Gemaldegalerie, 1: North of the Alps

The Gemaldegalerie, in the Culturforum in near western Berlin, is one of our favorites, mainly because it has so much northern German and Flemish work...the van Eycks, von der Weydens, Boschs, Cranachs, Durers, Brueghels.... The museum is conveniently divided into north and south halls, around a central hall. The north hall is north of the Alps paintings, the south, well, south, and the central hall currently is given to the traveling Donatello exhibit we saw part of in Florence last May. Alas, the Gemaldegalerie is undergoing renovation in its lighting, closing 1/4 of the museum at a stretch, so we didn't get to see its Caravaggios, Vermeers, Rembrandts, and similar vintage. (Some are at https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2012/07/berlin-gemaldegalerie.html, and https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2009/06/kulturforum-and-gemaldegalerie.html, where you will see that neither my tastes nor museum behavior have much changed). Anyhow, there will be three posts, including the inevitable out-takes.

In the Kulturforum, approaching the museum

Conrad Witz, The Counsel of Redemption, 1444; not that this is
one of the biggies, but the facial expression, below, is really
impressive; just a decade after van Eyck introduced oil painting
to Europe

The rest of the painting is thoroughly late Medieval...but the face
is not

Perennial favorite, Cranach's Fountain of Youth, 1546; women
only (!)

Cranach, Madonna and Bambino; wait, no...but see
https://www.thesmartset.com/article01241101/
for an interesting read on Cranach's mysterious muse
...perhaps a novel to be written...

Cranach's copy of a Bosch Last Judgement triptych, 1524

It's all in the details...

Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Young Woman,
1440-45; next generation after van Eyck

Holbein the Younger, very famous portrait of the merchant
George Gisze, 1532, London; famous also in the history of post-it
notes

Durer's 1526 portrait of Nuremburg city father and
friend Hieronymous Holzschuher

Van Eyck's exquisite little Madonna in the Church,
1440; as with all his work, the detail is incredible

Anonymous Bosch...copy of Bosch's Temptations of St. Anthony,
1540; the original of which, 1501, we saw in Lisbon in 2017

Personal favorite detail

Brueghel the Younger's Carrying the Cross, 1606

Another fave, Brueghel the Elder's Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559;
we'll see lots more Breughel when we get to Vienna next month

Franz Hals portraits...Portrait of a Man, 1627

Catharina Hooft and her nurse, 1619

Singing Boy with Flute, 1619; muy famoso