It is astonishing that the impressive artistic development of the
imperial city of Vienna after its liberation from the Turkish menace in
1683 was stimulated and supported more vigorously by the leading
families of the aristocracy that it was by the Hapsburg rulers. Although
the military success of the Hapsburgs provides the historical and
economic as well as the psychological background for the flowering of "Vienna gloriosa,"
the imperial court did not function as an important patron of the arts
until relatively late, during the reign of Charles VI (1711–40). Until
then it was the great aristocratic families of the empire who, in the
years around 1700, turned Vienna into a Baroque city and a European art
center.
Because of its high social standing, the House of
Liechtenstein was obliged to play a leading role in this process; not
only were the Liechtensteins one of the most ancient noble families in
the realm, but they had been richly rewarded, after the Catholic victory
in the Battle of the White Mountain (1620), with extensive properties
in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia in recompense for their fidelity to the
Emperor. Prince Johann Adam Andreas (1657–1712) became regent of the
house of Liechtenstein in 1684, improving the economic management of his
debt-encumbered estates. Because of the resulting fiscal prosperity of
the house of Liechtenstein, Johann Adam may have been the only one of
his contemporaries who was in a position to patronize the arts purely on
the basis of personal taste and rigorous artistics standards. He
gleaned broad first-hand artistic knowledge from his grand "gentlemen's
tour" of Europe, focusing particularly on Italian art, and his continual
contact with the great art dealers of Europe and any great artist that
visited Vienna. This book illustrates and analyzes in detail the art,
architecture, and sculpture of the Garden Palace and the City Palace,
both monuments in Vienna of which Johann Adam of the house of
Liechtenstein was patron.
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