Name of Object:

The Apotheosis of Emperor Joseph II

Location:

Budapest, Közép-Magyarország / Central Hungary, Hungary

Holding Museum:

Budapest History Museum

 About Budapest History Museum, Budapest

Original Owner:

The Royal Collection, Buda Castle

Date of Object:

Second half of the 18th century

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Unknown artist

Museum Inventory Number:

22.307

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

D: 30.8 cm

Provenance:

From the Royal Collection, Royal Palace, Buda

Type of object:

Painting

Period of activity:

Second half of the 17th century

Description:

This small allegorical composition is a rare example of a piece that might have been planned originally purely as a decorative piece. The execution of the painting is finely detailed, and contrary to its small size, it is of exceptional quality. The painting is also unusual in its representation of the emperor, which is not at all in keeping with the normal iconography associated with him.
The Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1765–1790) was King of Hungary from 1780 to 1790. The eldest son of Maria Theresia and Francis von Lorraine, having succeeded to the throne, he tried to organise a unified empire with reforms of Enlightened Absolutism. Both his political and religious policies served the emperor's overall ideal of the strong central power of the state. His reform policies were named after him and are known in Hungary as Josephinism. A limited guarantee of freedom of worship was seen with the Patent of Tolerance in 1781, and he abolished serfdom and the death penalty. Like many of the enlightened monarchs of the time, he was a prolific patron of the arts, commissioning an opera from Mozart and a funeral cantata from the young Beethoven.

Because of its small size and compositional form, this painting is a rare example of Baroque allegory associated with the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1765–1790). The painting glorifies the Habsburg emperor and Hungarian king during whose reign Enlightened Absolutism was born. Because of his reforms and the laws he passed, the era is known in Hungary as Josephinism.

How date and origin were established:

By historical data

How Object was obtained:

Transferred from the Royal Collection, Royal Palace in Buda in 1945

Citation of this web page:

Beatrix  Basics "The Apotheosis of Emperor Joseph II" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;hu;Mus11_A;41;en

Prepared by: Beatrix Basics
Copyedited by: Terézia BardiTerézia Bardi

SURNAME: Bardi
NAME: Terézia Anna

AFFILIATION: National Trust of Monuments for Hungary

TITLE: Art Historian, Vice Director for Research at The National Trust of
Monuments for Hungary; MWNF DBA local co-ordinator (Hungary), author
and copy-editor

CV:
Terézia Bardi, Vice Director for Research at the National Trust of Monuments for Hungary since 2004, was awarded her MA in History and History of Art at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. After a period of fellowships mainly in Italy, Terézia gained her PhD from the Faculty of Art History at the same university for her thesis Presentation and Representation – the European Reception of the Liberation of Buda in 1686: Feast and Public Opinion. Her main fields of research are 17th-and18th-century Baroque and Rococo: the spectacles, festival decorations and associated iconography – including theatre productions of the period – and interior decoration of historic houses. Since 1988, she has edited a number of art historical books that include some on Oriental art and architecture. She is MWNF DBA’s local (Hungarian) co-ordinator, author and copy-editor.
Translation by: Beatrix Basics
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: HU 64