In 1733 imperial lawyer Julius Bernhard von Rohr (1688–1742) published a book through the Berlin publishing house of Johann Andreas Rüdiger, titled Einleitung zur Ceremoniel-Wissenschafft der grossen Herre – Introduction to the Ceremonial...
moreIn 1733 imperial lawyer Julius Bernhard von Rohr (1688–1742) published a book through the Berlin publishing house of Johann Andreas Rüdiger, titled Einleitung zur Ceremoniel-Wissenschafft der grossen Herre – Introduction to the Ceremonial Wisdom of the High Lords. In it he specified the festivities of the “high” society. Ceremonial assemblies, tournaments, knights’ games, carousels, running in circle, equestrian ballets, music, dance, and theatre performances, balls and ballets, operas, comedies, carnivals, masquerades, rural weddings, sledge rides, festive lighting shows with illuminations, fireworks, shooting competitions, hunts, carriage and boat rides, fishing with nets, duck shooting, and visiting wine harvest festivals in fancy dresses – this is just a brief account of the pastimes enjoyed by aristocracy in the early modern period. The grandest and taking place most frequently, especially due to the reasons of propaganda, were the largest and most expensive festivities held at the aristocratic courts, which were prepared and performed by large numbers of artists of various specialisations. Festivities and accompanying activities of Leopold’s court could be imagined as a sort of a pyramid. Its top was represented by the celebration of the Habsburg family with its world-dominating ideas, carried on the shoulders of their main exponents – the holy roman emperor and the empress with their family. Below them, besides the crowds of the courtiers, were the composers, librettists and choreographers, stage designers, dance masters and band-masters, including musicians, dancers, and artists painting the scenes in the form of ephemeral architecture. This entire structure stood on the backs of drawers, graphic artists and publishers, who would draw, engrave, etch, print, and distribute the evidence of the grandeur throughout Europe. A sophisticated organism producing gems of musical, dance, and fine art culture of baroque not just for a pastime, but mainly as one of the means of the complicated story of imperial politics and representation, struggle for the European hegemony, and search for order in the endangered Europe. This dissertation paper aims to contextually examine and describe the visual documentation of ceremonies and festivities at the court of Habsburgs in Central Europe during 17th century starting with Bohemian coronation of Matthias in 1611 and ending with theatre performance La Costanza d’Ulisse, staged in the gardens of Favorita villa on the occasion of the sixtieth birthday of Emperor Leopold I. (1640–1705). Although the paper is primarily an art-historical study, it combines interdisciplinary approaches in its textual and catalogue parts and attempts to link art history with general history, scenography, musicology and in relevant cases legal and political history. The author reveals the principles of distribution of the documentation, maps the development of modern scenography and relevant period trends in dramatic and visual arts. Last but not least, the author presents artists, workshops, publishers and printers who participated in the process of preparation and documentation of ceremonies and festivities. Court ceremonies and festivities were always, of course, very closely tied to the monarch and his family. For that reason, this paper also tries to seek the creative and key personalities within the close circle of the sovereign. Throughout the 17th century, two Mantua Princesses played a very special role – second wife of Emperor Ferdinand II. (1578–1637) Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655) and third wife of Ferdinand III. (1608–1657) Eleonora Magdalena Gonzaga-Nevers (1630–1686). We owe them both for the spread of the modern concept of Italian theatre in Central Europe. Many Italian artists came to Central Europe thanks to their connections with the Northern Italian aristocratic courts – composers, librettists, choreographers, stage designers, dance masters, band-masters, musicians, dancers or singers. These artists were creating topics and context documented mostly by Central European, German or Netherlandish artists. While in the first half of the 17th century the theatre performances at the Imperial Court were rather rare matters, after double Bohemian coronation in Prague in 1627 the numbers grow steeply. Although the first performance of the modern Italian theatre Phasma Dionysiacum Pragense has been graphically documented already in 1617, it remains the only one until 1652. On the other hand, in the second half of the 17th century there will be an incomparably higher amount not only of performances but also of their documentation. The documentation was closely linked to personalities of court architects and engravers. We will see that they will evolve during the 17th century. Compared to festivities, the ceremonies are much more conservatively anchored and this fact was reflected by engravers when preparing the documentation. Throughout the entire 17th century we trace a conservative approach in the conception of various leaflets, book illustrations and prints. In each period, however, we find limited amount of very interesting works that go beyond a simple documentary. Separate and in our narrative the most precious documentation of festivities are portraits of courtiers in allegorical costumes of mythological heroes, the so-called portrait historié. Combining all the above-mentioned approaches and documentations there was a broader image of cultural level and life of the Habsburg court created. An image that was a very important tool of political and dynastic struggle in the 17th century Europe.
