Information
The Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf nowadays owns a diverse collection of paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and handicrafts of Dutch and Flemish art from the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Since the founding of the once-famous Kunstkammer Gottorf by Friedrich III, Duke of Schleswig-Hollstein-Gottorf (1597-1659), the collection initially contained mid-seventeenth-century paintings by Dutch masters. The collection was assembled with the advice of court scholar Adam Olearius (1599-1671) and later expanded upon by the successors of the Duke. After the defeat in the Great Nothern War of 1713, the collection was brought to Denmark as spoils of war. Many of the Dutch and Flemish artworks presented today in Gottorf, were bought on the art market only in the last few decades and represent all major genres. A particular focus lies on paintings by the northern German Rembrandt school and the Gottorf court painter Jürgen Ovens (1623-1678).
Ingo Borges, curator (May 2020)