Torrential rains in Germany caused the ceiling of the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, to flow. Gallery photos show a plastic sheet draped over the 1641 Rembrandt Van Rijn cloth Mennonite preacher Cornelis Claesz Anslo and his wife Aeltje Gerritsdr Schoutenand a white bucket on the floor in front of the work to catch water dripping from the ceiling.
The absurd scene was capture by David Grubbs, musician and professor at Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center in New York, and reported by Hyperallergic. Visit the museum’s central Rembrandt exhibition in Gallery Xhe was disturbed to find a sheet of plastic conduit taped to the wall, draped over the large board, the water dripping steadily into a bucket a few inches away.
“It was really weird,” Grubbs told Artnet News. “To the right of that, a smaller Rembrandt had been pulled out and a second ceiling leak was regularly plop-plop-plop into a bucket. There was a line of rainwater across the front of the plastic covering this larger Rembrandt; I guess given its size it was harder to remove and the covering (plastic and tape, literally) was temporary.
He did not see any museum staff or security personnel dealing with the artwork. “The small number of visitors were completely shocked, in disbelief,” Grubbs added.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Mennonite preacher Cornelis Claesz Anslo and his wife Aeltje Gerritsdr Schouten (1641). Collection of the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Museum guards discovered the leak around 4 p.m. Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Gemäldegalerie told Artnet News in an email. Germany had its “wettest spring” on record, according to the German Meteorological Servicewith flooded roads, train breakdowns and Berlin Open tennis matches postponedas reported by Associated Press.
“Restorers on site immediately provided ‘first aid’ and quickly secured corresponding areas in the lobby with special suction mats and a bucket,” the museum representative wrote. “Rembrandt’s painting of Mennonite preacher Anslo was first protected with aluminum foil before the heavy large-format painting was taken down shortly afterwards using a lifting platform.”
“No damage was done to the painting itself; thanks to the rapid intervention, no water arrived at work. It is currently stored at the depot. The site of the water leak has been inspected and secured,” the email continues. “The room affected and the whole Photo gallery stay open as usual.
The Gemäldegalerie houses a collection of 20 works by Rembrandt, a collection which it says is “one of the largest and most valuable in the world”. The museum features 1,200 works of art, with a particular focus on Dutch Golden Age masters and German and Italian painting from the 13th to 16th centuries.
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