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Paintings in the staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum

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The staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is equipped with spandrel and intercolumniation paintings by Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch, lunette pictures by Hans Makart and a ceiling painting by Mihály Munkácsy.

History

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In the middle of 1881 the committee in charge of building in Vienna commissioned Hans Makart with the overall equipment of the large staircase. However, since Makart died in 1884, only the lunette pictures had been completed by then and could be affixed to the walls of the museum. The committee had to look for other artists for the missing spandrel and intercolumniation paintings. In 1885 Hans Canon was initially entrusted with the ceiling painting, but he also died a few months later. Finally, Mihály Munkácsy was commissioned to paint the ceiling with Apotheosis of the Renaissance, which was completed in the middle of 1890. The Maler-Compagnie, in which the brothers Gustav and Ernst Klimt as well as Franz Matsch had merged, was to carry out the spandrel and intercolumniation pictures. The works were completed in 1891.[1] Concept and naming of the interior came from Albert Ilg.[2]

Ceiling painting: Mihály Munkácsy

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Munkácsy's Apotheosis of the Renaissance seems like a building of the Renaissance with a dome, which is opened to the sky. In a loggia one can see the pope, below Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Tizian gives lessons in painting, and Paolo Veronese stands on a framework. Personalized representations of fame and glory of the arts hover above - Pheme and Glory.

Plan

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Makart

Michaelangelo

Makart

Allegory of painting

Makart

Titian

Gustav Klimt

Roman and Venetian

Quattrocento

Gustav Klimt

Ancient Greece

and Egypt

Gustav Klimt

Old Italian art

альт= Makart

Rubens

Ernst Klimt

Holland and Flemish school

Ernst Klimt

German Renaissance

Makart

Van Dyck

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Rembrandt

Franz Matsch

Barocco and Rococo

Ernst Klimt

Spain and Netherlands

Makart

Velazquez

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Raphael

Gustav Klimt

Florentine

Cinquecento and Quattrocento

Ernst Klimt

Italian High Renaissance

Makart

Leonardo da Vinci

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Mihály Munkácsy. Apotheosis of the Renaissance
Franz Matsch

Karolingian and Burgundian time

Franz Matsch

Roman and Byzantine art, Roman Antique

Franz Matsch

North Gothic in the Late Middle Ages

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Makart

Durer

Makart

Allegory of sculpture

Makart

Holbein


References

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  1. ^ Otmar Rychlik: Gustav Klimt, Franz Matsch und Ernst Klimt im Kunsthistorischen Museum. Catalog for the special exhibition (Klimt-Bridge), page 12. Edition Kunst, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2012.
  2. ^ Das Unsichtbare sichtbar machen/Make the invisible visible. Article by Beatrix Kriller-Erdrich, p. 5. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 1991.
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