Name of Object:

Portrait of Emperor Joseph II and His Second Wife Marie Josepha of Bavaria and Counts Esterházy, Bathiany and Liechtenstein

Also known as:

Joseph II with Wife Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Close Courtiers and Ladies-in-Waiting

Location:

Valtice, Moravia, Czech Republic

Holding Museum:

State Chateau

Original Owner:

Premonstratensian Monastery in Louka /Znojmo

Current Owner:

State Chateau, Valtice

Date of Object:

1768

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Anton Glunck (1728, Vienna-1799, Vienna)

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

H: 455 cm; w: 263 cm

Provenance:

Veselí na Moravě Chateau

Type of object:

Painting

Place of production:

Vienna

Description:

A counterpart to this sizeable canvas is the picture Maria Theresa with Sons Below the Bust of Her Deceased Husband Franz Stephan of Lorraine and Chancellor Kounic-Rietberg. This painting represents the hierarchy of both the dynasty and the monarchy. After the death of his father, Joseph II ruled side-by-side with Maria Theresa. In the background, Josef Wenzl of Liechtenstein indicates a medallion bearing a portrait of Isabela of Parma, Joseph II's first wife. On the right, behind the throne, Joseph's two unmarried sisters, Marie Elisabeth and Marie Anna, are engaged in conversation. In the foreground stands Franz Esterházy with a tiger skin, while Count Karl Josef Batthyány, High Steward, is located at the edge of the canvas. The festive air is enhanced by the arrangement of a drapery with golden tassels together with the seating of the figures on the steps. The landscape in the background features an obelisk topped with a globe upon which an eagle perches holding in its beak a curled serpent biting its own tail a symbol of eternity. The eagle, a creature associated with Jupiter, was among the attributes of imperial iconography and refers to the sovereign's virtues. Another attribute and a symbol of wisdom is the shield with the head of Medusa at the bottom of the picture, on a stone vase. A group of putti taming a lion in the upper section of the vase symbolise the power of love and its victory over physical strength.
The group portrait was commissioned by the abbot of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Louka near Znojmo as an expression of loyalty. The paintings come from the summer refectory, a key section of the monastery designed as a “Temple of Solomon”. The major decorative components were paintings by Franz Anton Maulbertsch depicting essential elements of the Premonstratensian order. These were accompanied by a series of portraits of monastery supporters and superiors.

The group allegorical portrait of the Habsbourg family was commissioned by the abbot of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Louka near Znojmo – one of the most important monasteries in the Danubian country – as an expression of loyalty. The painting represents the hierarchy of both the dynasty and the monarchy.

How date and origin were established:

Palko did a sketch for the picture of Maria Theresa known from a replica by Josef Winterhalder Jr. After Palko’s untimely death, the two paintings were finished by Anton Glunck, a graduate of the Vienna Academy. Glunck is also mentioned as the artist of the pictures in the inventory of the monastery collated by Josef Winterhalder Jr., who also supplemented it with drawn records. Glunck’s participation is confirmed by three receipts preserved in the Moravian Provincial Archive.

How Object was obtained:

The picture comes from the summer refectory of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Louka near Znojmo. When the monastery was dissolved in 1784 the picture became the property of Count Waldorf in Sádek, near Třebíč, until 1904. It was then owned by Count Chorinský and found in the Veselí na Moravě Chateau. After the Second World War the picture came into the possession of the State Chateau, Valtice.

Selected bibliography:

Lubomír Slavíček, Franz Anton Palko nebo Anton Glunck? K autorství skupinových portrétů císařovny Marie Terezie a císaře Josefa II. z letního refektáře premonstrátského kláštera v Louce u Znojma, Bulletin Moravské galerie v Brně 50,1994, pp. 32–40.
Lubomír Slavíček, F. A. Maulbertsch a malířská výzdoba letního refektáře v Louce, in Petr Kroupa – Jiří Kroupa – Lubomír Slavíček – Josef Unger, Premonstrátský klášter v Louce. Dějiny – umělecká výzdoba – ikonologie, Znojmo, 1997, pp. 98–102.
Pavel Preiss, František Karel Palko, Život a dílo malíře sklonku středoevropského baroka a jeho bratra Františka Antonína Palka, Prague, 1999, pp. 268–271.

Citation of this web page:

Zora Wörgötter "Portrait of Emperor Joseph II and His Second Wife Marie Josepha of Bavaria and Counts Esterházy, Bathiany and Liechtenstein" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;cz;Mus11_I;30;en

Prepared by: Zora WörgötterZora Wörgötter

SURNAME: Wörgötter
NAME: Zora

AFFILIATION: Moravian Gallery in Brno

TITLE: Museum Curator and Local Co-ordinator

CV:
Zora Wörgötter studied Applied Painting at the Secondary School of Applied Arts, Video Art (Faculty of Fine Arts) at the University of Technology in Brno and Art History and Ethnology (Faculty of Arts) at Masaryk University, Brno. She has worked at the Moravian Gallery since 1997 and was curator of the Ancient Art Collection up until 2008. Specialising in Dutch and Central European painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, she has participated in the preparation of several exhibitions, catalogues and research projects in the Czech Republic and abroad, and published in the Moravian Gallery Bulletin, Opuscula historiae artium, and other journals. She is co-ordinator of the Art History Database www.ahice.net for the Czech Republic.
Copyedited by: Jiří KroupaJiří Kroupa

SURNAME: Kroupa
NAME: Jiří

AFFILIATION: Department of the History of Art (Faculty of Arts) Masaryk
University, Brno

TITLE: Professor

CV:
Professor Jiří Kroupa studied Art History, History and Sociology Masaryk University, Brno. He was a curator at the Kroměříž Museum and the Moravian Gallery in Brno before joining the staff at Masaryk University in 1988 (Head of the Department 1992–2002; Professor 1999 to present). His particular fields of interest are in the history of architecture, 18th-century cultural history and the methodology of art history. His long list of publications includes an edition on the architect Franz Anton Grimm and an essay “The alchemy of happiness: the Enlightenment in the Moravian context”. He was contributing editor for the volume Dans le miroir des ombres. Moravie a la age baroque. 1670–1790 (2002).
Translation by: Irma Charvátová
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: CZ 31