17.07.2024
Kunstgewerbemuseum
A 360° tour through the special exhibition José Canops: Extraordinary Furniture from the World of Charles III of Spain (r. 1759–1788), displayed at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin from October 2023 until February 2024, now makes it possible to view the show virtually.
The virtual tour is not video-based but rather an interactive experience allowing visitors to explore the exhibition from 17 viewpoints. It is also possible to move freely through the exhibition space anytime, zooming in and out as desired.
The exhibited objects with commentaries and videos can be viewed up close to discover more about them – particularly the maps, which can thus be studied in extreme detail. The audio commentaries often stem from the German curators’ tours through the exhibition.
The Kunstgewerbemuseum dedicated a solo exhibition to José Canops (1733–1814), a cabinetmaker of German descent, from 12 October 2023 to 11 February 2024. During the second half of the 18th century, he produced masterpieces of furniture art in Madrid as the court cabinetmaker for King Charles III of Spain. The exhibition was the first outside Spain to present Canops’s largely unknown oeuvre. In addition to spectacular furniture, there was a wide-ranging treasure trove of books, prints, maps, musical instruments and works of applied art that provided insights into the broader context of this period. The starting point for the special exhibition was the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s acquisition of a piece of writing furniture created by Canops.
The exhibition and publication were funded by the Birkelsche Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Rudolf-August Oetker-Stiftung, the Julius-Lessing-Gesellschaft and the Embassy of Spain in Berlin.
