DOI article:
Winiewicz, Joanna: Wiedeńskie zbiory Karola Lanckorońskiego przed stu laty
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20620#0165
The Yiennese Collection of Karol Lanckoroński a Century Ago
The present article is the flst attempt at reconstructing the
arrangement of the painting collection in the Lanckorońskis
Viennese pałace in 1903 — the year in which Karol Lanckoroński
wrote and published the brochure (with the rights of a manu-
script) titled Palais Lanckoroński Jacąuingasse 18. It was a kind
of guide to the pałace, meant to accompany the guests who
desired to visit Lanckorońskfs famous collection. The pałace had
been raised, in strict accordance with the expectations and in-
structions of its owner, by the Yiennese architectural company
of Ferdinad Fellner Jun. (1847-1916) and Hermann Helmer
(1849—1919). The first designs may have come into being al-
ready in 1891, for in that year Lanckoroński was presented with
the cost estimate. The pałace was ready as early as January 1894
and in March Lanckoroński began to move from the hitherto
occupied fiat at 6, Wasagasse (Vienna IX). From 1896 the Yi-
ennese directory mentioned Lanckorońskfs new address: 18,
Jacąuingasse.
The pałace served not only as an elegant seat of a member
of one of the most illustrious Polish aristocratic families, closely
related to the imperial court in Vienna. According to Karol
Lanckorońskfs words, it was also to give shelter to works of art
from bygone epochs. The pałace housed an excellent set of ar-
tistic objects that could be seen only with the owner’s assent.
Its core consisted of works of art inherited from the ancestors,
partly Irom the legacy left by the last king of Poland, Stanislas
Augustus Poniatowski. Yet, the collection owed its growth and
international famę to Karol Lanckoroński’s passion as a collec-
tor and his academic interests, which helped him to create an
interesting body of ancient art and of early Italian painting.
Lanckoroński used to bring his ancient exhibits from archaeo-
logical expeditions and scholarly travels; he purchased paintings,
sculptures and textiles a. o. at auctions. He participated in the
Viennese auctions of Erasmus von Engert’s collection in 1871
and Hans Makart’s collection in 1885. He bought a consider-
able number of items in Italy in 1893: at an auction in the Viłla
Borghese in Romę and the Giustiniani auction in Milan. In
1902 he purchased a dozen or so paintings at the Parisian auc-
tion of his cousin Leon Mniszech’s collection.
Lanckorońskfs rich and yariegated assortment of artistic
items was often compared to a museum display. Though
Lanckoroński decidedly disliked the word ‘museum’, popular-
ized by the Viennese press, three rooms of his pałace had been
arranged in the way that clearly suggested a museum gallery.
It was no accident that the Dutch and Italian Rooms, which
adjoined the Frescos Room, situated along the axis in the front
road of the building, were referred to as a ‘musem’ on the pał-
ace^ plan of 1894. This term best described the character which
the owner intended to impart to those interiors.
On 16 February 1902 a newly constructed pałace, together
with works of art gathered in it, was shown to the Viennese for
the first time. The presentation took place within the framework
of the so-called “Wiener Kunstwanderungen”, during which
palaces of the Viennese aristocracy and artists’ studios, usually
inaccessible, were open to the public. The Lanckorońskis’ resi-
dence experienced a real siege: it could not receive all those keen
on seeing the interiors. The incident called forth a far-reaching
response in the Viennese press, which ran comprehensive arti-
cles on both the pałace and its artistic contents.
Count Lanckorońskfs pałace was, at the time, one of the
morę important “salons” of the imperial Capital. In contradis-
tinction to other salons of the Viennese aristocracy, it was re-
ferred to as “professorial”, sińce it served as a meeting place for
scholars, uniyersity professors, journalists, writers and artists;
lectures and concerts also took place there. The first meeting
occurred in the evening of 10 May 1902 — it was organized by
an informal association called Gesellschaftsabende Óster-
reichischer Kunstfreunde, created on the initiatiye of Karol
Lanckoroński himself. Lanckoroński madę then a Begrussungs-
rede — welcoming speech, in which he explained, a. o., why he
had accepted the forms of the Austrian baroąue of around 1700
as the most suitable historical costume for his seat. The pro-
gramme of that meeting included also a tour of the pałace, pre-
ceded by a lecture-essay deliyered by the poet Hugo von
Hofmannsthal and inspired by works of art from Lanckorońskfs
collection.
