Prince Johann II von Liechtenstein

The eldest son of Prince Alois II (1796–1858) and his wife Franziska, Johann II was born at Eisgrub on 5 October 1840. He remained unmarried. His reign extended far into the twentieth century. He died at Schloss Feldsberg on 11 February 1929.

Through his father Johann II was born into a family environment where art was an integral part of life. He was to become one of the most important purchasers of art and one of the greatest patrons of the second half of the nineteenth century. The prince also bought up medieval castles and ruins, some of which he had restored and others rebuilt in period style. Examples of the latter include the dynastic seat of the Liechtensteins in Maria Enzersdorf south of Vienna and the castle in Vaduz, which were already in family ownership.

MODERNIZATION OF THE COLLECTION’S ADMINISTRATION

Johann II was the first prince of Liechtenstein to engage with his gallery in a modern sense, rehanging it several times, redesigning it and above all bringing new life into the collection by acquiring new objects and donating extant objects to other institutions. In all these decisions he made use of well-qualified advisers. 

At the time of his accession, the presentation of the extensive and continuously expanding collection was not ideal, as it was hardly possible for it to be appropriately accommodated on the two floors of the Garden Palace. Several experts considered the problem of how the objects could be best displayed. The compiling of a gallery catalogue by Jacob von Falke (1825–1897) in 1873 can be seen as a first step towards reorganizing the collection in accordance with contemporary principles of museum management. After less important paintings had been removed from the gallery in the 1860s, Falke was able to concentrate on reorganizing the collection, involving Johann II in the whole process of regrouping. In 1885 Falke published a second edition of the gallery catalogue, in which the changes that had been made in the interim were visible. Thanks to the sale of hundreds of works (the gallery now contained only 839 pictures as compared to 1873, when there had been 1,451), the remaining works could be presented far more effectively. The individual rooms were organized according to schools and numbered. 

Again and again the Prince appeared in the Gallery, to which he was intimately attached’ (Eduard Reichel about Johann II)

It is then that Johann II’s great interest in the applied arts seems to have started. Increasingly, he began to display new applied arts objects, mostly acquired from the important Florentine art dealer Stefano Bardini (1836–1922). An inventory from 1923 lists these new acquisitions, including numerous pieces of furniture and majolica ware. Most of these were exhibited in the first room on the first floor alongside the sculptures, followed by works of Italian and Netherlandish painters in the following rooms. The prince’s personal commitment was splendidly described by Eduard Reichel in his biography published in 1932: ‘New acquisitions together with the old holdings of paintings, sculptures and applied arts objects were now re-grouped, positioned and hung in keeping with the prince’s exquisite taste. Again and again the Prince appeared in the Gallery, to which he was intimately attached, issuing instructions and making changes until the presentation satisfied his artistic sensibility, his lofty aspirations’.

Although the prince was always keen to deepen his knowledge of art by reading standard works such as Jacob Burckhardt’s famous “The Cicerone”, and to rely on his own judgement when purchasing an object, he also set great store by the advice of competent individuals from the world of art. His closest contact was the leading Berlin art historian und museum curator Wilhelm von Bode (1845–1929), as attested by the extensive correspondence that Bode conducted with the prince and his gallery administrators between 1880 and 1925. Bode advised the prince on his purchases of artworks and provided the inspiration for a further rearrangement of the gallery, based on the idea of the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, a synthesis of paintings, sculptures, furniture and tapestries that still underlies today’s displays, radiating the refined atmosphere of a family collection which distinguishes it from other museums. In 1896 Bode published a sumptuously illustrated work in which he gave an overview of the most important paintings acquired for the Collections, treating them to thorough art-historical analysis.