// OTHER MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS

RÜCKERS HARPSICHORD
Antwerp, 1624

This harpsichord, an exceptional piece acquired by the Unterlinden Museum in 1980, was built in Antwerp in 1624 by Johannes Rückers (1578–1642), the eldest son of Hans Rückers.

A double-manual instrument, with the lower keyboard sounding a fourth below the upper keyboard, it originally had one eight-foot and one four-foot stop.

This instrument was sent to France around 1660 and underwent two major alterations to its structure, focusing on the alignment of the two keyboards and the decoration. A new base in the Louis XIV style was built and a painted cover depicting Midas judging the musical contest between Pan (flute) and Apollo (lyre) was added.

Owned by the de Sade family, the harpsichord graced the drawing rooms of the Condé-en-Brie château in the Aisne region (where it is mentioned in local inventories as early as the 18th century) until it was acquired by the Unterlinden Museum in 1980, following an exemplary restoration completed by Les Tempéraments Inégaux, a Paris workshop, under the direction of Christopher Clarke.

Elegant and simple in its presentation, benefiting from a sensitive and precise mechanism, producing a sumptuous richness of tone, this instrument is regarded as one of the finest in existence by both harpsichord makers and players and is regularly sought out for recording sessions..

PAINTING UNDER GLASS

BPainting under glass consists in applying a painted decoration or gold or silver leaf directly to the underside of a pane of glass, which serves as the working surface and later serves to protect the completed work of art. Working with glass, an extremely costly material until the 18th century, required exceptional virtuosity, with an incomparable result: no varnish could rival the effect of the glass surface, as evidenced by the works of Niklaus Michad Spengler (1700–1776) and his school, Bear Hunt (1727), Crocodile Hunt (first half of the 18th century) or the Healing of Tobit (before 1753) by Franz Nicolas Haldenwanger (1680–1753).

This technique seems to have been brought into Alsace in the 18th century by members of the School of Sursee (Switzerland) and gained favour immediately. By the end of the 18th century, this technique was in widespread use in the region, by which time glass had become an everyday and inexpensive material. Its appeal extended to the working classes and numerous small paintings depicting Christ and the figures of saints, often invoked for their protective powers, or genre scenes came to be found throughout Alsace.

After the end of the Empire (1815), alongside the traditional religious subjects, the workshop of the Winterhalders, who had come to Colmar from the Black Forest region, began to produce paintings under glass on secular subjects, most often involving political figures or allegorical feminine portraits.

WEAPONS

Although the Unterlinden Museum does not purport to be a military museum, it has always housed objects relating to the history of Colmar and its region. Its collections thus include objects resulting from the seizure of possessions under the Revolution, notable among which were weapons from Alsatian feudal castles (for example, the Ribeaupierre castle in Ribeauvillé).

The weapons collection was of special interest to Edmond Fleischhauer (1812–1896), who became president of the Société Schongauer in 1879. When launching a project for the creation of new galleries in the Unterlinden Museum, he chose to devote one of them not only to weapons from Ribeauvillé, but also from other sources near the city, which would be supplemented by various purchases and gifts. A tireless collector, Edmond Fleischhauer’s personal holdings included antique furniture, paintings, sculptures, but also and especially antique weapons. His personal inventory of more than 20 years of collecting activity includes nearly 850 pieces in all categories combined. His bequest of this entire personal collection to the Unterlinden Museum in 1896 made a significant and definitive contribution to the museum’s already considerable holdings.

The combination of Fleischhauer’s collection of antique weapons with those already possessed by the museum (weapons seized during the Revolution), complemented by additional gifts and purchases made by the Société Schongauer and its members, has meant that Alsace can now lay claim to one of the largest existing collections of weapons – hunting and military pieces as well as those intended uniquely for ceremonial events – extending from the Medieval period to the 19th century.