doppelgängers

Featuring paintings that lave long remained hidden in storage as “doppelgängers” of originals, the Old Masters presentation is devoted to different forms of copying and imitation. Artistic re-creations, whether faithful replicas or free pastiches, were often an expression of the high esteem in which an original was held and a response to popular demand on the art market. Most copies entered the Städel Museum’s collection because they were mistaken for originals. Over the course of the 19th century, when they were successively identified as copies, they were banished from the gallery. With the presentation, they get the chance to be in the spotlight again.