The Origins of the Albertina

The Albertina in Vienna houses one of the world’s most eminent collections of art. This extensive, sumptuously illustrated volume presents the museum’s masterpieces acquired by the founder of the collection, Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, and his consort, the Grand Duchess Marie Christine. The history of the couple’s mercurial, fateful lives begins in the Baroque era at the court of Maria Theresa and moves through the years of revolution in America and Europe to the restoration of the conservative monarchies after the Vienna Congress in 1815. Well-informed essays shed light on their sojourns in Dresden, Rome, Paris, Brussels, and Vienna—centers of European culture and politics as well as hotbeds of social and intellectual innovations during the Enlightenment—and provide personal insight into the feudal lifestyle of the European aristocracy. Further contributions deal with the networks of collectors and art dealers as well as the history of the ideas behind this princely collection of prints. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3738-8) Exhibition schedule: Albertina, Vienna, March 12–June 29, 2014