The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia presented the National Gallery of Slovenia with a facsimile edition of the Iconotheca Valvasoriana in seventeen volumes, which was published by the Janez Vajkard Valvasor Foundation at the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU). The project leader and editor of the facsimile edition is Dr Lojze Gostiša.
The Iconotheca Valvasoriana is a scholarly and critically commented collection of 7752 prints, which were collected by Johann Weichard Valvasor (1641–1693). It includes prints, drawings and watercolours of various formats, which Valvasor bought on his travels across Europe between 1659 and 1672, and had bound into eighteen books, of which one has been lost. He arranged them according to technique, artists’ ethnic origin and themes: depictions of the Old and New Testament, images of saints, antique motifs and diverse secular genre scenes, portraits, coats-of-arms, vedute, maps, as well as the animal and plant kingdom. Among them are works by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Martin Schongauer, Jacques Callot, as well as other European masters of the 16th and 17th century.
After publishing The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola Valvasor was reduced to poverty and was forced to sell all his property. The print collection and library was bought by Zagreb Bishop Ignacij Aleksander Mikulić and today the original is kept by the Metropolitana Library of the Zagreb Archdiocese.
The facsimile edition of the Iconotheca Valvasoriana is an important acquisition of the library fund of the National Gallery of Slovenia, and an invaluable resource for the scholarly study and research of the gallery.
Coordination of the exhibition
Mateja Krapež and Tina Buh
Preparation of material
Tina Buh
Selection of material
Andrej Smrekar
Exhibition set-up
Technical team of the National Gallery of Slovenia
The exhibition was made possible by
the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia
24 December 2009–31 January 2010
National Gallery of Slovenia
Narodni dom Gallery
Cankarjeva 20
1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia