Painting
Collection
The paintings in the Museum für Franken are paintings with history(ies).
Since its foundation over 110 years ago, the Museum für Franken - then still known as the "Mainfränkisches Museum" - has built up a remarkable collection of 17th and 18th century paintings from Franconia, which also reflects the art of the Baroque and Rococo periods with regard to the broader horizons of the Museum für Franken.
Building on the collections of the Mainfränkisches Museum, the Museum für Franken can still claim to be Franconia's treasure trove.
"...but I strive for nothing more,
than to perfect myself in this art of painting
To perfect myself completely..."
(Georg Anton Urlaub, October 1739)
The Museum für Franken shows the main trends in Franconian painting from the 15th to the late 18th century by means of selected works. This is complemented by paintings of early German art from the museum’s original collection, as well as additional loans from the Bavarian National Museum.
The collection focuses on the 15th/16th century and from the second half of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century.
After 1945 in particular, the Mainfränkisches Museum (1939-2016) mainly focused on the art of Main-Franconia, i.e. the art of the Prince-Bishop’s territories of Würzburg and Bamberg. As a result, other art landscapes in Franconia have hardly been represented so far.
