Schönbrunn, Vienna

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Entwurff Einer Historischen Architectur: in Abbildung unterschiedener berühmten Gebäude des Alterthums und fremder Völcker; umb aus den Geschicht-büchern, Gedächtnüß-münzen, Ruinen, und eingeholten wahrhafften Abrißen, vor Augen zu stellen (Leipzig, 1725), Book 4, plate 2 (a conceptual scheme, rather than a built plan).

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723) was commissioned by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705) to produce a plan for a royal hunting lodge which in its style and scale would rival Versailles. The result was his plan for the Palace of Schönbrunn. Mallgrave (1998) suggests that Leopold I’s commission for Schönbrunn was as early as 1688. The timing is significant for clearly rivalry with France was a chief concern of the emperor at the time – it was shortly after the Glorious Revolution in England which had seen Louis XIV’s enemy William III of Orange gain control of England, an enemy who would soon join with the Habsburg Leopold I in the ‘Grand Alliance’ to stop French imperialist expansion. The politics lurking behind the design is apparent not only in the imperial eagles adorning the columns of the first entrance, but also in the depth of the vista, where newly acquired territory in Hungary was visible in the distance. On 12 August 1687 the imperial Holy Roman army had defeated the Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Süleyman Paşa at the Battle of Mohács, thus ensuring the consolidation of Habsburg power in Hungary.

As Ballon (1999) notes, the imperial iconography and nationalism so apparent in Fischer von Erlach’s design for the Schönbrunn were a reflection of the complex interaction of the nationalism and internationalism at play in the institutional structures of Baroque architecture. Fischer von Erlach trained in Rome as both a sculptor and architect in the 1670s and was therefore familiar with the innovations of Italian architects such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and Francesco Borromini (1599-1667). He would later become famous for his designs for the Viennese Stadtpalais of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Kollegienkirche at Salzburg, and the Karlskirche at Vienna. As Dotson (2012) notes, Fischer von Erlach’s first design for Schönbrunn (literally ‘Beautiful Spring’), was conceived ‘less as a serious proposal than as a presentation drawing to demonstrate his talent in grandiose architectural design.’ This image depicts an elaborate design with stepped terraces, waterfall and a deep courtyard and has been compared with contemporary stage sets – and, as we can see, his design incorporated depictions of many of the courtly activities which would take place at the imperial palace. The plan was ambitious but never implemented. Instead, a few years later, following successful commissions for other palaces, Fischer von Erlach presented the emperor with a simpler but equally impressive design, which we see below. As you can see, Worth’s plate of the second Schönbrunn design is torn and we have attempted to reconstruct the image as best we could.

We know that Fischer von Erlach began his second Schönbrunn design in 1696 at the behest of Leopold I’s heir, Joseph I, King of the Romans (1678-1711). Fischer von Erlach had been appointed architectural tutor to the Crown Prince some years previously and had been responsible for designs for Joseph’s coronation as King of the Romans in 1690. Leaving aside his stepped terraces, for his second Schönbrunn design Fischer von Erlach chose a more practical approach, setting his palace on a level plain with a Mirabell (viewing platform) on the hill behind it. Some important details were retained: the figures of Apollo and Hercules, which had been at the base of the two columns leading into initial court of the first design are still visible in the second. As Polleross (1998) reminds us, the iconography of Apollo and Hercules served to remind the viewer that the emperor was both skilled in military arts and learned in literature. Polleross surmises that the two columns, which also symbolised the two pillars of Hercules, were no doubt retained in the later plan because of Emperor Charles VI’s claim to be both Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

Sources

Ballon, Hilary, ‘Architecture in the Seventeenth Century in Europe’, in Henry A. Millon (ed.) The Triumph of the Baroque. Architecture in Europe 1600-1750 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1999).

Dotson, Esther Gordon and Mark Richard Ashton, J. B. Fischer von Erlach. J. B. Fischer von Erlach. Archtecture as Theater in the Baroque Era (Yale University Press, 2012).

Krapf, Michael, ‘The Architectural Model in the Sphere of Influence of the Imperial Court in Vienna’, in Henry A. Millon (ed.) The Triumph of the Baroque. Architecture in Europe 1600-1750 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1999).

Mallgrave, H. F. et al, The Mark J. Millard Architectural Collection (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1998), iii, 45-47,144-148.
Oeschlin, Werner (2007-2016), ‘Fischer von Erlach’ entry in Oxford Art Online.

Polleross, Friedrich, ‘Architecture and Rhetoric in the work of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach’, in Max Reinhart, Infinite Boundaries: Order, Disorder and Reorder in Early Modern German Culture (Kirksville, Montana; 1998), 121-146. Available online:

Text: Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian of the Worth Library.