Mikkel Museum

Mikkel Museum
Mikkeli muuseum

The Mikkel Museum is housed in the former Kadriorg palace kitchen building

The Mikkel Museum is housed in the former Kadriorg palace kitchen building
Established 25 June 1997 (1997-06-25)
Location Weizenbergi 28, Tallinn, Estonia
Coordinates 59°26′16.7″N 24°47′26.6″E / 59.437972°N 24.790722°E / 59.437972; 24.790722Coordinates: 59°26′16.7″N 24°47′26.6″E / 59.437972°N 24.790722°E / 59.437972; 24.790722
Type Art museum
Collections Western art, Chinese porcelain
Collection size 600
Visitors 10,744 (2013)[1]
Founder Johannes Mikkel
Curator Marie Johanson
Public transit access Kadriorg, TLT
Website www.mikkelimuuseum.ee

The Mikkel Museum (Estonian: Mikkeli muuseum) is a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia, located in Kadriorg park in Tallinn. It displays a collection of mainly Western art and ceramics, and Chinese porcelain, donated by art collector Johannes Mikkel in 1994.

History

The museum was founded to house the art collection of Johannes Mikkel, who in 1994 had donated his collection of foreign art to the Art Museum of Estonia. Johannes Mikkel (1907–2006) came from southern Estonia, studied various subjects (including art) at the University of Tartu and worked, after World War II, in Tallinn as a manager in several antique shops. Through his vast network he was able to assemble the collection of the present museum. In 1996, the former kitchen building (built 1754) of nearby Kadriorg Palace, where the Art Museum of Estonia's main collection of foreign art is displayed, was renovated to house the Mikkel collection.[2]

Collection

The museum contains about 600 objects. The nucleus of the collection is the large amount of Western graphic art from the 16th to 19th centuries, with a special focus on the Dutch Golden Age. The part of the collection devoted to graphics include works by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Adriaen van Ostade, Jacob van Ruisdael and Félicien Rops. A substantial part of the collection is also devoted to paintings from roughly the same time span; painting by Melchior d'Hondecoeter and Jean François de Troy could be mentioned, as well as a portrait from the studio of Anthony van Dyck.[3][4]

In addition to pictures, the collection also displays a set of European ceramics and Chinese porcelain. The Mikkel collection is indeed the only place in Estonia to house a representative European ceramics collection, spanning several centuries. The core of the collection are several pieces of Meissen porcelain, but also features pieces of Sèvres porcelain, Royal Copenhagen porcelain and Russian Imperial porcelain. The Chinese porcelain collection is focused on blue-and-white porcelain.[5]

Claude Lorrain, Campo Vaccino (1636) 
Albrecht Dürer, Hercules Conquests the Molionites (1496-1498) 
Jean François Janinet, Venus Disarming Amor (c. 1768) 
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Italian Landscape (1865) 
Adriaen van Ostade, Grace (1653) 

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kultuuriministeeriumi haldusala muuseumide külastatavus 2013" (PDF) (in Estonian). Kultuuriministeerium. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "About Johannes Mikkel". Art Museum of Estonia. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  3. ↑ "About Johannes Mikkel". Art Museum of Estonia. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Johannes Mikkel collection". Art Museum of Estonia. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Johannes Mikkel collection". Art Museum of Estonia. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/30/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.