Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della casa di Lichtenstein
Vincenzio Fanti (1719–1776)
Engraver:
Jakob Matthias Schmutzer (1733–1811)
Publisher:
Johann Thomas Trattner (1719–1798)
Vienna 1767
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As a director of the Paintings Gallery of the Princes of Liechtenstein, Vincenzio Fanti had an enduring influence on the collection, bringing new ideas and approaches to its curation. Born in Vienna in 1719, Vincenzio Fanti studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts from 1731–32, where he is said to have been a pupil of Bartolomeo Altomonte. Following a period spent in Italy, where he lived in Bologna, Rome and Turin, he returned to Austria in 1744 and collaborated with his father Gaetano Fanti (1687–1769) in the abbey at Melk. Fanti senior had moved to Vienna in 1715 at the behest of Prince Eugene of Savoy, and worked as an architectural painter together with artists such as Carlone on the decoration of the Belvedere Palace, and Johann Michael Rottmayr, who also painted the frescos in the Liechtenstein Garden Palace and with whom Gaetano Fanti collaborated on the Karlskirche in Vienna. Vincenzio Fanti was eventually appointed director of the Liechtenstein Paintings Gallery by Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein, succeeding his father in the position. He also accompanied the prince on the latter’s journey to Parma to escort Joseph I’s bride to Vienna. In his capacity as director, Vincenzio Fanti reorganized the gallery and in 1767 published the first printed catalogue of the Princely Collections in Italian at the behest of Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein. Published in Vienna by Trattner, the catalogue listed the works from the entailed Liechtenstein family collection, held at the time in the City Palace on Bankgasse. A short introduction and preamble are followed by a general discourse on painting and then the list of pictures and sculptures in the order in which they were displayed in the individual rooms. Each picture is briefly described, and the second part of the catalogue contains biographies of the artists concerned. The catalogue is not only the first printed catalogue of the princely gallery but also the first printed catalogue of any Viennese collection. The vignettes were engraved by Jacob Matthias Schmutzer after designs by Fanti.
- Material/technique
- 144 pages and index, vellum binding with gold-stamped spine, Gold cut, Pre- and postscript in pink paste paper
- Measurements
- Quart 26.2 × 3.8 × 21.0 cm (closed), 26.2 × 43.0 cm (open)
- Acquisition
- acquired by Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Vincenzio Fanti
- Engraver: Jakob Matthias Schmutzer
- Publisher: Johann Thomas Trattner
- Inventory number
- DW 9439
- Provenance
- acquired by Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein
Ausst.-Kat. Fürstenglanz. Die Macht der Pracht, Agnes Husslein-Arco, Tobias G. Natter (Hg.), Belvedere, Winterpalais, Wien 18.3.2016–26.6.2016, erschienen Wien 2016, S. 175ff., S. 215 (weiteres Exemplar)
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Vincenzio Fanti (1719–1776), Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura..., Vienna 1767
