touring exhibition, since each of the three museums focuses on different aspects. The various exhibits comprise jewellery, weapons, coins, astronomical instruments, building sculptures, etc. and are supplemented by models, paintings, photographs, and large scale installations. In Halle, the focus of attention is on the rich however little known relics of crusaders and pilgrims from Central Germany, among them the Magic Ring of Paussnitz and numerous further objects, some of which are on display for the first time. Highlights of the exhibition are valuable reliquaries, e.g. from the cathedral treasures of Halberstadt and Quedlinburg, stations of the tourist route “Romanesque Road” (www.sachsen-anhalt-tourismus.de).
Medieval book illustration of a fight between Christians and Muslims
Cloisters in the crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers, Syria
Landesmuseum fúr Vorgeschichte Halle I from 21st October 2005 to 12th February 2006
Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch Oldenburg I from 5th March 2006 to 2nd July 2006
Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim I from 23rd July 2006 to 5th November 2006
The catalogue (600 pages) contains plenty of color illustrations, information on exhibits,
and essays on interesting topics by renowned experts. It is published by Philipp von Zabern and available for ˆ 28.00 (museum’s edition).
For further information and photos see:http://www.archlsa.de/saladin/en_start.htm
Arm reliquary with a mummified finger of St Nicholas, c. 1225 I from the Cathedral Treasury of Halberstadt
"Hedwig Glass" reliquary, Near East, 12th century, stetting from Lower Saxony, 14th century from the Cathedral Treasury of Halberstadt
Other exhibitions of note: http://www.santibanchierire.com/ Santi Banchiere Re: Ravenna and Classe in the VI Century. San Nicolo, Ravenna (4 March-16 December 2006) bishops, bankers, kings who built the early Byzantine monuments in Ravenna. http://www.cattedrale.parma.it/ 1900Years of the Cathedral of Parma (9 April -- 16 July, 2006) Celebrates the history and treasures of the cathedral, consecrated in 1106, one of the major monuments of Romanesque architecture.
http://www.gentiledafabriano.it/eng/default.htm Spedale de Sta. Maria del Buon Gesu, Fabriano (21 April -23 July 2006) first major exhibition of works of GDF found in collections across the world, in the city that gave its name to the maestro of International Gothic
http://www.firenze2006.it/inglese/accademia_pres.htm Lorenzo Monaco: from Giotto's Tradition to Renaissance. Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence (9 May- 24 September 2006) fisrt exhibition dedicated to this leading protagonist of late Gothic painting in Italy.
