Content Exhibition Facts Press Release Introduction Wall Texts (Selection) Exhibition Facts Press conference 15 February 2019 | 10 am Opening 15 February 2019 | 6.30 pm Duration 16 February – 10 June 2019 Venue Kahn Galleries Curators Dr Johann Kräftner, Director LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna Laura Ritter, ALBERTINA Works 110 Catalogue Available for EUR 34.90 (English) & EUR 32.90 (German) onsite at the Museum Shop as well as via www.albertina.at Audio guides German, English, Italian & Russian Contact Albertinaplatz 1 | 1010 Vienna T +43 (01) 534 83 0 [email protected] www.albertina.at Opening Hours Daily 10 am – 6 pm | Wednesdays & Fridays 10 am – 9pm Press contact Fiona Sara Schmidt T +43 (01) 534 83 511 | M +43 (0)699 12178720 [email protected] Sarah Wulbrandt T +43 (01) 534 83 512 | M +43 (0)699 10981743 [email protected] Rubens to Makart Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections 16 February – 10 June 2019 On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Principality of Liechtenstein in 2019, the ALBERTINA Museum is presenting a comprehensive selection of the most outstanding works from the Princely Collections under the title From Rubens to Makart. The museum is also devoting a simultaneous, separate jubilee exhibition to the Viennese watercolor, an important and central category of works within the Princely Collections, in an exhibition entitled Rudolf von Alt and his Time. Five Centuries of Art History Well over 100 of the most important paintings and sculptures from the exquisite collection of this family, rich in tradition like few others in Europe, span an impressive range from the Early Renaissance in Italy to the Baroque period, from Viennese Biedermeier to the historicism of the Makart era. Iconic works such as Antico’s Bust of Marcus Aurelius, which was acquired for the Princely Collections just recently, the life-size bronze sculptures of Adrian de Vries, and Peter Paul Rubens’s famous Venus in Front of the Mirror are the focus of an exhibition that amounts to a veritable promenade through five centuries of art history. A Private Collecting Passion of The Highest Order The documentation of the Liechtenstein Princes’ continuous and passionate collecting activities goes back over 400 years—a period during which outstanding personalities and their individual artistic tastes gradually gave rise to a private collection that remains unparalleled to this day. And as a city in which the princely family maintained a permanent residence until 1938, Vienna is of exceptional significance: under Prince Johann Adam Andreas I, who acquired numerous masterpieces of the Flemish Baroque, the collection was presented on the second bel étage of the newly built Liechtenstein City Palace on Bankgasse (formerly known as Schenkenstraße) beginning in 1705. In 1810, Prince Johann I of Liechtenstein made his masterpieces accessible to the Viennese public for the first time at the family’s Garden Palace in the Rossau neighborhood. During the Second World War, the family transferred its residence—and thus also its collections—to the Principality of Liechtenstein. Ever since then, the official home of the Princely Collections has been in Vaduz. Selected works are permanently displayed in the galleries of the Liechtenstein Garden Palace and City Palace in Vienna, however, and these can be viewed by the general public as part of guided tours. Recontextualization This exhibition presents the Princely Collections’ greatest treasures, providing an exemplary impression of their formidable richness. In contrast to the permanent presentation at the Liechtenstein family’s two Viennese palaces, within which these works can be experienced more or less in their traditional context, one of the central intentions of this exhibition lies in their recontextualization: the reduced setting of the ALBERTINA Museum, with its modern spaces, makes possible a fresh look at the masterpieces on exhibit. In lieu of art-historical stringency, the primary objective here has been to arrive at a form of presentation determined by aesthetic considerations. And it is thus that, through alternative groupings and/or deliberate isolation, these paintings and sculptures now tell entirely different stories. Introduction The House of Liechtenstein’s magnificent art collections rank among the most important and largest private collections in the world, comparable only to those of the British royal family. They comprise imposing sculptures and paintings of the Renaissance and the Baroque by Adrian de Vries, Rubens, and van Dyck, superb works by the Italian and French artists Giambologna, Canaletto, and Hyacinthe Rigaud, masterpieces of the Viennese Biedermeier by Amerling and Waldmüller, as well as exquisite paintings of the Makart era. The House of Liechtenstein, originally an Austrian noble dynasty, had held vast possessions in Lower Austria and Moravia since the Middle Ages. In 1599, Karl I von Liechtenstein converted from the Protestant faith to Catholicism. In 1608 he received the title of hereditary prince and thus laid the foundation for the rise of the House of