The Solly Collection, 1821–2021: Founding the Berlin Gemäldegalerie

During the five years he spent in Berlin alone, the English merchant Edward Solly amassed more than 3,000 artworks. Unusually for the time, he favoured Italian paintings of the trecento and quattrocento as well as early Netherlandish art, acquiring works by artists who were much less famous than they are now – including Giotto, Botticelli, Jan van Eyck and Jan Gossart. Solly sold his collection to King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia in 1821, laying the foundations for the creation of the Gemäldegalerie at Berlin’s Royal Museum in 1830. This display at the Gemäldegalerie to mark the bicentenary of the acquisition presents highlights from Solly’s collection and explores how understandings of key works have changed over the years (3 November–16 January 2022). Find out more from the Gemäldegalerie’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here 

The Crucifixion (c. 1315–20), Giotto. Photo: Volker-H. Schneider; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie

Neptune and Amphitrite (1516), Jan Gossaert. Photo: Dietmar Gunne; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie

Madonna with Child (c. 1500), Lombard follower of Leonardo da Vinci. Photo: Volker-H. Schneider; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie

Mountainous Seashore (c. 1624), Paul Bril. Photo: Christoph Schmidt; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie

The merchant George Gisze (1532), Hans Holbein the Younger. Photo: Jörg P. Anders; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie