German Master drawings

In late 2007 the National Gallery of Art acquired one of the finest private European holdings of Old-Master drawings - the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection. This unique survey includes drawings by many of the most important artists from the German-speaking areas of Europe, including Switzerland and Austria. Passionately assembled by Wolfgang Ratjen (1943-1997) over three decades, the drawings presented in this beautiful scholarly catalogue include rare, evocative, and influential examples by Hans von Aachen, Johann Rottenhammer, and Adam Elsheimer; studies for soaring religious ceilings by some of the greatest Bavarian artists, including Cosmas Damian Asam, Matthäus G?nther, and Franz Anton Maulbertsch; delightful Augsburg designs for rococo prints by Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner, Johann Esaias Nilson, and Gottfried Eichler; landscape watercolors by Johann Georg von Dillis and Caspar David Friedrich; architectural watercolors by Balthasar Neumann, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and Rudolf von Alt; and an exciting group of realist drawings by Hans Thoma, Otto Greiner, and Adolph von Menzel.