Emily Opper

 

Visual Art in Vienna: Renaissance-1830

 

When one thinks about Vienna from the period of time from the Renaissance up to the 1830's, visual art doesn’t really come to mind.  The reason for this is that art was not prominent during much of this time. 

The history of visual art in Vienna from the 16^th until at least the 18^th century is in large part the history of Vienna as the seat of the Hapsburg Empire.  When the emperor was based in Vienna the arts gained status and commission.  When the reigning emperor moved the seat of power, the visual arts suffered a corresponding decline in the city.

During the years from 1493 to 1519 Emperor Maximillian I reigned.  Although he made Vienna a center of scholarly activities, he did not live there.  At that time, patronage by the royalty was the main source of support for the arts.   Therefore, the arts suffered during Maximillian’s reign since he did not commission works in Vienna.  However, since Vienna was developing as an educational center, many foreigners came to the City, some of whom were visual artists.  The primary works of significance at the beginning of the 16^th century were by foreign artists such as Lucas Cranach of Holland, who painted scholars at Vienna’s university. 

Under Charles V who reigned next, there was a further decline in artistic life.  He was rarely Vienna at all and during his reign the empire suffered from a great fire and the first Ottoman siege. ^[1]   When Ferdinand I became emperor in 1558, he decided to settle in Vienna and as a result artistic life flourished. Under his reign and that of his son, Maximillian II, Italian artists moved to Vienna in order to benefit from these Emperors’ patronage.  Maximillian was the first to actually collect art.

When the imperial court moved from Vienna to Prague under Rudolf II, who reigned from 1576-1612, there was once again a decline in the arts in Vienna.  Not only was the seat of power once again moved but the Counter-Reformation was in full swing during this period.  Most of the art at this time was commissioned by the churches and the artists were checked to make sure they were only using the themes the church sanctioned. 

Under the emperors Mathias and Ferdinand II, the imperial court returned to Vienna.  The Thirty Years War, from 1618-1648 really put a strain on artistic and cultural life.  One of the few significant Austrian artists, Tobias Poca of Konstanz, painted the Martyrdom of St. Stephen for the high altar in the cathedral of Vienna.  However, for the most part, art during this time was of poor quality.  This was because of the lack of freedom as well as the lack of training for artists during this period.  The lack of freedom was caused by the fact that painters and sculptors had to belong to guilds and follow their rules. Only the few artists who worked directly for the court had any creative freedom at all.  Along with the lack of freedom, the guilds’ training of artists was poor.  During most of the 17^th Century Viennese art was of poor quality compared to the art in the other parts of Europe.

 In 1692 the Kaiserliche Akademie was founded by Peter Strudel in an effort promote the arts.  The Kaiserliche Akademie was not successful and closed after Strudel died in 1714.  In 1725 the Akademie de Maler, Bidhaur und Baukunstler was founded by Jacob van Schuppen, who had trained as a painter in Paris.  This institution was successful and really helped to train new artists, enrolling 200 students a year.

Austrian painters and sculptors began receiving important commissions in the early 18^th century.  Johann Michael Rottmayr was a well-known artist during this time.  He had trained in Italy and painted in the Baroque style that was popular during this period of time.  The most influential painter was George Raphael Donner.  His most famous piece was the Providetia Fountain, which he did in 1739.  It was commissioned by the city authorities for the Neuer Markt.  During this time period there was an increased interest in collecting art.  Although the Hapsburgs Emperors, such as Charles VI, were great art patrons, commissions were no longer only given by the Emperor or the Church, nobles also patronized artists. This resulted in a great flourishing if artistic life in 18^th Century Vienna.  The later part of the Century also saw a change from Italian influence to French influence in Vienna’s artistic life.

The period of time between 1815 and 1848 in Vienna is associated with the idea Biedermeier.  Biedermeier involves a personal, intimate attitude towards life and developed with the growth of the middle class.  Painters of this school painted  landscapes, flowers and portraits.  Art in Vienna flourished.  History painting, on the other hand, was being promoted in France as means of propaganda for nationalist and patriotic ideas but was not that significant in Vienna.  The main Biedermeier painters were Ferdinand George Waldmuller, Peter Fendi, and Josef Franz Dahauser.  Waldmuller was a teacher at the Akademie and was a strong realist painter.  He painted the Vienna Woods and the Bourgouseie.  Rudolf Alt was the most important watercolor painter of this time and tried to capture Vienna through his paintings.  “Together with the political and social withdrawal into private sphere that was characteristic of Biedermeier, Viennese decorative arts attained an extraordinary level of quality at this time, attested by exquisite objects in glass, porcelain, and silver as well as furniture; collectively this art is summed up as ‘Alt-Wiener Kunst’.” ^[2]        

 One can see from this overview how the roles of monarchy, the church and the artisans’ guilds affected the visual arts in Vienna during the period discussed.  Only when the artists no longer had to rely solely on the Emperor or the Church and were freed from the guild restrictions could they develop and flourish creatively and prolifically.