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Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein

1611–1684
Unbekannter Meister - Porträt des jungen Fürsten Karl Eusebius I. v...

Anonymous Master, Portrait of the young Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein, c. 1630

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Porträt des Fürsten Karl I. von Liechtenstein (1569–1627)

Predecessor

Prince Karl I von Liechtenstein
Anton Peter van Roy (1683-1738), Portrait des Fürsten Adam Andreas I. von Liechtenstein (1657-1712), um 1706

Successor

Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein

Prince Karl Eusebius I lived in very difficult times. As a result of constant troop movements and plundering during the course of the Thirty Years War the princely estates in Bohemia, Moravia and Lower Austria went into economic decline. In 1645 the incursion of Swedish troops forced Karl Eusebius I. and his wife to flee to Graz. On his return he devoted himself to rebuilding the family estates that had been destroyed. Karl Eusebius I. was a passionate collector and commissioned a number of important architectural projects. With the “Assumption of the Virgin” he acquired the first painting by Peter Paul Rubens in the Princely Collections.

Born on 11 April 1611, Karl Eusebius I was the only son of Karl I and his wife Anna Maria. In September 1644 he married Countess Johanna Beatrix von Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg (c. 1625–1676). The couple had eleven children, including Karl Eusebius’s I successor Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein. Karl Eusebius I died at Schwarzkosteletz (Kostelec nad Černými lesy) near Prague on 5 February 1684.

VALUES FOR SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS

Still a minor on the death of his father in 1627, at the age of eighteen Karl Eusebius I (1628/29) embarked on his ‘gentleman’s tour’, an educational journey that was customary for young aristocrats during the Baroque era. This took him to the German principalities in the Spanish Netherlands and to France. He spent more than a year in Brussels, where he studied law.

After the end of his uncle Maximilian’s regency, Karl Eusebius I succeeded to his inheritance in 1632. Alongside day-to-day concerns two great passions determined the prince’s life: horse-breeding and art, in particular architecture. These interests also found expression in his three treatises, which have been preserved in manuscript: one dealing with architecture (the “Werk von der Architektur”), a second containing comprehensive instruction ‘for his son’ in all aspects of aristocratic life – ruling, administration and economic management, and a third with extensive instructions on how to run his horse-breeding stud. 

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Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein, Treatise on architecture, written in his own hand, undated
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Instruction wegen der Gebäude, von Fürsten Carolo Eusebio von Liechtenstein aigenhändig geschriebener hinterlassen, wie alle Gebäude hiernach zu führen und anzulegen wären
Instruction vor unseren geliebten Sohn und dessen Successoren, so Gott gnädiglich erhalten wolle
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Instruction wegen der Gebäude, von Fürsten Carolo Eusebio von Liechtenstein aigenhändig geschriebener hinterlassen, wie alle Gebäude hiernach zu führen und anzulegen wären

before 1681



Author and writer: Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)


to object

Instruction vor unseren geliebten Sohn und dessen Successoren, so Gott gnädiglich erhalten wolle

before 1681



Author and writer: Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)


to object

They were intended as a legacy not only to his successor, the later Prince Johann Adam Andreas I, but for all following generations. They contained guidelines for preserving, upholding and passing on the family’s core values. These included both the material values of building and conserving the family fortunes and the ideal values of cultivating an aristocratic lifestyle, and not least caring for the family’s art collection and architectural treasures. 

Karl Eusebius I’s treatises were not only a legacy to his son, later Prince Johann Adam Andreas I, but to following generations.

Karl Eusebius I regularly emphasized that a ‘prince must be curious’, by which he meant careful and circumspect in derivation from the Latin word ‘cura’ (care). However, he also meant curiosity and thirst for knowledge, which together with caution in the handling of acquisitions are qualities required for increasing and expanding a collection.

ARTISTIC EDIFICES

In his “Werk von der Architektur” Karl Eusebius I also refers to the obligation to use acquired riches to create ‘handsome monuments … to eternal an immortal memory’, as only beautiful buildings can lend immortality to the name of him who raised them.  

He made an impressive start in this regard with the parish church in Feldsberg (Valtice). In 1631 the foundation stone was laid for the new church, whose design is associated with Giovanni Battista Carlone (1580/90–1645) and Giovanni Giacomo Tencalla (1593–1653). In this project the prince’s interests as architectural patron and art collector met, in that he acquired Rubens’s “Assumption of the Virgin” as the altarpiece for the high altar. Painted for a church in Antwerp between 1635 and 1637, it was copied in 1643 when already in the prince’s ownership. The painting furnishes proof of how great the interest in works by Rubens must have been. Today it hangs in the Liechtenstein Garden Palace, after a copy had been created for the church in 1764 by Vincenzio Fanti (1719–1776), then director of the Collections and himself an artist. 

A beautiful edifice lends immortality to him who raised it, postulates Karl Eusebius I in his “Werk von der Architektur”.