Liechtenstein. In the early eighteenth century the collections, conserved in the princely family’s diverse castles and palaces, were transferred to the City Palace in Vienna. Three hundred years ago, in 1719, Emperor Charles VI elevated the neighboring estates of Vaduz and Schellenberg to the status of Imperial Principality: Liechtenstein became a sovereign state within the Holy Roman Empire. From 1807 onward, Johann I von Liechtenstein had the extensive picture gallery transferred from the Viennese City Palace to the Summer Palace outside the town walls. In 1810, five years after Duke Albert, the ALBERTINA’s founder, the House of Liechtenstein likewise made its collections accessible to the public. A year earlier Prince Johann I von Liechtenstein had fought side by side with Generalissimo Archduke Carl in the Battle of Aspern (1809). He had this first victory over Napoleon’s troops captured in a monumental painting by Johann Peter Krafft (now on view in the ALBERTINA’s staterooms as a permanent loan from the Princely Collections). In the nineteenth century, Prince Alois II and his son, Johann II, became the most prominent patrons and collectors of Viennese Biedermeier art. Hundreds of paintings by Waldmüller, Fendi, Amerling, and Rudolf von Alt in today’s Viennese collections go back to Johann II’s donations. The House of Liechtenstein’s collections survived the First World War and the downfall of the Habsburg monarchy unscathed. In the final weeks of the Second World War, they were relocated from Vienna to the neutral Principality of Liechtenstein for reasons of safety. In days of economic hardship and dispossessions following Europe’s division into East and West, many paintings were sold, including key works by Leonardo, Canaletto, and Rubens. Only under Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein has the family’s art collection begun to grow again substantially. Exhibiting the most beautiful and important masterpieces from the Princely Collections, the ALBERTINA Museum is celebrating the Principality’s 300th anniversary in the palace of Duke Albert and Archduke Carl, both of whom once maintained such close relations with the House of Liechtenstein. Wall Texts (Selection) Naddo Ceccarelli In addition to images of the Madonna, the Ecce Homo motif became a key theme of Christian art starting in the Trecento. In their depictions of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, both Naddo Ceccarelli (active c. 1330–60) and Marco Palmezzano (1459–1539) have succeeded in depicting Jesus's silent suffering in a most unique fashion. The two paintings represent highlights of religious art from the Princely Collections. The figure of the dead Savior is shown in the pose of a half-length figure standing in a sarcophagus that is also typical of icon painting. The unnatural posture illustrates the divinity of Christ, who died as a human. A devotional paintingfrom fifteenth-century Ferrara was equally intended to arouse sympathy and compassion in the viewer. The Redeemer wears the coronation rohe and crown of thorns, his facial features expressing silent, introverted grief rather than suffering. This type of image in which the figure of Christ is removed from any narrative context is referred to as Christ in Repose. Antico The medalist, goldsmith, and sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari-Bonacolsi (c. 1455–1528) was Mantua's leading sculptor at the time. His nickname ''Antico '' testifies to his profound knowledge of the classical word. This Bust of a Youth, which dates from around 1520, was probably commissioned by Isabella d'Este. The young man turns his head slightly to the side, and his eyes gaze down into the void, as if in introspection. His pensiveness is combined with a hint of melancholy, yet his expression is wakeful and eloquent. The lavishly curled hair lends the head a strong sculptural appeal. Despite the alternation of smoothly polished suifaces, protruding forms, and linear accents, Antico infuses the bust with the greatest sense of coherence. In hardly any other work did the artist succeed in conveying such a subtle psychologizing consolidation of the sitter. This magnificent sculpture of Marcus Aurelius is one of most spectacular responses of the Italian Renaissance to antiquity. The Roman emperor was famous for his wisdom and in the sixteenth century was celebrated as the author of the Meditations. Pier Jacopo Alari- Bonacolsi, nicknamed ''Antico'' (c. 1455–1528), has created an entirely new image here, one that represents the experienced ruler at the height of his powers, but still in the vigor of full manhood. The gilding suggests that it must have been an exceptionally costly commission. The papal court in Rome would seem the most likely context for such a splendid and luxurious object as the Bust of Marcus Aurelius. Quentin Massys The painting The Tax Collectors was executed in Antwerp during the financial crisis of the 1520s. In the very city that, as a cradle of capitalism, bad rapidly developed into Europe s most important commercial hub, Quentin Massys (1466–1530) addressed the perils of avarice and cupidity.