DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Kemperl, Metoda: Villa de Seppi at Hrastnik and the Painters Eduard Lebiedzki and Constanze von Breuning: Unknown Paintings
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71008#0331
Villa de Seppi at Hrastnik and the painters Eduard Lebiedzki and Constanze Von Breuning 325
converted to Christianity. With his studio in the garden of the Schwarzenberg Palace, he
lived at 5 Wohllebengasse in IV. Bezirk. He was considered a friendly, hardworking, and
conscientious man of ill health.10 It may also be noted that he was commissioned by Franz
Ferdinand to paint The Coronation of Emperor Friedrich III. in 1452 in Rome for the
Hofburg Palace.11 The paintings in the Burgtheater Gallery of Honour in Vienna have not
been dated precisely; however, the portrait of Ludwig Arnsburg can be dated on the basis
of preserved correspondence. Arnsburg worked as an actor for many years, and also taught
acting at the Vienna Conservatory. He died on 23 August 1891.12 The correspondence
between Eduard Lebiedzki and the widow Marie Arnsburg shows that the painter execu-
ted the said portrait after Arnsburg's death, probably based on a photograph. In a letter of
8 November 1891 (more than two months after Arnsburg's death) the painter informed the
widow that he had hung the portrait in the agreed place early that morning.13 According to
the Art Database website, four Lebiedzki's paintings and some of his drafts for the frieze
in the Parliament Building were also for sale.14 The Tomatorum Museum holds his pain-
ting entitled Motherhood or After the Bath.15
Based on the above information, it can certainly be concluded that Lebiedzki was an
established and recognized painter in Vienna. However, he has received too little attention
in art history literature so far. His importance is confirmed by the following two facts: he
exhibited his works in the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale twice, namely in 1895
and 1897;16 furthermore, in 1903 he received the Archduke Karl Ludwig's Medal which
was awarded by the Kunstlerhaus.17
Much less is known about the painter Constanze von Breuning. The only information
available in lexicons is that she was born in 1846 or 1856 in Vienna and died there in 1914.
Having been taught how to paint by Eduard Lebiedzki between 1886 and 1890, she beca-
me a member of the Viennese Society of Painters (Wiener Kunstler-Club) in 1890 and,
after that, exhibited her genre paintings, portraits, and still life in Vienna, Budapest, Mu-
nich and Berlin. In 1908, her works Fresh Flowers and Echoes (Resonances) were di-
splayed at the Glashaus in Munich. Her painting Father 's Portrait from 1890 is kept at the
Historisches Museum in Vienna.18 Her paintings At the Park (around 1900), Kitchen Still
Life, Still Life with Flowers (1893), and A Portrait of a Girl in White (1893) can be found
on the websites of various art dealing companies.19 At this point, let us solve the mystery
of the year of Constanze's birth. According to the Vienna Central Cemetery records, she
10 HALATSCH, SCHEFBECK, Eduard Lebiedzki, pp. 21, 22; KNOFLACHER, "Der Mosaikfries von Eduard Lebiedz-
ki", p. 24.
11 Theodor BRUCKNER, Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand als Denkmalpfleger: Die »Kunstakten« der Militdrkanzlei im
Ósterreichischen Staatsarchiv (Kriegsarchiv), Wien 2009.
12 Arnsburg, Ludwig, in Osterreichisches Biographisches Lexikon: 1815-1950, I, Wien 1957, p. 30.
13 Ósterreischischer Nationalbibliothek, Hand Autogr. 371/73-1.
14 http://eduard-lebiedzki.artworkdatabase.com/; The current whereabouts of his other paintings listed in OBL (The
Death of Attila, which won him an award in Rome, Summer Threads from 1890, Asclepius and Hygeia from 1890, and
The Frightened Shakuntala) is unknown (SCHONY, "Lebiedzki Eduard," p. 66.)
15 http://myvirnu.com/exhibit/33438517-lebiedzki-macierzynstwo-po-kapieli (accesed January 3, 2016).
16 http://www.labiennalevenezia.at/archiv/en/chronology/1897 (accesed January 3, 2016).
17 https://www.wien.gv.at/wiki/index.php/K%C3%BCnstlerhaus-Preise (accesed January 3, 2016).
18 Breuning, Konstanze von, in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, ed.
Ulrich THIEME and Felix BECKER, IV, Leipzig 1910, p. 599; FUCHS, Die osterreichischen Maler.
