Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

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Aerial view of the Zwinger Palace. The gallery is in the darker, long-stretched wing of the Zwinger. Behind the gallery is the Semper Opera House.

The Semper wing with the gallery from inside the Zwinger.

Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510).

The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (English: Old Masters Picture Gallery) is an state art museum located in the Semper wing of the Zwinger Palace in Dresden, Germany. The art gallery is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections).

The gallery holds over 700 old master paintings^[1] from Renaissance to Baroque that were collected by the Electors of Saxony August II and his son August III in the first half of the 18th century. In 1746 the latter one bought 100 paintings from the Duke of Modena Francesco III d'Este, gaining the gallery Europe-wide fame^[2].

While the inventory was deposited in safe places the gallery building was heavily damaged in World War II. The museum was reopened with its historical inventory in 1960 after the Soviet Union gave back the paintings and the building was reconstructed.^[2]

In 2007 the gallery launched a presentation in the Second Life virtual world including all images and the Zwinger building.

[edit] Artists represented

The gallery includes major works by Italian Renaissance painters Raphael, Giorgione and Titian. There are also significant Mannerist and Baroque works, as well as 17th century Dutch works by Rembrandt and his followers and Flemish works by Rubens, Jordaens and Van Dyck.