Dresden (dpa/sn) – With the help of several foundations, the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) have acquired a group of sculptures by Paul Heermann (1673-1732) from the art trade. The hitherto unknown masterpiece “Saturn und Ops”, created in 1715, is back at the artist’s workplace, who was one of the most important sculptors at the court of Elector August the Strong (1670-1733). The SKD reported on Thursday about a “spectacular purchase” after several years of negotiations.
The 1.40 meter tall group of figures made of white marble, which appeared at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht in 2017, is part of a first exhibition on the Saxon Baroque sculptor, who is unfairly overshadowed by his famous contemporary Balthasar Permoser (1651-1723), in which Semper gallery. With a bust of Elector August the Strong (1670-1733), Heermann created one of the most famous portraits of the ruler.
A Belgian art dealer acquired the group of the Roman deities Saturn and Ops in 2008 at the auction of art treasures of the Lucklum Manor (Lower Saxony). According to the SKD, it can be traced back to 1809 in the Commander-in-Chief of the Teutonic Knights. Their purchase was also funded by the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation, the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States and the Rudolf-August Oetker Foundation.
Heermann came from the Ore Mountains, his uncle and teacher was a Saxon court sculptor. From 1705 he settled in Dresden, created altars, epitaphs and garden sculptures in Leipzig and elsewhere. In 1732 he became court sculptor and was also involved in furnishing the kennel. The SKD own six of his works – and now the first of this dimension.
