Studia Waweliana (14.2009)

developed when he was working at the Schleissheim, and then later
at the Pinakothek in Munich. At that time he was buying works of art
both for Karol Lanckoroński, and Duke Johann II von Liechtenstein.
Bayersdorfer travelled to London in July 1882 in order to acquire a
painting by Luca Signorelli for the Duke: then two weeks later he was
on a similar mission in Paris. It is known that owing to his mediation
the Liechtensteins’ gallery in Vienna acąuired Portrait of a Young
Man by Girolamo Savoldo in 1883. Another of his purchases was
Madonna del Leggio, which he judged as an early Michelangelo,
bought from Morris Moore, an English collector living in Italy.
He may also have played his part in the acquisition of Portrait of
Ginevra Benci by Leonardo da Vinci which became part of the
Duke’s collection sometime before 1880. Lanckoroński wrote to
Bayersdorfer in October of that year, “I may be able to show you a
photograph of the da Vinci from the Liechtensteins’ collection and I
would be very pleased to make you happy by so doing.”
The first of several large purchases of paintings for Karol
Lanckoroński probably took place in November 1883. Adolph
Bayersdorfer bought at least three paintings in Florence, which
- as we can read from a letter - the Count only saw for the first
time after the transaction was complete, sińce Bayersdorfer himself
madę the choice. One of them, described in one of Lanckoroński’s
letters as “beautiful Lotto”, may have been Portrait of a Man
attributed by Bernard Berenson to Giulio Campi, and sometimes to
Alessandro Bonvicino, also called Moretto da Brescia. Two others
- “an old Florentine” and “an old Venetian” - are difficult to identify
conclusively, sińce we do not even know their subject matter. We leam
from a further letter that “an old Florentine” is probably a tondo from
the collection of Baron Fabrizio della Penna in Perugia, depicting
Yirgin andSaints (now atthe Wawel Royal Castle). It is possible that
Madonna, thought to be the work of Alesso Baldovinetti, was also
bought at that time. Marian Sokołowski wrote about that painting in a
letter to Karol Lanckoroński dated 4 July 1884, in which he expressed
his views about those purchases, mentioning it along with works by
Lotto and Signorelli. The paintings bought then were supposed to be
photographed; either in Florence in the famous photographic atelier
of Giacomo Brogi or later in Munich, most probably in the studio
of the well-known photographer Franz Hanfstangl, whose name
often turns up in other letters of Lanckoroński. This procedurę was
adhered to with all Lanckoroński’s purchases. Bayersdorfer madę
surę that new acquisitions were photographed the way they looked
at the time of purchase. He then sent them for renovation - usually
to the atelier of Alois Hauser, an acclaimed renovator, artist and
professor of the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Once the paintings
had been restored and reframed they were sent to Vienna ready to
be hung in the furnished rooms of the mansion at Jacquingasse 18,
Vienna (known as Palais Lanckoroński). In a few cases Lanckoroński
asked in his letters for “the paintings not to be renovated until I
arrive in Munich”, and he would occasionally take part in choosing
the frame. One is left in little doubt, however, that both the decision
to undertake restoration and its naturę and scope was left to Adolph
Bayersdorfer. “I am certain that you will look after my interests better
- both financially and aesthetically - than I would ever be able to,”
wrote Lanckoroński in a letter concerning another large order.
In May 1884 the Count turned down the opportunity to buy a
Botticelli; it can be reasonably assumed that the use of the name
“Sandro” in the letter refers to that artist. He decided against the
painting which he had seen in a photograph because it did not excite
his interest; and in addition he “needed money for Asia Minor”, as
he was organizing an archaeological expedition in the region of the
ancient Pamphylia and Pisidia. In March 1885 he was already taking
part in an auction of the legacy of Hans Makart, where apart from
other works of art he bought Portrait of a Woman, now attributed to

Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder and currently in the possession of the
AcklandArt Museum at University ofNorth Carolina. This painting
was sent to Munich two months later, where Adolph Bayersdorfer
oversaw its restoration in Alois Hauser’s atelier. Apart from Portrait
of a Woman, there were at least four other paintings in Hauser’s
workshop. One of them was an unidentified painting attributed to
Sandro Botticelli; Kitchen Scene in the style of the Flemish sti 11-lifes
of either Joachim Beuckelaer or Pieter Aertsen; a painting described
only as “Madonna”; and a “smali painting”. The mysterious “Sandro”
may be either The Adoration ofthe Child, which appears in catalogues
from the time of the Second World War as painted by a “follower
of Botticelli” or The Adoration of Christ, a work attributed today
to an unknown follower of Jacopo del Sellaio and described by
Theodor von Frimmel as “Botticelli’s workshop” and is now in the
Wawel Royal Castle, Kraków. It is conceivable that Lanckoroński
acquired other paintings that same year. Marquis Giovanni Battista
Costabile’s gallery was auctioned off in Milan from 27 to 29 April.
It is highly likely that three of the paintings on sale found their way
into Lanckoroński’s collection, even though Lanckoroński does
not mention this auction in any letters to Bayersdorfer. A painting
described in the catalogue as “La
Nativite” by an unknown fifteenth-century artist may be
hypothetically identified as The Adoration of the Child by Mariotto
di Nardo. “La Vierge avec 1’Enfant Jesus”, attributed to Francesco
Francia, may be Madonna and Child, the work of an unknown
fifteenth-century north-Italian artist. The third painting to become
part of the Count’s collection was probably Madonna and Child,
attributed to Ludovico Mazzolino. All three paintings are now in
the Wawel Royal Castle.
In 1888 Bayersdorfer bought another painting - also a difficult
one to identify - probably from the Munich art dealer Hugon
Helbing.
In December 1888 Karol Lanckoroński set off on a journey
around the world, returning to Vienna in August 1889. During
his absence the Munich painter, Sigmund Landsinger, a friend of
Adolph Bayersdorfer’s, copied a Titian for him - probably The
Descent‘from the Cross from the Old Pinakothek in Munich, which is
referred to in catalogues from the time of the Second World War as a
nineteenth-century painting. Apart from an unidentified “Madonna”,
Lanckoroński also commissioned Landsinger to copy “Rubens’
Woman with a Child in Munich”.
There is Information about further important acquisitions in February
1891 when Lanckoroński informed Adolph Bayersdorfer about the
dispatch of a “case containing twelve seriously damaged portraits from
a monastery in Brescia [?]” to Munich. Those paintings were most
probably bought without Bayersdorfer’s mediation, but were sent to
Munich to be restored. It is conceivable that they are “the fifteenth-
century portraits of the Milan School” which ended up in the chapeFs
plafond in Palais Lanckoroński, Vienna. Morę paintings arrived in
Munich to be restored on 16 December 1891, although their identities
are unfortunately not known. In the late autumn or early winter of that
year Adolph Bayersdorfer purchased Masaccio’s St. Andrew (now in
the J. Paul Getty Museum) for Lanckoroński. On 18 February 1892 the
Count informed his friend, “Your beautiful Masaccio shall of course
also be photographed for the Bilderschatz. I shall commission Angerer
in the spring”. The photograph which was going to be taken by the
Viennese photographer Victor Angerer was intended for a publication
entitled Klassischer Bilderschatz, edited by Franz von Reber and Adolph
Bayersdorfer. It was published from 1889 to 1900, but the Masaccio
never ultimately appeared in the Bilderschatz.
Lanckoroński’s letters from 1891 to 1893 prove that he bought a
great deal during that period, which coincided with the fumishing ot
Palais Lanckoroński in 1892. The necessity to fit out a new residence

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