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#0350
344
Metoda Kemperl
13. Constanze von Breuning, Supraporta with the Allegory of port trade/Trieste, 1894,
Villa de Seppi, Hrastnik. Foto M. Kemperl
The painting above the other door depicts a woman and a putto offering her a model of the
villa in Hrastnik. Above them the Latin inscription: ISTE TERRARUM MIHI PRAETER
OMNES ANGULUS RIDET is featured and so is a white dove with an olive branch flying
towards the putto. The woman, shown with her back to the viewer, her head turned in a three-
quarter profile, is leaning with her right hand against a stone wall. Behind her there are roses
and two carved stone coats-of-arms: one belongs to the Gossleth family, while the other is
probably the owner's new coat-of-arms. This last painting obviously depicts a personifica-
tion of the owner herself. Not only does the painting indicate the ownership of the villa, but
the inscription also shows that the owner was very fond of Hrastnik and the villa. In fact, the
inscription is a motto or a phrase from Horace's Odes, published in 23 BC (Horace, Odes, II,
6, 13), referring to a particularly fertile, green, and rich land.106 In the 18th and 19th centuries,
the phrase was often written on faęades of country mansions or villas.107 It was borrowed by
the Danish romantic poet Adam Oehlenschlager, who wrote a poem bearing this title in
1816. The poem later became the lyrics of the Danish national anthem.108 By including this
phrase, Emma probably wanted to show that she was well acquainted with both Latin and
contemporary poetry, as well as with the function of countryside villas. 109 At the same time,
the fact that Emma de Seppi chose this motto also accounts for the fact that she enjoyed her
time at Hrastnik very much and that her family considered Hrastnik a source of well-being
and a place for rest. Therefore, perhaps we can say that the statement in a 1953 edition of the
Zasavski vestnik journal that Emma de Seppi hated the Slavs110 is exaggerated and should be
considered in the light of the then communist ideology. If she had hated the Slavs, she
106 Hans Peter SYNDICUS, Die Lirik des Horaz. Eine Interpretation der Oden, Darmstadt 1972, p. 379.
107 For example, such an inscription can be found on the Neo-Classical villa Marynki in Puławy, Poland, which was built
between 1790 and 1794, on the villa of the famous German painter Max Liebermann in Wannsee from 1910 and on
Schloss Molsdorf near Erfurt (inscription from 1738).
108 http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/denmark/dkflags.htm (accesed January 3, 2016).
109 In his poems, Horace, like many other Roman poets, often praised country life versus city life. In fact, that Roman
literature has influenced the revival of villas since the Renaissance (James S. ACKERMANN, The Villa. Form and
Ideology of Country Houses, London 1990, pp. 10, 35-41, 164, 210.
110 HOFBAUER, Hrastniski grad: 4.
Metoda Kemperl
13. Constanze von Breuning, Supraporta with the Allegory of port trade/Trieste, 1894,
Villa de Seppi, Hrastnik. Foto M. Kemperl
The painting above the other door depicts a woman and a putto offering her a model of the
villa in Hrastnik. Above them the Latin inscription: ISTE TERRARUM MIHI PRAETER
OMNES ANGULUS RIDET is featured and so is a white dove with an olive branch flying
towards the putto. The woman, shown with her back to the viewer, her head turned in a three-
quarter profile, is leaning with her right hand against a stone wall. Behind her there are roses
and two carved stone coats-of-arms: one belongs to the Gossleth family, while the other is
probably the owner's new coat-of-arms. This last painting obviously depicts a personifica-
tion of the owner herself. Not only does the painting indicate the ownership of the villa, but
the inscription also shows that the owner was very fond of Hrastnik and the villa. In fact, the
inscription is a motto or a phrase from Horace's Odes, published in 23 BC (Horace, Odes, II,
6, 13), referring to a particularly fertile, green, and rich land.106 In the 18th and 19th centuries,
the phrase was often written on faęades of country mansions or villas.107 It was borrowed by
the Danish romantic poet Adam Oehlenschlager, who wrote a poem bearing this title in
1816. The poem later became the lyrics of the Danish national anthem.108 By including this
phrase, Emma probably wanted to show that she was well acquainted with both Latin and
contemporary poetry, as well as with the function of countryside villas. 109 At the same time,
the fact that Emma de Seppi chose this motto also accounts for the fact that she enjoyed her
time at Hrastnik very much and that her family considered Hrastnik a source of well-being
and a place for rest. Therefore, perhaps we can say that the statement in a 1953 edition of the
Zasavski vestnik journal that Emma de Seppi hated the Slavs110 is exaggerated and should be
considered in the light of the then communist ideology. If she had hated the Slavs, she
106 Hans Peter SYNDICUS, Die Lirik des Horaz. Eine Interpretation der Oden, Darmstadt 1972, p. 379.
107 For example, such an inscription can be found on the Neo-Classical villa Marynki in Puławy, Poland, which was built
between 1790 and 1794, on the villa of the famous German painter Max Liebermann in Wannsee from 1910 and on
Schloss Molsdorf near Erfurt (inscription from 1738).
108 http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/denmark/dkflags.htm (accesed January 3, 2016).
109 In his poems, Horace, like many other Roman poets, often praised country life versus city life. In fact, that Roman
literature has influenced the revival of villas since the Renaissance (James S. ACKERMANN, The Villa. Form and
Ideology of Country Houses, London 1990, pp. 10, 35-41, 164, 210.
110 HOFBAUER, Hrastniski grad: 4.