Inventarium von den- auf dem Königlichen Schlosse zu Hannover vorhandenen Portraits und Schildereÿen

            UNPUBLISHED INVENTORY OF THE HANOVER COLLECTION OF NEARLY TWELVE HUNDRED PAINTINGS HOUSED AT THE LEINESCHLOSS. Built in Hanover between 1636 and 1641 as the main residence of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Leineschloss included a church, a theater and over one hundred rooms. In the 1660s, Duke Johann Friedrich began amassing large collections of paintings and books, and the palace grew in size and splendor under his successor, Elector Ernest Augustus, whose son became King of England as George I (r. 1714-27).
           This inventory was prepared at the command of George III of England (r. 1760-1820) on the eve of the French invasion of June 1803. It lists masterpieces by, among others, Rubens, Cranach, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Kneller and Holbein (a portrait of Henry VIII), as well as "amateur" efforts, including six works by Princess Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate, one her celebrated self-portrait.
            Many of these art works have since been distributed to other Hanover estates, dispersed through auction, lost, stolen or destroyed. At the time this catalog was produced, they were stored, seemingly in great haste to protect them from looting and vandalism - in fifty-one rooms on two floors. For instance, three rooms above the church housed seven hundred sixty-two pieces!
            The paintings comprise mythological subjects, religious scenes, landscapes, still lives, genre paintings and MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED PORTRAITS OF EUROPEAN ROYALS, NOBLES, MILITARY LEADERS, COURT JESTERS, DWARVES, MISTRESSES, ARTISTS, GARDENERS.... Many entries give information on style (Flemish, Italian, life-size, equestrian, bust, etc.), shape and size. Some provide details on support (wood, copper or canvas) and technique. The compiler attributes about one hundred sixty works and dates a handful. The entry for Rubens' Alexander and Roxana (p. 3 no. 8) states it was the gift of Generalkriegkommissar J.G. von Ilten (1688-1749), an apparently previously unrecognized provenance. I have been able to identify, securely or tentatively, about one hundred seventy-five of the items listed here in public institutions or at auction in the past two decades. In good condition.
¶See Works of Art from the Royal House of Hanover (Sotheby's sale 5-15.X.2005) and Niedersächsischer Landtag's, Das Leineschloss im Wandel der Zeiten 4-8 and Das Leineschloss im Wandel der Zeiten 64-5, 109-10 & passim and Schnath's Das Leineschloss. Kloster, Fürstensitz, Landtagsgebäude.