Banking family's treasures go on show at Bath's Holburne Museum

"The Schwarzenberg Nef (around 1580), as it is known, is one of nearly 200 Old Master treasures on display in two dedicated galleries opening on 10 September at the Holburne Museum in Bath, UK. The works are on long-term loan from the Schroder Collection, built by the late banker and billionaire Bruno Schroder (1933-2019) and his predecessors across more than a century. It will be the first time many of these objects have been seen in public."

"The Holburne initially borrowed nine paintings from the Schroder Collection before hearing that Bruno's daughter, Leonie, was interested in sharing the rest with the public. "She had two requests: one was that it would have to stay in the UK and the second was that preferably it should go to a regional museum, because she felt that London is already full of beautiful art," says the collection's curator, Caterina Badan."

"A common thread is a sense of "intellectual systems" mixing together, says Timothy Schroder, Bruno's cousin and a silver historian. The Cavalry Salt (1550), for example, is dominated by a sculpted crucifixion scene that was made-like the other figures-by torching enamel powder onto a wire armature. The work features imagery relating to the Old and New Testament, nature and antiquity, with a depiction of Hercules holding two snakes at the base."

An ornate Schwarzenberg Nef from around 1580 joins nearly 200 Old Master treasures arriving at the Holburne Museum in Bath for display from 10 September. The works are long-term loans from the Schroder Collection assembled by banker Bruno Schroder (1933–2019) and predecessors over more than a century, with many objects appearing publicly for the first time. The lender's daughter requested the collection remain in the UK and preferably go to a regional museum. A modern Schroder Gallery on the lower ground floor will present silver, maiolica, and paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Holbein the Elder, illustrating a Renaissance shaped by trade, war, looting, and cultural exchange, with recurring themes of interconnected intellectual systems and hybrid imagery such as the Cavalry Salt (1550).

Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events