As part of our vacation to Vienna, my better half and I enjoyed the culture on offer.
For your entertainment, here is a bust.
I had this sculptor's work on my "must see" list. His head is pulling a great face and is one of a collection of very amusing and expressive faces.
Can you guess from which period of art this comes?
I'll give you a moment...
Here is a random painting to give you some thinking time. You should know this person as Eugene of Savoy - one of, if not the greatest general of his age and contemporary of the Duke of Marlborough.
Okay! Time is up.
The bust comes from the Baroque Period - mid 18th century. The sculptor is Franz Xavier Messerschmidt. He was known for doing busts like this one of the Empress Maria Therese.
All of the above are found in the Upper Belvedere. One of the palaces that Eugene built for himself. Ahhhh, the fortunes of war. Literally in this case!
Cool pics Rich, that's certainly a strange sculpt for the period? You kinda forget that back in the day people had a sense of humour, as most art of the period wasn't humorous it was more stoic.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray. Messerschmidt did it as a study in facial expressions. Apparently, he pulled faces in front of a mirror... what fun!
DeleteI had in mind 1680, for no particular reason than it reminded me of works around the late renaissance period. I loved Vienna and whenever I see a photo of it with the hills in the background I think of the wiener schnitzel I had in a small restaurant halfway up. A great place.
ReplyDeleteGood guess, Lawrence. You name the food and I had it. I love Vienna.
DeleteGreat ones!
ReplyDeleteThe bust is strange :) but fantastic!
It really is, isn't it.
DeleteThanks for a peek at your Vienna getaway, Richard! The first bust looks like a caricature. I like it!
ReplyDeleteI love this collection. I couldn't go to Wien and not see them.
DeleteWay off with my guess, going Roman, so that shows what I know, or don't, about sculpture etc;)! On our last visit to Austria we had a private tour of an abbey where they had prepared some rooms for Eugene, but in the end he never visited:(. Poor old monks.
ReplyDeleteIt is a hard one to date.
DeleteSome many rooms in so many buildings made for royal visits that never happened.
Schoolboy question but was the sculptor any ancestor of Willy, of Bf109 fame? Though I suppose the name may just be a variation on 'Smith' and be quite common..? Interesting sculpture, anyway!
ReplyDeleteVienna is on my 'bucket list', maybe you could do a post about wargame-friendly visitor attractions there? Just a thought..
No relation at all I'm afraid. They share an occupational name. It means knife sharpener.
DeleteThe obvious ones are the military history museum and the Neue Hofburg for renaissance armour - see next post. Of course, thete is the battle ground for Wagram, Asper-Essling and Marchfeld. Though, they are not preserved well.
Interesting bust, Eugene had the Belvedere and Churchill got Blenheim palace, nice!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers. Eugene also had a couple more palaces besides.
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