19 https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1912554_constanze-von-breuning-im-park-um-1900; http://www.invalu-
able.com/auction-lot/konstanze-von-breuning-1856-1908-wien-3-c-jlnsiv6gov; http://www.arcadja.com/auctions/en/
von_breuning_constanze/artist/400533/; (accesed January 3, 2016).
converted to Christianity. With his studio in the garden of the Schwarzenberg Palace, he
lived at 5 Wohllebengasse in IV. Bezirk. He was considered a friendly, hardworking, and
conscientious man of ill health.10 It may also be noted that he was commissioned by Franz
Ferdinand to paint The Coronation of Emperor Friedrich III. in 1452 in Rome for the
Hofburg Palace.11 The paintings in the Burgtheater Gallery of Honour in Vienna have not
been dated precisely; however, the portrait of Ludwig Arnsburg can be dated on the basis
of preserved correspondence. Arnsburg worked as an actor for many years, and also taught
acting at the Vienna Conservatory. He died on 23 August 1891.12 The correspondence
between Eduard Lebiedzki and the widow Marie Arnsburg shows that the painter execu-
ted the said portrait after Arnsburg's death, probably based on a photograph. In a letter of
8 November 1891 (more than two months after Arnsburg's death) the painter informed the
widow that he had hung the portrait in the agreed place early that morning.13 According to
the Art Database website, four Lebiedzki's paintings and some of his drafts for the frieze
in the Parliament Building were also for sale.14 The Tomatorum Museum holds his pain-
ting entitled Motherhood or After the Bath.15
Based on the above information, it can certainly be concluded that Lebiedzki was an
established and recognized painter in Vienna. However, he has received too little attention
in art history literature so far. His importance is confirmed by the following two facts: he
exhibited his works in the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale twice, namely in 1895
and 1897;16 furthermore, in 1903 he received the Archduke Karl Ludwig's Medal which
was awarded by the Kunstlerhaus.17
Much less is known about the painter Constanze von Breuning. The only information
available in lexicons is that she was born in 1846 or 1856 in Vienna and died there in 1914.
Having been taught how to paint by Eduard Lebiedzki between 1886 and 1890, she beca-
me a member of the Viennese Society of Painters (Wiener Kunstler-Club) in 1890 and,
after that, exhibited her genre paintings, portraits, and still life in Vienna, Budapest, Mu-
nich and Berlin. In 1908, her works Fresh Flowers and Echoes (Resonances) were di-
splayed at the Glashaus in Munich. Her painting Father 's Portrait from 1890 is kept at the
Historisches Museum in Vienna.18 Her paintings At the Park (around 1900), Kitchen Still
Life, Still Life with Flowers (1893), and A Portrait of a Girl in White (1893) can be found
on the websites of various art dealing companies.19 At this point, let us solve the mystery
of the year of Constanze's birth. According to the Vienna Central Cemetery records, she
10 HALATSCH, SCHEFBECK, Eduard Lebiedzki, pp. 21, 22; KNOFLACHER, "Der Mosaikfries von Eduard Lebiedz-
ki", p. 24.
11 Theodor BRUCKNER, Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand als Denkmalpfleger: Die »Kunstakten« der Militdrkanzlei im
Ósterreichischen Staatsarchiv (Kriegsarchiv), Wien 2009.
12 Arnsburg, Ludwig, in Osterreichisches Biographisches Lexikon: 1815-1950, I, Wien 1957, p. 30.
13 Ósterreischischer Nationalbibliothek, Hand Autogr. 371/73-1.
14 http://eduard-lebiedzki.artworkdatabase.com/; The current whereabouts of his other paintings listed in OBL (The
Death of Attila, which won him an award in Rome, Summer Threads from 1890, Asclepius and Hygeia from 1890, and
The Frightened Shakuntala) is unknown (SCHONY, "Lebiedzki Eduard," p. 66.)
15 http://myvirnu.com/exhibit/33438517-lebiedzki-macierzynstwo-po-kapieli (accesed January 3, 2016).
16 http://www.labiennalevenezia.at/archiv/en/chronology/1897 (accesed January 3, 2016).
17 https://www.wien.gv.at/wiki/index.php/K%C3%BCnstlerhaus-Preise (accesed January 3, 2016).
18 Breuning, Konstanze von, in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, ed.
Ulrich THIEME and Felix BECKER, IV, Leipzig 1910, p. 599; FUCHS, Die osterreichischen Maler.
19 https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1912554_constanze-von-breuning-im-park-um-1900; http://www.invalu-
able.com/auction-lot/konstanze-von-breuning-1856-1908-wien-3-c-jlnsiv6gov; http://www.arcadja.com/auctions/en/
von_breuning_constanze/artist/400533/; (accesed January 3, 2016).