We have no way to know how many great works of art have been lost through the centuries, some to natural disaster, some to war, bronzes melted down to make armaments, paintings ripped up for oil rags, marble sculptures broken to use for building materials, wooden sculptures and works on paper burned for warmth In times of need. Pragmatic people will use what is at hand. Most heartbreaking: those lost or damaged in wartime. We can sympathize with people using materials they genuinely need. But the sheer waste of war, the uselessness of it? As the song goes, "War -- what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" The three works below were all damaged in what has been called the Flakturm Friedrichshain Fire. Flakturm: a large, above-ground, anti-aircraft tower. Tragically, a treasure-trove of masterpieces had been stored there for their protection. Instead, over 400 paintings and about 300 sculptures from the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin, now the Bode Museum, were lost to either looting or to the fires. How did the fires break out? The Germans blamed the Russians, the Russians blamed the Germans. Whoever knew, they are undoubtably gone today. The Soviets confiscated many surviving artworks, even those severely damaged. The three works below, damaged in that fire, are beautiful even in their brokenness, reminding us of our own fragility, how fleeting our lives truly are.
Portrait of a Young Girl, attributed to Mino da Fiesole (c. 1429-1484)
On the left, the sculpture as it appears today. On the right, a plaster cast, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, done before the original was damaged. The broken sculpture is part of a joint restoration project of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and the Bode Museum in Berlin.
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The Friedrichshain Madonna, c. 1450, terracotta, by Luca della Robbia (c. 1399/1400-1482)
Despite the smoke damage and its fragmented state, I find such a touching sweetness in this work, currently part of the restoration project.
Kneeling Angel, by Giambattista di Alberto Bregno (1482-1520)
Rather than being part of the reconstruction project, this work is on display at the Bode Museum in Berlin. Originally the hands were clasped in prayer.
For more information about the works lost in that terrible fire, see:
https://www.nga.gov/research/library/imagecollections/features/kaiser-friedrich.html
For more information about the joint restoration project of the Bode Museum and the Pushkin, see:
https://www.museumconservation.ru/?lang=en
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