The desire to combine the necessity of managing the family’s estates with his passion for architecture and art found expression in further architectural projects. In Dobrau at Aussee in Mähren (Úsov) Karl Eusebius I had a stud built between 1633 and 1641, followed by a large estate farm with sculptural decoration at Eisgrub (Lednice). This aspiration also manifested itself in his ongoing devotion to the gardens at Eisgrub. From 1635 more than fifteen fountains were installed and large numbers of exotic plants were purchased. Orangeries were erected in 1642, and a new hothouse for bitter oranges was added in 1656.

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Anonymus Master, view of the façade of the parish church of Feldsberg (Valtice)
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Ansicht der Fassade der Pfarrkirche von Feldsberg
Die Himmelfahrt Mariens
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Front elevation of the parish church of Feldsberg


Anonymous Master


to object

Parish Church of Feldsberg

1631–1671


Giovanni Battista Carlone (1580/90–1645), Giovanni Giacomo Tencalla (1593–1653)

The Assumption of the Virgin

c. 1635/37


Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)


to object

Fountain in the park of Schloss Eisgrub (Lednice)

1633


Pietro Maino Maderno (1592–1653)

TREASURES FROM ALL GENRES OF ART

Karl Eusebius I was the first in his family to make systematic use of the fine art trade in order to acquire paintings and sculptures for the collection. It was during his time that the relationship began with the Antwerp family of dealers called Forchondt, who had a branch on Vienna’s Judenplatz. As the first acquisition during the course of a long-standing business connection the prince purchased the “Peasants Smoking” by Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685). Van Ostade’s “Peasant Dance in a Barn”, sold from the collections by Prince Johann II (1840–1929) in the nineteenth century, was bought back by Prince Hans-Adam II (b. 1945) in 2007. 

Karl Eusebius I went on to acquire pieces such as the “Portrait of a Young Man” by a French master, the painting of “St John the Baptist in the Wilderness” attributed to Giulio Romano (1499–1546) and Jan de Cock’s (1480–1527) “St Anthony Abbot and St Paul the Hermit in the Wilderness”, previously long in the ownership of Rubens. 

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Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685), Peasant Dance in a Barn, 1635
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Bauerntanz in einer Scheune
Porträt eines jungen Mannes
Der heilige Johannes in der Wüste
Die heiligen Einsiedler Antonius und Paulus in der Wüste
Merkur
Löwe greift ein Pferd an
Maienkrug des Fürsten Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)
Pietra Dura-Tischplatte mit dem Wappen von Fürst Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein
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Peasant Dance in a Barn

1635


Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685)


to object

Portrait of a Man

1456



France, 1456


to object

St John the Baptist in the Wilderness


Giulio Romano (1499–1546)
attributed


to object

The Hermit Saints Anthony and Paul in the Wilderness

1520/22


Jan de Cock (around 1480 – around 1527)


to object

Mercury

c. 1630/40


François Duquesnoy (1597–1643)


to object

Lion Attacking a Horse

c. 1630/40


Giovanni Francesco Susini (1585–1653)


to Giambologna (1529–1608)


to object

Maienkrug (vase with cover) of Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)

1639, version: Vienna 1810


Dionysio Miseroni (1607–1661)


to object

Pietra dura tabletop with the coat of arms of Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein

c. 1636


Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini (doc. 1615–1637)


to object

Karl Eusebius I was the first in his family to make systematic use of the fine art trade in order to acquire paintings and sculptures for the collection.

Karl Eusebius I was keenly interested in sculpture. Among other works he acquired “Apollo and Cupid” and “Mercury” by François Duquesnoy (1597–1643), as well as Giovanni Francesco Susini’s (1585–1653) “Lion Attacking a Horse”, cast after an original design by Giambologna (1529–1608).

Finally, we have documentary evidence for the commission given to Dionysio Miseroni (1607–1661) for the large “Maienkrug”, a showpiece vessel cut from a topaz weighing 35 pounds that the prince had purchased for twelve hundred gulden in 1638. Evidently he had inherited his father’s interest in ‘pietre dure’. In 1635 while visiting Florence he acquired a large table top by Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini (c. 1590–1637), one of the most important works to emerge from the grand-ducal pietre dure workshops in Florence from this time, and had his own coat of arms incorporated at the centre.

