PINAKOTHEK (Ger.. from Gk. rtvaico(h)rl, ping kothil, picture-gallery, from 7(1,4, innax, picture, Otsm, receptacle). Among the 11ellenes, a term used to designate a room or building near a temple, for the preservation of pictures brought as votive offerings to the gods. The Romans applied it to the entrance to the atrium of a house, which often contained statues, pictures, and other objects of art. Pinocoteca is the usual Italian term for a gallery oT paint ings; but the most celebrated collection hearing this name is the Pinakothek in Munich, erected in 1820-36. after designs by Klenze, the architect of the Glyptothek. The New Pinakothek was completed in 1853, and in it are placed the works of contemporary artists. The main gallery is one of the most important in its contents in Europe, especially for works of the early German and Italian schools. It was the earliest impor tant public gallery formed in Germany, but dur ing the last half century has not kept pace with that of Berlin. The largest hall in the building
is devoted to ninety-five works by Rubens, and there are a number of Raphaels. There are alto gether over 1300 paintings, including specimens of elm:time. Giotto. Leonardo da Vinci, Correg gio, Titian, Michelangelo. Diirer. Rembrandt, and Van Dyke. It comprises the best works of the royal collections, these being arranged with re gard to their various schools, in nine halls and twenty-three compartments. The building is itself a monument of art, one of its corridors be ing divided into twenty-five loggie frescoed by Cornelius, with works illustrative of the history of the fine arts in the Middle Ages. The lower story of the building contains 9000 by the old masters; the original drawings for Cor nelius's loggie; and a cabinet of more than 300. 000 engravings. There is also an important col lection of Etruscan and other vases, and other works of antiquity.