The Art Of The Vienna Galleries

PREFACE IF this book should induce art lovers to visit Vienna and view its museums, only devout desire would be fulfilled but also - which is of far greater importance - a distinct service would have been rendered to these art lovers. For the Vienna Galleries of paintings are, with the exception of the Hermitage Gallery in St. Petersburg, the least known of those in Europe but it may be said without exaggeration that they are among the most important. They are especially rich in the works of masters not generally known to art lovers, but of equal rank and often higher merit than those whose names are more familiar. The wealth of these Galleries may be estimated when we consider that the Imperial Museum shows over twenty-six hundred paintings the Academy Collection, twelve hundred the Liechtenstein, over eight hundred the Czernin, three hundred and fifty the Harrach, almost four hundred the Schonbrunn, one hundred and fifty and the Lower Belvedere Gallery, one hundred, or about five thou- sand five hundred paintings in all. Many of these v vi Preface are priceless jewels. Titian, Palma, Giorgione, Tintoretto, and some Flemish artists, notably Pieter Breughel, the Elder, are nowhere so abundantly represented. The older German school, so difficult to appreciate because its inasterworks are distributed over so many Germanic museums, may here be reviewed alinost completely. The famous Rubens Gallery of the Louvre is rivalled by a collection in the Vienna Imperial Museum of almost fifty undoubted examples of the masters work, in which he may be studied more coinprehensively than any- where else. Although there is a noticeable lack of the 18th century French artists, or of the Italian Quattrocenti, there are many interesting Trecenii, and an unrivalled display of the minor Dutch and Flemish painters. Waagen has well said that Vienna surpasses all cities of Germany in the importance of its art collections, and may in Europe be coinpared only with those of London, Rome, Paris, and St. Petersburg. Since the majority of the artists represented in the different galleries are frequently mentioned in the book, the dates of their births and deaths have been omitted from the text to avoid unnecessary repetition. These dates, however, are given in the Index. DAVID C. PREYER. Qeon tents PREFACE . . . . . . CHAPTER I. THE MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES OF VIENNA . 11. THE IMPERIAL MUSEUM - THE ITALIAN PAINTINGS 111. THE FRENCH AND SPANISH PAINTINGS . IV. THE FLEMISH AND DUTCH PAINTINGS . V. THE EARLY GERMAN PAINTERS . VI. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY PAINTINGS. VII. THE GALLERY OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS . VIII. THE COLLECTION OF THE PRINCE VON LIECHTENSTEIN IX. THE COLLECTION OF COUNT CZERNIN . X. THE COLLECTION OF COUNT VON HAR- RACH . XI. HE COLLECTION OF COUNT BUCHHEIM SCHONBORN- XII. THE COLLECTION OF MODERN PAINTINGS IN THE LOWER BELVEDERE . BIBLIOGRAPHY . INDEX . v PACE v PLATE I v11 VIII XIIT. XIV xv XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII PAGE DURER. - Madonna of the Cut Pear . Frontispiece BENOZZO GOZZOLI. - Adoration . . . . . 14 AMBROGIO DE PILEDIS.- Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I. . . . . . . . . 25 RAPHAEL. - Madonna of the Meadow . . . 28 FRANCESCO PARMIGIANINO. - Cupid trimming his Bow . . . . . . . . . . 35 PALIA VECCHIO. - Portrait of a Lady . . 44 TITIAN. -Madonna with the Cherries . . 48 ALESSANDRO BONVICINO. - St. Justina . . . 57 FRANCOIS CLOUET. - Portrait of Charles IX. of France . . . . . . . . . 71 VELASQUEZ. -Laughing Boy . . . . . 78 HUGO VAN DER GOES. - Lamentation of Christ . 85 PIETER BREUGHEL, THE ELDER. -Winter . . 95 RUBENS. - Portrait of Helene Fourment. The Pelise . . . . . . . . . 99 VAN DYCK. - Portrait of Prince Rhodokanakis . I I I ADRIAEN BROUWER. - Drinking Peasant . . . I 16 Mv.-MansPortrait . . . . . 119 REMBRANDT...