Objects of the Princely Collections acquired by

Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein

show as search result
Apollo und Cupido

Apollo and Cupid

François Duquesnoy
c. 1630/40

Apollo und Cupido

Apollo and Cupid

François Duquesnoy
c. 1630/40

Merkur

Mercury

François Duquesnoy
c. 1630/40

Merkur

Mercury

François Duquesnoy
c. 1630/40

Venus verbrennt die Pfeile Amors

Venus Burning Cupid’s Arrows

Giovanni Francesco Susini
1638

Venus verbrennt die Pfeile Amors

Venus Burning Cupid’s Arrows

Giovanni Francesco Susini
1638

Venus straft den Amorknaben

Venus Chastising Cupid

Giovanni Francesco Susini
1638

Venus straft den Amorknaben

Venus Chastising Cupid

Giovanni Francesco Susini
1638

David mit dem Haupte Goliaths

David with the Head of Goliath

Giovanni Francesco Susini
c. 1625/30

David mit dem Haupte Goliaths

David with the Head of Goliath

Giovanni Francesco Susini
c. 1625/30

Der Turmbau zu Babel

Tower of Babel

Johann Wilhelm Baur
1638

Der Turmbau zu Babel

Tower of Babel

Johann Wilhelm Baur
1638

Porträt eines jungen Mannes

Portrait of a Man

France, 1456
1456

Porträt eines jungen Mannes

Portrait of a Man

France, 1456
1456

Die heiligen Einsiedler Antonius und Paulus in der Wüste

The Hermit Saints Anthony and Paul in the Wilderness

Jan de Cock
1520/22

Die heiligen Einsiedler Antonius und Paulus in der Wüste

The Hermit Saints Anthony and Paul in the Wilderness

Jan de Cock
1520/22

Kniende Badende

Kneeling Woman Bathing

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
2nd quarter 17th century

Kniende Badende

Kneeling Woman Bathing

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
2nd quarter 17th century

Die Saccomazzonespieler

The Saccomazzone Players

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Orazio Mochi
2nd quarter 17th century

Die Saccomazzonespieler

The Saccomazzone Players

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Orazio Mochi
2nd quarter 17th century

Maienkrug des Fürsten Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)

Maienkrug (vase with cover) of Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)

Dionysio Miseroni
1639, version: Vienna 1810

Maienkrug des Fürsten Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)

Maienkrug (vase with cover) of Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein (1611–1684)

Dionysio Miseroni
1639, version: Vienna 1810

Der heilige Sebastian

St Sebastian

Pietro Tacca, to Giambologna
1620/40

Der heilige Sebastian

St Sebastian

Pietro Tacca, to Giambologna
1620/40

Herkules und ein Kentaur

Hercules and a Centaur

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
1st half of the 17th century

Herkules und ein Kentaur

Hercules and a Centaur

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
1st half of the 17th century

Herkules und Antäus

Hercules and Antaeus

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
Model 1578

Herkules und Antäus

Hercules and Antaeus

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
Model 1578

Laokoon

Laocoon

Giovanni Francesco Susini, according to antiquity
2nd quarter 17th century

Laokoon

Laocoon

Giovanni Francesco Susini, according to antiquity
2nd quarter 17th century

Der Weg zum Markt

The Road to Market

Jan Brueghel the Elder
1604

Der Weg zum Markt

The Road to Market

Jan Brueghel the Elder
1604

Landschaft mit Herde

Landscape with a Flock of Sheep

Roelant Savery
1610

Landschaft mit Herde

Landscape with a Flock of Sheep

Roelant Savery
1610

Nessus raubt Dejaneira

Nessus Abducting Deianeira

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
Model before 1576

Nessus raubt Dejaneira

Nessus Abducting Deianeira

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
Model before 1576

Das Opfer Abrahams

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Lucas Cranach the Elder
1531

Das Opfer Abrahams

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Lucas Cranach the Elder
1531

Herkules Farnese

Farnese Hercules

Giovanni Francesco Susini, according to antiquity
2nd quarter 17th century

Herkules Farnese

Farnese Hercules

Giovanni Francesco Susini, according to antiquity
2nd quarter 17th century

Gebirgslandschaft mit einer Passstrasse

Landscape with a Mountain Pass

Joos de Momper
c. 1600/10

Gebirgslandschaft mit einer Passstrasse

Landscape with a Mountain Pass

Joos de Momper
c. 1600/10

Löwe greift ein Pferd an

Lion Attacking a Horse

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
c. 1630/40

Löwe greift ein Pferd an

Lion Attacking a Horse

Giovanni Francesco Susini, to Giambologna
c. 1630/40

Landschaft mit Stadt an einem Fluss

Landscape with a Town on a River

Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini
c. 1625

Landschaft mit Stadt an einem Fluss

Landscape with a Town on a River

Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini
c. 1625

Die Himmelfahrt Mariens

The Assumption of the Virgin

Sir Peter Paul Rubens
c. 1635/37

Die Himmelfahrt Mariens

The Assumption of the Virgin

Sir Peter Paul Rubens
c. 1635/37

Pietra Dura-Tischplatte mit dem Wappen von Fürst Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein

Pietra dura tabletop with the coat of arms of Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein

Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini
c. 1636

Pietra Dura-Tischplatte mit dem Wappen von Fürst Karl Eusebius I. von Liechtenstein

Pietra dura tabletop with the coat of arms of Prince Karl Eusebius I von Liechtenstein

Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini
c. 1636

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LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna

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