Mannerism – a stylistic movement reflecting an era of change
Mannerism as a term denotes a movement in European art between the Renaissance and the Baroque which began in 1520 and ended shortly after 1600. Starting from Florence it spread across central and northern Europe in the latter half of the 16th century. Mannerist art is characterised by a rejection of the classical compositional principles and ideal proportions of the High Renaissance, whose predilection for motifs taken from the art of antiquity ran counter to the tenor of the Counter-Reformation. Artists now turned to exaggerated, often deliberately discordant accents, in a spirit that manifested itself particularly in elongated, often very dynamic figures in contorted poses.
The Habsburg court at Prague and Prince Karl I von Liechtenstein
The most important and largest collector of art in Europe during this time was Emperor Rudolf II (1552/76–1612), who had moved the court to Prague. In 1597 he became aware of the superb art collection of Prince Karl I (1569/1608–1627) and acquired a number of select works from the latter.
Obeying the summons of the emperor, Karl assumed the office of head of the imperial court household in Prague in 1600, receiving the honorary title of count palatine in 1607. A fter the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620 he was appointed viceroy of Bohemia by Emperor Ferdinand II (1578/1619- 1637).
The prince used his political standing to promote artists such as Hans von Aachen, Joseph Heintz the Elder, Bartholomäus Spranger or Adrian de Fries as court artists, also entrusting them with commissions of his own.
The larger-than-life-size bronzes of Christ in Distress (1607) and St Sebastian (1615) by Adrian de Fries thus belong to the oldest core of the Liechtenstein art collections.
Two major new acquisitions
Although the historical inventories of the Princely Collections list a large number of paintings by the Prague School, all except a few disappeared over the course of the following centuries.
However, two important paintings by the Mannerist painters at the Prague court have recently been acquired, constituting a major addition to the extant holdings: Hans von Aachen’s Diana and her Nymphs Resting after the Chase (c. 1602) and the monumental altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin by Joseph Heintz the Elder, which are now being presented for the first time following extensive restoration, form the centre of this superb exhibition.
Paintings, sculptures and works of pietra dura in the holdings of the Princely Collections were created by the circle of artists associated with the Prague court. These will be complemented by loans from Austrian and international collections, for example four major works by Adrian de Fries, highlighting the significance of this short-lived centre of European art. |
