June 14 – Vienna Austria. Last time we were in Vienna Diana wanted to see the Belvedere Palace but we couldn't fit it in so this time we're going to see it. There are two main buildings here the Upper and Lower Belvederes. Between the two is a very nice formal French style garden. We're going to visit the larger upper building to see the art collection. It was built in about 1717 and was the home of Prince Eugene and his family. In 1776 Maria Theresa and her son Emperor Joseph II decided to make it a public museum so people could enjoy the art. It opened as just that in 1781 making it one of the world's first public museums.
The art is wonderful but no photos allowed so I won't be able to show you any. The building is very ornate inside with frescoed ceilings and fancy moldings. They have a very nice collection of art from the Middle Ages. The best was The Adoration of the Magi by the Master of the Schotten Altar done in 1470. It shows Mary holding Jesus in her lap. He appears to be about 1.5 or 2 years old, just about right for the visit of the foreign kings. Even in the 1400s they were smart enough to know that they were not present at the stable. It shows one as a black man and the other two are European looking. They missed it on that one because they were probably Persian. That does not rule out one of them being black, it's the Anglos that are the problem.
The Baroque collection favorite is harder to pick, there were several that were very attractive to me. I guess I would pick the picture of Saint Martin done by Martin Johann Schmidt in 1772. Its shape indicates that it was part of an altar piece or reredos at one time. At the very top the artist has placed the Holy Trinity, in the middle is Saint Martin and below him is a man, shabbily dressed, obviously appealing to him for help. In the poor man's hands is a red cloak. Above Martin and below the Trinity is an angel also bearing a red cloak up to Jesus. This painting refers to an incident that occurred while Saint Martin was a soldier. While riding on the road Saint Martin met a beggar and cut is cloak in half to share it with him. That evening Martin had a dream in which he saw Jesus wearing the half cloak.
They had more Biedermeier paintings then I've ever seen in one place. Biedermeier is defined as an Austrian style that started with the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and ended with the revolution of 1848. The stated goal of the style was realistic portrayal of the person, thing or place being painted. It's a wonderful style and my favorite is the portrait of Rudolf von Arthaber and his children, Rudolf II, Emilie and Gustav. It was painted just after his wife and their mother died. The family grouping is very close. Rudolf Sr. is seated on a small couch with young Gustav on his lap, little Emilie at his side and Rudolf II sitting on the floor resting against he knee. They are obviously taking comfort in being near each other and everyone but Gustav has a melancholy expression. He's a bit too young to understand what has happened. It's simultaneously a warm and sad scene. Excellent.
It's a great collection and merits more time than we had to give it. We have our first function on our Trafalgar tour this afternoon and had to get back to the hotel.
We finally joined up with our bus tour for an afternoon tour of Vienna. We've been here a couple of times so this tour will probably not be anything new but we wanted to get to know our fellow travelers and Vienna's a lovely place so it will be ok to see it again. We saw all the usual suspects, Saint Stephen's Cathedral, the Hofburg, the Fine Arts Museum, the State Opera House and others.
It was nice to meet our fellow travelers for the next two weeks. Should be a nice trip.
Would love to visit Vienna!
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