The Martin von Wagner Museum contains the art collection of the University of Würzburg and has been located in the south wing of the Würzburg Residence since 1963. It is among the largest university museums in Europe.[1]
History
Franz Joseph Fröhlich, a musicologist and lecturer of the arts at the University of Würzburg assembled the collection as it was formerly know Ästhetisches Attribut in 1832 with a purchase budget by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. This was the nucleus of the university art museum, which was then located on the upper floor of the old university. Fröhlich's art collection, mainly comprised Dutch masters of the 17th and 18th centuries.
In 1857 the German-Roman painter and sculptor Johann Martin von Wagner (1777-1858) donated his large collection of ancient and modern works which substantially extended the art collection. Wagner was also active as an archaeologist built up this large collection while working as artistic agent for the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Important works such as the Head of a Centaur from the Parthenon or the Madonna del Bambino Vispo were now included in the “Aesthetic Attribute” inventory, along with thousands of valuable hand drawings and copperplate engravings, mainly by Italian masters of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In gratitude the museum adopted the name of Martin von Wagner.
In 1963 the museum was relocated to the south wing of the Würzburg Residence where it occupies most of the residence.[1][2]
Collections
The museum consists of two departments, one historic and one modern. The older department includes the collection of antiquities, the newer department is divided into the picture gallery and the graphic collection. The older and the newer departments of the Martin von Wagner Museum are headed by two habilitated scientists who are supported by an advisory board consisting of several museum-related specialists from the University of Würzburg and a total of four external members, who are usually heads of larger museum collections.[3]
