Graphics Cabinets

In the secular cabinet, 84 graphic sheets of French, Italian, and English provenance are placed in individual panels in a four-level decorative installation. The collection comprises pastoral, allegorical, historical, mythological, and two biblical themes. Most numerous is the set of works with themes from the life of Maria de' Medici, based on works by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. Further interesting prints include engraved interpretations of works by François Boucher, Charles Joseph Dominique Eisen, Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, Pierre Mignard, Louis de Boullogne, Pietro da Cortona, Angelica Kauffman, and others. In the biblical cabinet there are 206 graphic sheets of various sizes with exclusively sacral themes. Remarkable works of Italian provenance in a larger format are situated in the central section of the three walls. Along the edges and on the eastern wall are smaller graphics of Dutch, German, French, and Italian origin. The most extensive series of graphics is by the Dutch artists Caspar and Jan Luyken and by Francesco Antonio Meloni. Also noteworthy are graphic sheets based on the works of Jacopo Amigoni, Giuseppe Zocchi, Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Pietro Longhi, Francesco Moard, and Sébastien Le Clerc. Several works were published by the German publishing house of Johann Georg Hertel, such as those by engravers Jakob Gottlieb Thelott and probably Georg Philipp II Rugendas, based on the works of Franz Sigrist the Elder and Gottfried Bernhard Göz. Since 1975, following the restoration of Mirbach Palace, these works have been made accessible to visitors as part of the GMB's permanent exhibitions.