The paper discusses paintings commissioned by Johann Karl Count of Gaisruck (1714–1770) for his mansions Neu-Cilli and Turnisch. The commissions of paintings and wallpapers are put in context of the patron's biography and his financial situation. Renewed study of the Gaisruck's Fideikommiss documents in the Styrian Provincial Archives in Graz revealed that count Johann Karl and his elder brother Anton engaged altogether five painters: Johann Baptist Anton Raunacher, Franz Josef Reich, Johann Franz Pettunfill, Anton Josef Lerchinger and Josef Cassian Gasser. The paper sheds light on the Gaisruck' portraits by Josef Cassian Gasser in the main hall of the Neu-Cilli Mansion and on canvas wallpapers painted for three rooms of the same mansion. The author argues that the representaion with loyalty to Maria Theresia, emphasized in older literature, was less important for count Johann Karl's art commissions as representation with his own biography.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40792877
The article focuses on prince-bishop of the Lavantine diocese Dr. Mihael Napotnik and his role in the field of 19th century ecclesiastical architecture. Despite the fact that prince-bishop Napotnik was living at the turn of 19th and 20th century, his patronage style was typical for the early modern time, which is why he can be perceived as the last stage of this kind of art patron. Thanks to prince-bishop's interest and popularisation of building activity in his diocese (including books, published sermons, etc.), the Lavantine Diocese got several new churches of high artistic quality. The special place among them goes to the Franciscan church of Our Lady of Mercy in Maribor and parish church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Brestanica.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40514861
A chapter in the proceedings on early modern art market, published by German publishing House Michael Imhof Verlag in the frames of the ERC funded project Arttifex (PI. Andreas Tacke, University of Trier). It is the first study of attributions and valuations of paintings in 17th and 18th century in Inner Austria in a wider sample of archival records. It bases on the analysis of records of attributed paintings extracted from ca. 400 probate inventories of Carniolan and Styrian aristocracy dating between the mid-17th and mid-18th century. The comparison of inventory valuations with prices of paintings sold on the local market (such as paintings sold by the Flemish art dealing company Forchondt to collectors in Styria) reveals discrepancies. Although inventory valuations do not reveal actual price range of paintings and are as such biased, they – when properly interpreted and contextualised – offer a valuable insight into collecting preferences, level of connoisseurship and reception of individual artists and subject matters.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40805165
The article discusses four series of tapestries which were used by Maria Raimund Count of Saurau (1739–1796) to furnish four rooms of Premstätten Manor. The four series of Premstätten tapestries were made in the late 17th and probably early 18th century in Antwerp and Oudenaarde; two of them were based on designs by Lodewijk van Schoor and Pieter Spierinckx. The article analyses records of the tapestries in the probate inventories of Maria Raimund, Count of Saurau, and his ancestors from the Saurau, Wagensberg and Dietrichstein families. Among Maria Raimund’s ancestors, the owner of the largest tapestry collection was Johann Balthasar Count of Wagensberg (1652–1693). His collection comprised 65 tapestries. In the late 17th and early 18th century, new tapestries woven with silk were among the costliest items in the furnishings of the Styrian town and country noble residences. However, in just a few decades their value depreciated heavily, as they were not in accordance with the latest fashion trends. Therefore, in Styria, only the series of tapestries that were transferred in the 18th century to the countryside residences have survived (i.e. the tapestries of the Counts of Leslie in Ptuj, of the Counts of Attems in Slovenska Bistrica and of the Counts of Saurau in Premstätten.
COBISS.SI-ID: 42498349
The paper analyzes the family portraits of Ignaz Maria, Count of Attems, with his sons, and Maria Regina, Countess of Wurmbrand with her daughter and sons, painted in the oil technique for the Great Hall in the Brežice Castle (Ger. Rann). The portraits have been kept at Schloss Eggenberg of the Landesmuseum Joanneum since 2010. The were painted by Franz Carl Remp, who depicted himself in fresco technique in full figure in a representative place in the center of the hall as the only person from the present. In the portrait, Ignaz Maria, who, according to archival sources, participated as an architect in the construction and rebuilding of his residences, is presented as an architect-creator and an architect-founder of the new Styrian family. A careful arrangement of historized portraits, with which the proud parents wanted to preserve for eternity the image of an artistically generous and ambitious family that prospers in peace and love, in connection to the painter's self-portrait, is exceptional. Even though numerous possible sources for the paintings can be named, they served only as an inspiration for a unique work of art.
COBISS.SI-ID: 44247597