Instytut Sztuki (Warschau) [Hrsg.]; Państwowy Instytut Sztuki (bis 1959) [Hrsg.]; Stowarzyszenie Historyków Sztuki [Hrsg.]: Biuletyn Historii Sztuki (78.2016)

Villa de Seppi at Hrastnik and the painters Eduard Lebiedzki and Constanze Von Breuning 327

large numbers of people moved to Trieste and built urban villas as well as palaces that
needed to be furnished. Thus for several decades Gossleth provided furniture for the most
famous and luxurious palaces in the city (Morpurgo Palace, Revoltella Palace, Miramare
Castle, etc.), additionally working for the Lloyd Austriaco Company.25
Gossleth's business was not limited to making and selling furniture. He was the owner
of a brokerage house which traded in potassium nitrate, wood, worked stone, and coal. He
also owned a brickyard and was a co-owner of the Triestino coal company at Hrastnik
from 1845 onwards (Triester Steinkohlengewerkschaft zu Hrastnik und Dol).26 Moreover,
that same year he took over a chemical plant producing potassium nitrate in Trieste. In
1852, his son Georg, who had graduated in chemistry in London, also started working at
the plant. In 1856, the plant launched potassium chromate production, the compound ha-
ving previously been produced only in Scotland. He was thus awarded the Order of the
Iron Crown Third Class, by the Emperor in 1855 and received knighthood with "Ritter
von Werkstatten" added to his name.27 Furthermore, Gossleth was a shareholder of Au-
strian banks and of the Banca Commerciale Triestina, as well as one of the directors of the
Society for the Water Supply Network in Aurisina/Nabrezina (Societa per Azioni
delTAquedotto di Aurisina).28 In 1865, Gossleth, Baron Revoltella, and Elio Morpurgo
founded the first brewery in Trieste, i.e. the Dreher brewery.29 As a member of the Casino
Vecchio Society, he was not only an important link among the commercial circles in Trie-
ste, but also played an important role in the broader social and cultural life.30 One of the
founders of an orphanage established in 1841,31 he co-founded and made donations to the
zoological museum in the city in 1846.32 Together with Baron Pasquale Revoltella, a ban-
ker, humanist, patron, philanthropist and thus a dominant figure in the bourgeois elite in
Trieste,33 he founded the School of Art and Design (Scuola domenicale di disegno per arti-
giani) in 1850.34 From 1867 to at least 1873, Gossleth, Elio Morpurgo, Carl Rittermayer, and
25 Luisa CRUSVAR, "L'interno in scena: 1820-1900. Mobili e Arredi, stili e mobilieri a Trieste," in Abitare la Periferia
dell 'Imperio nell '800, ed. Carlo MILIC, Trieste 1990, pp. 17-19.
26 OROŻEN, Zgodovina, pp. 350, 351. In 1874, the mine at Hrastnik was purchased by a group of Austrians from
Vienna, who ran the company under the same name.
27 Luisa CRUSVAR, "L'interno in scena: 1820-1900. Mobili e Arredi, stili e mobilieri a Trieste," in Abitare la Periferia
dell 'Imperio nell'800, ed. Carlo MILIC, Trieste 1990), p. 19; OROZEN, Zgodovina, pp. 531, 532, 533. In Slovenian
literature on Villa de Seppi it is stated that Gossleth was awarded the Order of the Iron Crown for furnishing the
Miramare castle (A. HOFBAUER, "Hrastniski grad", Zasavski vestnik 1953: 2; Irena IVANCIC LEBAR, Miran KA-
LIŚEK and Jana MLAKAR ADAMIC, Vodic po zbirkah hrastniskega muzeja, Trbovlje 2006, p. 22; Irena IVANCIC
LEBAR, Hrastnik, Hrastnik 2000, pp. 62, 63; SAPAĆ, "Vila de Seppi," p. 54; however, it is more likely that - as stated
by Orozen - Gossleth received the Order mainly due to the achievements of the chemical plant, as it introduced new
products that were very important for the whole Austrian Empire.
28 CRUSVAR, "L'interno in scena", pp. 16, 17, 18.
29 http://www.beverfood.eom/documenti/storia-birrerie-birrifici-italia/3/. Gossleth died on 19 March 1879 and is buried
in the family tomb at the Cimiterio communale Sant'Anna cemetery in Trieste; http://biblioteche.comune.trieste.it/ListRe-
cord.htm?selectobjet=109&what=gossleth; (accessed January 3, 2016).
30 Zala SACHA, Die Moderne und ihre Krisen: Studien von Marina Cattaruzza zur europtiischen Geschichte des 19.
und 20. Jahrhundert, Gottingen 2012, p. 66.
31 Primo asilo per 1'infanzia in Trieste relazione di Giovanni Codemo, Trieste 1841, p. 11.
32 Civico museo Ferdinando Massimiliano in Trieste, alto protettorato, cenni storici, e statuto 1846-1856, Trieste 1856, pp. 18, 29.
33 Claudio MARTIELLI, Dizionario degli Artisti di Trieste, dell Tsontino, delle 'Istria e della Dalmatia, Trieste, 2001,
pp. 14, 15; Revoltella was also a co-owner of the mine at Hrastnik (OROZEN, Zgodovina, p. 351).
34 Maria Laura IONA, "Una scuola pediculare per Trieste: dalia "Gewerbeschule" all "Instituto Volta"," in La lavagna
near: lefonti per la storia dell 'istrucione nel Friuli- Venezia Giulia: atti del convegno, Trieste - Udine, 24./25. novembre
1995, Trieste, Udine 1995, pp. 113-121.