The pałace existed for less than fifty years. Destroyed at the
end of World War II during the bombings of Vienna by the al-
lied forces, it stood in ruin until 1960, when it was definitely
pulled down. The artistic collection, eyacuated to Altaussee in
the years 1943—1944 and deposited in the Hohenems castle
(Austria, Vorarlberg) after the war, ceased to exist as an entirety.
A conyiction which became fixed in generał opinion was that the
majority of paintings (whose number was erroneously estimated
at 102) burnt down in the fire which broke out in the Hoh-
enems pałace in March 1950. In fact, several items from the
collection found their way — through auction houses — to pri-
vate and public collections in Europę and, especially, in the
USA. In the 1970s Karolina Lanckorońska handed over or sold
some works to the Viennese Albertina and to the
Osterreichische Galerie in the Belvedere; in the year 1994 she
gave close to 130 pictures (all that had remained from her fam-
ily collection) as a present to the Polish nation. Italian paintings
enriched the collections of the Royal Castle on Wawel, while the
artistic objects from King Poniatowskie legacy - the Royal
Castle in Warsaw. Today, our knowledge of the collection is rela-
tively good and the vast illustratiye materiał in the form of pho-
tographs and old postcards, enables us not only to reconstruct
it theoretically, but also to verify certain attributions accepted
by Lanckoroński in his guide-book Palais Lanckoroński.
The great hall, situated along the pałace axis, was — specifi-
cally — a gallery of ancestors. Among family portraits one could
find there, a. o. two out of six pictures painted by Elisabeth
Vigee-Lebrun and inherited from the family of Karofs mother,
Leonia Potocka (at present, two other paintings can be found,
respectively, in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and in
the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, the USA; an-
other one belongs to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Uniyer-
sity of Birmingham, Great Britain; one painting has been re-
gistered in Joanna Studzińska’s Parisian collection; one work be-
longs to an anonymous collector in Austria). Also, the portrait
of Karol Lanckoroński, executed by Hans Makart in the early
1870s, today considered missing, was hanging in the gallery.
The Italian Room, together with the adjacent smali Italian Stu-
dio and the chapel, contained the entire collection of Italian art,
including such works as: St. George by Ucello (today in the
National Gallery, London), St. Andrew by Masaccio (now in the
159
The present article is the flst attempt at reconstructing the
arrangement of the painting collection in the Lanckorońskis
Viennese pałace in 1903 — the year in which Karol Lanckoroński
wrote and published the brochure (with the rights of a manu-
script) titled Palais Lanckoroński Jacąuingasse 18. It was a kind
of guide to the pałace, meant to accompany the guests who
desired to visit Lanckorońskfs famous collection. The pałace had
been raised, in strict accordance with the expectations and in-
structions of its owner, by the Yiennese architectural company
of Ferdinad Fellner Jun. (1847-1916) and Hermann Helmer
(1849—1919). The first designs may have come into being al-
ready in 1891, for in that year Lanckoroński was presented with
the cost estimate. The pałace was ready as early as January 1894
and in March Lanckoroński began to move from the hitherto
occupied fiat at 6, Wasagasse (Vienna IX). From 1896 the Yi-
ennese directory mentioned Lanckorońskfs new address: 18,
Jacąuingasse.
The pałace served not only as an elegant seat of a member
of one of the most illustrious Polish aristocratic families, closely
related to the imperial court in Vienna. According to Karol
Lanckorońskfs words, it was also to give shelter to works of art
from bygone epochs. The pałace housed an excellent set of ar-
tistic objects that could be seen only with the owner’s assent.
Its core consisted of works of art inherited from the ancestors,
partly Irom the legacy left by the last king of Poland, Stanislas
Augustus Poniatowski. Yet, the collection owed its growth and
international famę to Karol Lanckoroński’s passion as a collec-
tor and his academic interests, which helped him to create an
interesting body of ancient art and of early Italian painting.
Lanckoroński used to bring his ancient exhibits from archaeo-
logical expeditions and scholarly travels; he purchased paintings,
sculptures and textiles a. o. at auctions. He participated in the
Viennese auctions of Erasmus von Engert’s collection in 1871
and Hans Makart’s collection in 1885. He bought a consider-
able number of items in Italy in 1893: at an auction in the Viłla
Borghese in Romę and the Giustiniani auction in Milan. In
1902 he purchased a dozen or so paintings at the Parisian auc-
tion of his cousin Leon Mniszech’s collection.
