Exhibitions & Events
 

Visiting the Getty Research Institute

Contact Information:
The Getty Research Institute
1200 Getty Center Drive
Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Tel. (310) 440-7335
Getty Research Institute Gallery Hours:
Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Closed Mondays and on January 1, July 4, Thanksgiving, and December 25
Research Library Hours:
Monday–Friday
9:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Closed Saturdays, Sundays, major U.S. holidays, November 25, December 26–December 30
Reference Desk: (310) 440-7390

Epilogue: Rubens at the Alte Pinakothek
 

Where is the Düsseldorf collection today?

This photo shows the contemporary display of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens at the Alte Pinakothek museum in Munich. In the 18th century, these paintings were on view in the picture gallery of elector Johann Wilhelm II von der Pfalz in Düsseldorf. Transferred to Munich by inheritance in 1805, the Düsseldorf collection now forms a substantial part of the Alte Pinakothek.

Rubens Room, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany, 2011
Rubens Room, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany, 2011. Courtesy of the Alte Pinakothek.
Photo: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Haydar Koyupinar

Peter Paul Rubens

Johann Wilhelm II took special pride in his collection of 46 paintings by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). The Rubens room may be considered an evocation of a renewed Catholicism.

Drawing after the painting Fall of the Rebel Angels by Peter Paul Rubens
Drawing after the painting Fall of the Rebel Angels by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1768–ca. 1775; red chalk, graphite, pen and ink. 870670.17.26

The print above depicts a wall in the Rubens room in the Düsseldorf gallery. The dominating presence of a number of major altarpieces, such as Fall of the Rebel Angels (1621/22, top row, third from the right), demonstrates how the elector set out to represent himself as a defender of the Roman Catholic Church, even within the secular environment of a gallery. The predominance of religious masterpieces is counterbalanced by smaller pictures, such as portraits and mythological scenes; the two themes complement each other, characterizing the unique variety and range of Rubens's abilities.

At left is a drawing after Rubens' painting Fall of the Rebel Angels, made in preparation for the Düsseldorf catalogue. The same painting is now in the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich—see the image at the top of this page.