Germany Guide
Saxony
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
Address: Zwinger, north wing
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–6pm
Price: €7
The big draw of the Zwinger's collections is the Saxon Electors' exquisite collection of Italian Old Masters in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in the north wing. Rather shunted into a corridor as you enter are seven Dresden scenes by Canaletto that helped spread Dresden's fame as a Florence of the North. The most celebrated work is Raphael's touching Sistine Madonna, its radiant Virgin and Child, already haunted by a knowledge of the child's fate, are probably less well known than the two bored cherubs who lounge at its base, stars of numerous postcards. All the other big guns of Italian art are here – Titian, Tintoretto, Correggio, Botticelli and Veronese to name a few – plus an outstanding Flemish and Dutch oeuvre that includes muscular works by Rubens, a room of Jan Bruegel the Elder, Van Dyke, and an intriguing Rembrandt self-portrait that depicts him carousing as the Prodigal Son with his surly new wife on his knee. Cranach and Dürer star for the Germans, but keep an eye out for a room of works by Dresden court painter Anton Raffael Mengs, which includes a fleshy image of Augustus III.
The Rüstkammer (same times; €3) opposite contains a hall of armour, its highlights the ceremonial swords of Saxony Electors and a suit of ornamental gold armour for Swedish king Erik XIV and his horse embossed with the labours of Hercules. Plans were afoot to shift the collection to the Residenzschloss at the time of writing.