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Schloss Wörlitz was commissioned by Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau as a prototype of classicism. It was built by his architect F.W. Freiherr von Erdmannsdorff from 1763 to 1769. In four rooms of the garden-facing enfilade, the architect conceived a paintings program in which he presented the four major schools of painting by means of representative works. Not least among them were the Dutch and Flemish schools. One of the two rooms displays Flemish masters such as Pieter Thys (Hermes beholds Herse), Frederic de Moucheron with two Italianate landscapes, Anthony van Dyck (a self-portrait in the style of Antoine Pesne), a copy after Rubens’ The Flight of Cloelia, as well as Alexander and Roxane by Peter Paul Rubens and The Holy Family by Erasmus Quellinus. In the next room, eight small paintings depicting buildings from antiquity by Giacomo van Lint, two paintings by Philips Wouwerman (A Camp scene and Falconry), Canal Landscape by Salomon van Ruisdael and two works by Jan Verkolje represent the Dutch school.

Dr. Wolfgang Savelsberg, Head of the Department of Palaces (May 2020)

Schloss Wörlitz is a part of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, which is administered by the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation.