Predecessor
Prince Franz I von LiechtensteinPrince Franz Josef II von und zu Liechtenstein took over the affairs of government in 1938, making his principal residence in Vaduz, the first reigning prince to do so. In 1945 all the family’s estates in Czechoslovakia were expropriated without compensation. The core of the extensive collections of art were moved to Vaduz during the final months of the Second World War.
The eldest son of Prince Alois von Liechtenstein (1869–1955), from the ‘auf Hollenegg’ secundogeniture of the family, and his wife Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria (1878–1960), a niece of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Franz Josef II was born at Schloss Frauenthal in Styria on 16 August 1906 (his godfather was Emperor Franz Joseph I). The primogeniture having become extinct upon the death without issue of his predecessor Prince Franz I von Liechtenstein (1853–1938), the secundogeniture assumed the regency in the person of Franz Josef II. He married Countess Georgina (Gina) Wilczek (1921–1989) on 7 March 1943. The couple had five children, including Franz Josef II’s successor Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein (b. 1945).
The prince lived to see the beginning of the large-scale economic recovery but not the fall of Communism, a development which he had predicted. He died in Grabs in Switzerland on 13 November 1989.
MOVING THE REIGNING PRINCE’S RESIDENCE TO LIECHTENSTEIN
Franz Josef II assumed the regency over the princely house and the principality on 30 March 1938 (initially as prince regent until the death of his predecessor Franz I in the following July) in a time fraught with difficulty. After the ‘Anschluss’or annexation of Austria by the National Socialist German Reich on 13 March 1938, Franz Josef II took up residence in Vaduz, thus becoming the first Reigning Prince to reside in Liechtenstein. This led to a close connection developing between people and monarch, in a way that had previously never existed.
Only two months after a failed putsch, in which National Socialists in Liechtenstein had wanted to precipitate the annexation of the principality by the German Reich, the ceremony of hereditary homage was held at Schloss Vaduz on 29 May 1939, celebrating the affirmation by the people of the state, monarchy and the preservation of independence.
Moving the princely residence to Vaduz led to a close connection developing between people and monarch, in a way that had previously never existed.
In the preceding years, following a degree in forestry from the Hochschule für Bodenkultur in Vienna, Franz Josef II had devoted all his energies to the administration of the family’s extensive estates in Czechoslovakia, a focus of interest that did not prevent him from simultaneously developing a deep understanding of the family’s art collection.
THE COLLECTIONS IN VADUZ
The prince’s main task during the first years of his regency was to preserve the family’s inheritance in as sound a condition as possible in the period following the Second World War. At first there were still hopes that the impact of the National Socialist regime would soon be overcome. Nobody foresaw that the decisions taken by the new government of the Republic of Czechoslovakia founded in April 1945 after liberation from National Socialist rule would endure for so long.
The National Socialist regime had immediately abrogated the historical entailment, placing the part of the collections in the Garden Palace in Vienna under the Austrian Monument Protection Act. It was not until the final months of the war that the most important parts of the collection (with the exception of the “Decius Mus” cycle by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) or the statues by Adrian de Fries (1556–1626), both of which were too large to be transported), were moved, first to the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, and then onwards to Vaduz, where they arrived on 14 April 1945.
Ein Tiefladewagen der SBB, wie er zum Transport von Objekten der Fürstlichen Sammlungen nach Liechtenstein verwendet wurde
27.2.1945
Anonymous Photographer
LIECHTENSTEIN GARDEN PALACE, STARIWAY WITH OBJECTS FROM THE COLLECTIONS THAT WERE NOT REMOVED TO VADUZ
1950s
ANONYMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER
Prince Franz Josef II, Hereditary Prince Hans-Adam and Dr Gustav Wilhelm, during transport preparations
1948
Walter Wachter (1925–2020)
In 1948 the most important masterpieces from the Collections were shown in Lucerne in Switzerland.
In the post-war years there was no thought of reopening the museum in Vienna for logistical and material reasons. The family’s fortunes had largely been lost through the expropriation of their estates in Czechoslovakia, and Vienna was under the administration of the four occupying powers until 1955. Nonetheless, the Collections managed to mount two exhibitions during this time, albeit not in Vienna but in Lucerne in Switzerland, in a gesture of gratitude for Switzerland’s aid in saving the Collections. In 1948 the most important masterpieces were shown in Lucerne. Again in Lucerne, a second exhibition in 1950 showcased the core of the Biedermeier collection, including the large block of Carl Spitzweg (1808–1885) paintings, then still extant in the Collections.
SALES OF ART AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR
As the result of a decree of expropriation issued by the Ministry of Agriculture on 26 June 1945 on the basis of one of the decrees issued by the president of the Republic of Czechoslovakia Edvard Beneš on 19 May 1945, all immovable and moveable property of the House of Liechtenstein in the Bohemian lands was forfeited. Another factor of uncertainty was that it could not yet be foreseen when the occupying forces would withdraw from Austria. It was therefore impossible to cultivate the large estates owned by the family in the northern Weinviertel in Lower Austria.
In order to generate income in this almost hopeless situation after the loss of eighty per cent of their property, the family began to sell artworks from the Collections. Today Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452–1519) “Ginevra de’ Benci”, which had graced the cover of the catalogue to the 1948 exhibition in Lucerne and was sold in 1967, constitutes a highlight in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The last important painting to leave the Collections at this time was the “Portrait of Willem van Heythuysen”, a major work by Frans Hals (1581–1666) that was sold to the Bavarian State Paintings Collections in 1969.
In order to generate income in this almost hopeless situation after the loss of eighty per cent of their property, the family began to sell artworks from the Collections.
RESUMPTION OF ACQUISITIONS
One can only imagine how hard it must have been for the prince with his love and deep understanding of art to have to sell so many works. However, his relationship with art and the urge to carry on the tradition and achievements of his ancestors in relation to the Collections manifested themselves in a number of substantial new acquisitions. The first addition to the Princely Collections following the period of sales was made in 1977 with the purchase of the oil sketch of “Mars and Rhea Silvia” by Rubens, a preparatory work by the master for the large-format painting acquired by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I (1657–1712) in 1710.
This marked a turning point in the collecting policy pursued by Franz Josef II together with his son Hans-Adam. They were responsible for substantial additions over the next few years, including Posthumus’s “Landscape with Roman Ruins”, Momper’s “Large Mountain Landscape”, Jordaens’s “Meleager and Atalanta”, and van Dyck’s “Portrait of James Hamilton, Third Marquess of Hamilton”.
Portrait of James Hamilton, Third Marquess of Hamilton
c. 1640
Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)
Bust of the Venus Italica or Portrait of Princess Leopoldine von Liechtenstein, née von Esterházy
c. 1815
Antonio Canova (1757–1822)
View of Hallstatt, no. 10 in the series of views from the Salzkammergut
1836
Josef Höger (1801–1877)
The Lay of the Bell: 'A glance upon the grave of all that fortune gave'
1832
Peter Fendi (1796–1842)
The first addition to the Princely Collections following the period of sales was the acquisition of the oil sketch “Mars and Rhea Silvia” by Rubens in 1977.
The acquisition of Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi’s “Dancing Faun” in 1979 constituted the repurchase of an object that had been sold from the Collections in the 1920s. Important acquisitions were also made in the field of prints and drawings: extensive sets of works by Peter Fendi, Josef Höger and Rudolf von Alt enabled Franz Josef II to enrich the holdings of Viennese Biedermeier with major works.
RETURNING TO PUBLIC VIEW
Important steps were taken with the appointment of a director responsible solely for the art collections in the person of Reinhold Baumstark, and the expansion of suitable depositories in Vaduz where the holdings – some of which were still dispersed – could be reunited.
The Princely Collections made a first significant international mark with the spectacular exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1985/86) intended to bring to the world’s notice what treasures had been inaccessible to the general public for such a long time. For the first time highlights from the Collections, from Rubens’s “Decius Mus” cycle and the Golden Carriage to Messerschmidt’s monumental sculptures, were to be seen in a flawlessly presented exhibition.
ANONYMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER, CRATES BEING LOADED AT THE LIECHTENSTEIN CITY PALACE FOR THE EXHIBITION LIECHTENSTEIN. THE PRINCELY COLLECTIONS AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART IN NEW YORK, 1985
ANONYMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER, INSIDE THE EXHIBITION LIECHTENSTEIN. THE PRINCELY COLLECTIONS AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART IN NEW YORK, 1985
Objects of the Princely Collections acquired by