Prince Anton Florian I von Liechtenstein
1656–1721
Ludwig David (1648–1709); Alois Gomier (1713–1730), Portrait of Prince Anton Florian I von Liechtenstein (1656–1721), 1694
Predecessor
Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein
Prince Anton Florian I von Liechtenstein was tutor to the later emperor Charles VI, accompanying him as head of his household and First Minister during the War of Spanish Succession from 1703. It was through his political influence at the imperial court that Charles VI raised the county of Vaduz and the demesne of Schellenberg to the Imperial Principality of Liechtenstein in 1719.
The fifteenth child of Prince Hartmann I (1613–1686) and his wife Sidonie Elisabeth Anna, née zu Salm-Reifferscheidt (1623–1688), Prince Anton Florian I von Liechtenstein was born at Wilfersdorf on 28 May 1656. He married Countess Barbara von Thun und Hohenstein (1661–1723) on 15 October 1679. The couple had fifteen children, including Anton Florian‘s successor Josef Johann Adam I (1690–1732). Anton Florian I died in Vienna on 11 October 1721.
With Prince Anton Florian I von Liechtenstein, the Gundaker line descending from the brother of his predecessor Karl I (1569–1627) assumed the succession. It is this line that continues to hold the title today. Anton Florian I obtained a seat and vote on the Imperial Council of Princes, initially only for himself. At his request, Emperor Charles VI raised Vaduz and Schellenberg to the imperial principality of Liechtenstein on 23 January 1719. In 1723 the prince’s son Josef Johann Adam I ultimately succeeded in gaining admission to the Imperial Council of Princes not only for himself and his descendants but for all male rulers of the House of Liechtenstein.
DIPLOMAT IN ROME
In the shadow of his cousin Prince Johann Adam Andreas I (1657–1712), Anton Florian I initially developed his own career as a diplomat in the service of the Habsburgs. In 1689 Emperor Josef I appointed him to the Privy Council, at first dispatching him as envoy extraordinary to the papal court in Rome, the first representative to hold this post who was not in holy orders. In 1691 he became ambassador at the Quirinal, the pope’s residence at the time.
In the shadow of his cousin Prince Johann Adam Andreas I (1657–1712), Anton Florian I initially developed his own career as a diplomat in the service of the Habsburgs.
We have a pictorial record of his accession to office in the form of an engraving by Gomar Wouters (b. 1639 or 1659, d. between 1680 and 1696) showing the arrival of the prince at the Quirinal palace with the ornate carriages built specially for the occasion. The appearance of the carriages was captured in this view and in a publication commissioned by the prince and printed in Rome by Giovanni Giacomo Komarek Boemo (1648–1706) in 1694. The “Breve descrizzione e disegno delle carrozze dell’Eccellentißimo Signore Antonio Floriano del S[acro].R[omano].I[mperio]. Prencipe die Liechtenstein e Nicolspurg” shows three of the carriages built for this occasion in several different views. These vehicles were so heavy that Anton Florian I wrote to his cousin in Vienna asking him to send horses from the princely stud at Eisgrub that were capable of drawing them. As criteria for selection he mentions the beauty of their markings and the pleasing conformation of the horses as well as the size and strength needed to draw these sumptuous conveyances. Watched by appreciative crowds, the elaborate procession made its way to the Quirinal through the streets of Rome on 27 December 1691. In their decorative programme – Jupiter transfixing the foe with his thunderbolt – the carriages sought to glorify the imperial victory over the Ottoman Empire, a longed-for turn of events but one that at the time was by no means definite. Rome was also to be asked to commit the sizeable funds urgently needed by the army in Vienna for overcoming the peril from the East.
Very likely dating from Anton Florian I's time in Rome is a monumental ornate mirror that seems to be connected with the commission for the ceremonial carriages and could have come from the prince’s Roman residence. Long regarded as a second-rate nineteenth-century piece in the Princely Collections, today following restoration it is acknowledged as a resplendent example of the Roman decorative art of its time.
ANDREA POZZO ARRIVES IN VIENNA
Anton Florian I seems to have integrated himself into Roman aristocratic society, also establishing contacts with important artists. Among these he held Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709) and his oeuvre in particularly high regard. In accordance with the wishes of Prince Johann Adam Andreas I, Anton Florian I succeeded in persuading the ageing artist to agree to decorate the ceiling of the ceremonial hall of the Garden Palace in Vienna with a depiction of the Olympian pantheon and the canonical Labours of Hercules.
In particular, Anton Florian I held Andrea Pozzo and his oeuvre in high regard.
Pozzo created the largest Baroque ceiling fresco in Vienna, echoing in its monumentality the frescos in the nave of Sant’ Ignazio in Rome that the artist had completed shortly beforehand. In a letter to the prince the artist provided such a comprehensive and detailed explanation of the fresco’s pictorial programme that the Rome-based Bohemian publisher Johann Jakob Komarek used it as a basis for printing a leaflet for visitors interested in art.
ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS AND WORKS FOR THE PRINCELY COLLECTIONS
Following his return to the court at Vienna, the prince was appointed to supervise the education of Archduke Charles in 1693. Charles had been ordained heir to the Spanish throne by his father Leopold I after the long-expected extinction of the Spanish Habsburg male line. The last Spanish Habsburg, Charles II, refused to recognize him, however, designating Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France, as his successor. Anton Florian I attended Archduke Charles as head of his household and First Minister in the ensuing War of Spanish Succession that broke out in 1701, receiving the title of a Spanish grandee in 1703 for the services he had rendered there. After returning to Vienna he became head of government as president of the Council of State.
These projects were initiated by Anton Florian I immediately after he succeeded as reigning prince in 1712 and were speedily completed.
On the journey to Spain Anton Florian I was accompanied by the architect and master builder Anton Johann Ospel (1677–1756), who absorbed important impressions there and after his return was almost overwhelmed with commissions from the prince. Among the most important of these were the remodelling of the princely residences at Feldsberg (Valtice), Wilfersdorf (from 1713), Ebergassing (from 1712/13) and Hetzendorf (from 1713), together with the riding school (1713) and stables (1715–1718) at Feldsberg. All these projects were initiated by Anton Florian I immediately after he had succeeded as reigning prince in 1712 and were speedily completed.
While the emphasis during Anton Florian I's reign lay on his architectural activity, the prince also acquired and commissioned paintings, with a particular predilection for pictures featuring horses. In 1702 Johann Georg von Hamilton (1672–1737) painted “The Imperial Riding School in Vienna”, showing the prince together with Archduke Charles. From the same artist the prince commissioned the monumental ‘portraits’ of horses from his stud in which these impressive animals are captured in life size.
In contrast to his predecessor Johann Adam Andreas I, Prince Anton Florian I was able to hand on his political legacy in his own family line. The succession was secured by his son Josef Johann Adam I.
