Belvedere Research Journal

Editorial

Christian Huemer — 2023-12-18

Sleeping Venus without Amor

Katharina Lovecky — 2023-12-18

In 1826, Johann Baptist von Lampi the Younger created Venus Sleeping on a Day Bed, a painting that would undergo a considerable reworking. After its acquisition by the Imperial Picture Gallery in 1828, large areas of the background were overpainted in black, as revealed by investigations carried out by the Belvedere’s restoration and conservation department in 2022. Through this extensive overpainting, the original figure of the winged Amor—and with it, an important compositional element—was lost. In this paper, I will first situate the original motif of the sleeping Venus with Amor in the earlier pictorial tradition. I will then use archive material to establish the date of this large-scale intervention in the painting. With the help of further case studies, I will show that overpainting was a common practice in the nineteenth century. Finally, I will use historical discussions of the painting to show how the overpainting resulted in a new yet erroneous interpretation of Venus Sleeping on a Day Bed as a hidden portrait of one of Napoleon’s lovers, subsequently becoming a topos of local Salzburg history.

Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Johanna Staude (1917–1918)

Franz Smola — 2023-12-18

Academic researchers have long neglected investigating the female models depicted in the paintings of the principal artists of the Vienna Secession. A prominent example is Portrait of Johanna Staude, painted by Gustav Klimt in 1917–1918 and held in the collection of the Belvedere. When the work was acquired from the then 80-year old sitter in 1963, the museum did not make a comprehensive record of her life. Thus, Staude’s biography and the circumstances leading to the portrait’s creation remained largely unexplored. For the first time, this paper presents new insights into the subject, gained via intensive communication with the heirs of Johanna Staude’s estate and subsequent research into this material. This has enabled me to update and expand upon the facts of her life, while also shedding light on her family’s strong links to the art world and her own role in the Vienna art scene. I go on to stress that Klimt’s regular practice of resorting to anonymous models for his portraits of fashionable ladies suggests that this work is not a commissioned portrait. Finally, based on the example of Johanna Staude, I confirm the hypothesis that these fashionable portraits are realistic rather than fictional. Overall, this paper aims to promote a more comprehensive understanding of Gustav Klimt’s method.

Materializing Immaculacy in Sixteenth-Century Tyrol

Stella Wisgrill — 2023-12-18

The Innsbruck sepulchral chapel of Habsburg prince and sovereign of Tyrol, Archduke Ferdinand II (1529–1595), accommodates a generously sized Marian altarpiece, the focus of this study. Chased reliefs crafted from solid silver are mounted on ebony-veneered panels with ivory accentuating the moldings that frame the pictorial fields. This restrained material palette conjures a vision of the Virgin Immaculate and results in a display of silver on a monumental scale. In contrast to the Archduke’s extensive Kunst- and Wunderkammer at nearby Ambras Castle, the altarpiece has received relatively little scholarly attention. Drawing from diverse fields such as theology, botany, and music, this paper delves into the altarpiece's material and pictorial complexity and discusses the multifaceted layers of meaning that underpin the creation of this remarkable work. Considered within the context of the sepulchral chapel, hierarchies of matter, color, and space convey the Virgin’s singular status and her role as primary intercessor. Jesuit thought and new patterns of Marian devotion, not least under the influence of Peter Canisius, play a pivotal role in this context, which is framed against the backdrop of Habsburg piety and Counter-Reformation efforts.

The altarpiece meaningfully embodies the theme of the Virgin Mary as mirror of virtue, in the tradition of speculum sine macula (a mirror without stain). At the same time, the silver’s tendency to tarnish and blacken draws parallels to the ambiguous tensions and complexities surrounding her immaculacy and theological beauty. This study also highlights the slippage between artistic practice and the broader context of Tyrolean silver mining and minting activity. At a time when the value of coined silver was becoming uncertain and its purity questioned, the altarpiece’s tarnished materiality demonstrates the degree to which moral and material virtue were subject to negotiation and open to ambiguous interpretation. Therefore, this paper also illuminates and investigates period concepts of material immaculacy, purity, and preciousness, which stand at the intersection of theological ideals, financial motivations, and artistic ambition.