RUBENS TO MAKART. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

RUBENS TO MAKART. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections
Over 100 masterpieces over 500 years of art history: On the occasion of the Tricentennial of the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Albertina shows masterpieces of the Princely Collection, one of the most important private collections worldwide, until June 10th.

The Liechtenstein collection is the last princely collection of its kind in Vienna, the works are usually stored in depots or in the two palaces of the Liechtenstein family in Vienna: The city palace in Bankgasse and the garden palace in Fürstengasse. Since 2011 the works can only to be seen in special guided tours. In the 20th century there have been substantial losses for the collection due to war, expropriation and exile. In 1967 Prince Franz Josef II sold Da Vinci’s Ginevra de’ Benci to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Presently Prince Hans Adam II is investing in new acquisitions or repurchases. A large part of the items on display in the exhibition have been purchased in the last decades. One of the new acquisitions is presented to the public for the first time: the gold-plated bronze bust of Marcus Aurelius by Renaissance sculptor Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari-Bonacolsi), acquired in 2016. The life-size bronze sculptures by Dutch Manierist Adran De Vries are also a spectacular sight in the exhibition.

There is another masterpiece by Rubens that had never left Liechtenstein Palace before, the Venus before the Mirror (1613/14), a fascinating painting where Venus seems to look at the viewer over through her mirror. It is one of a number of paintings by Rubens that Prince Adam Andreas I. had acquired during the Baroque period.

In the exhibition with 110 masterpieces, there are works from the late Gothic period (1340) up to Hans Makart (1875) with his „Death of Cleopatra“, purchased by the Liechtensteins in 2014. The artist kept it in his studio until his death. There are other new acquisitions on display, like a large painting by Jacob Jordaens, or the « Tax Collectors » by Flemish master Quentin Massis, as well a « Portrait of a Man » by Frans Hals (1650/52). Besides history paintings there are many portraits, especially by Frans Hals and Anthonis Van Dyck, or Giuseppe Archimboldo’s „Terra“, a head in profile consisting of animals. „Diana and her Nymphs“ by Hans von Aachen is also remarkable. Besides still-lifes and vedute like one by Canaletto there are paintings familiar to the public, like Rubens‘ portrait of his daughter Clara Serena. However, the hanging of the pictures in the Albertina is more intimate than in the palace, on eye level. (written by Cem Angeli)

Albertina Museum | albertina.at
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