The Black Von Scrolls

Traveling from Berlin to Vienna, I was overloaded in historical material revolving the Habsburgs. Although I’ve spent many hours in the Deutscheshistorishes museum in Berlin over the past few years; this time I continued on to Vienna. There I was able to visit entire museums dedicated to the Habsburg art collections and fortunes.

Many Habsburg emperors and kings amassed giant art collections, much larger than I could have ever imagined. Some of the Habsburgs behaved like Charles Saatchi, snapping up all the great artists of their time. Walking to the Kunsthistorisches museum my eyes widened; to the right – a building the size of The Met, and to my left, another exact replica. These two buildings face each other and are one museum.  American museums can’t scratch on these kind of collections, or the history.

I walked upstairs to go directly to the Velázquez paintings, but slowed down. The amount of Cranach, Dürer, Van Dyck, Titian, Velázquez, Rembrandt, and Rubens was staggering. The list goes on and on. If you were wondering where many priceless masterpieces live, Vienna has them – and they are now national treasures all due to some crafty collecting by the royals.

Leopold Wilhelm, Peter Thys, 1650/56

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels gallery, David Teniers, 1651

The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, patron of the arts throughout the Spanish Netherlands, amassed over 1,400 artworks which are included in the Kunsthistorisches museum today. Although I am not interested most of the religious paintings, there were some stunning portraits - and a lot of weird, cryptic stuff which grabbed my attention:

Head of Medusa, Peter Paul Rubens, 1617/18

Lucretia, Joos van Cleve, 1520/25

St. Margaret, Raffael and workshop, 1518

Snakes, chicks and sharp objects were all part of a well-rounded Renaissance. But that said, Habsburgs portraits are my real focus. I can pick their profile out from several feet away, they exude a special kind of royal ugly and smugness. From their droopy big eyes, to their famous jaw – Habsburgs often look suffocated, yet resolved. Surely there were emperors or kings who enjoyed their position of power, but others who wished to be anywhere else. Here are just a few from the collection:

Archduke Ferdinand, Hans Maler, 1521

Emperor Charles V, Jakob Seisenegger, 1532

Emperor Maximilian I, Peter Paul Rubens, 1618

King Philip IV of Spain, Diego Velázquez, 1632

King Charles II of Spain, Juan Carreño de Miranda, 1685

Power must have been a heavy burden. For Charles II, it definitely was. But for other great rulers such as Charles V, he filled his shoes well. Much of Andulucía, Spain, is scattered with buildings from his empire.

The museum is filled with unbelievable portraits and countless treasures. There is still more research to unearth. I will continue to post more findings in the next several days as I compile my notes. Meanwhile, my new Habsburg series is underway and moving ahead.