Lanckorońskfs rich and yariegated assortment of artistic
items was often compared to a museum display. Though
Lanckoroński decidedly disliked the word ‘museum’, popular-
ized by the Viennese press, three rooms of his pałace had been
arranged in the way that clearly suggested a museum gallery.
It was no accident that the Dutch and Italian Rooms, which
adjoined the Frescos Room, situated along the axis in the front
road of the building, were referred to as a ‘musem’ on the pał-
ace^ plan of 1894. This term best described the character which
the owner intended to impart to those interiors.
On 16 February 1902 a newly constructed pałace, together
with works of art gathered in it, was shown to the Viennese for
the first time. The presentation took place within the framework
of the so-called “Wiener Kunstwanderungen”, during which
palaces of the Viennese aristocracy and artists’ studios, usually
inaccessible, were open to the public. The Lanckorońskis’ resi-
dence experienced a real siege: it could not receive all those keen
on seeing the interiors. The incident called forth a far-reaching
response in the Viennese press, which ran comprehensive arti-
cles on both the pałace and its artistic contents.
Count Lanckorońskfs pałace was, at the time, one of the
morę important “salons” of the imperial Capital. In contradis-
tinction to other salons of the Viennese aristocracy, it was re-
ferred to as “professorial”, sińce it served as a meeting place for
scholars, uniyersity professors, journalists, writers and artists;
lectures and concerts also took place there. The first meeting
occurred in the evening of 10 May 1902 — it was organized by
an informal association called Gesellschaftsabende Óster-
reichischer Kunstfreunde, created on the initiatiye of Karol
Lanckoroński himself. Lanckoroński madę then a Begrussungs-
rede — welcoming speech, in which he explained, a. o., why he
had accepted the forms of the Austrian baroąue of around 1700
as the most suitable historical costume for his seat. The pro-
gramme of that meeting included also a tour of the pałace, pre-
ceded by a lecture-essay deliyered by the poet Hugo von
Hofmannsthal and inspired by works of art from Lanckorońskfs
collection.
The pałace existed for less than fifty years. Destroyed at the
end of World War II during the bombings of Vienna by the al-
lied forces, it stood in ruin until 1960, when it was definitely
pulled down. The artistic collection, eyacuated to Altaussee in
the years 1943—1944 and deposited in the Hohenems castle
(Austria, Vorarlberg) after the war, ceased to exist as an entirety.
A conyiction which became fixed in generał opinion was that the
majority of paintings (whose number was erroneously estimated
at 102) burnt down in the fire which broke out in the Hoh-
enems pałace in March 1950. In fact, several items from the
collection found their way — through auction houses — to pri-
vate and public collections in Europę and, especially, in the
USA. In the 1970s Karolina Lanckorońska handed over or sold
some works to the Viennese Albertina and to the
Osterreichische Galerie in the Belvedere; in the year 1994 she
gave close to 130 pictures (all that had remained from her fam-
ily collection) as a present to the Polish nation. Italian paintings
enriched the collections of the Royal Castle on Wawel, while the
artistic objects from King Poniatowskie legacy - the Royal
Castle in Warsaw. Today, our knowledge of the collection is rela-
tively good and the vast illustratiye materiał in the form of pho-
tographs and old postcards, enables us not only to reconstruct
it theoretically, but also to verify certain attributions accepted
by Lanckoroński in his guide-book Palais Lanckoroński.
The great hall, situated along the pałace axis, was — specifi-
cally — a gallery of ancestors. Among family portraits one could
find there, a. o. two out of six pictures painted by Elisabeth
Vigee-Lebrun and inherited from the family of Karofs mother,
Leonia Potocka (at present, two other paintings can be found,
respectively, in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and in
the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, the USA; an-
other one belongs to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Uniyer-
sity of Birmingham, Great Britain; one painting has been re-
gistered in Joanna Studzińska’s Parisian collection; one work be-
longs to an anonymous collector in Austria). Also, the portrait
of Karol Lanckoroński, executed by Hans Makart in the early
1870s, today considered missing, was hanging in the gallery.
The Italian Room, together with the adjacent smali Italian Stu-
dio and the chapel, contained the entire collection of Italian art,
including such works as: St. George by Ucello (today in the
National Gallery, London), St. Andrew by Masaccio (now in the
159