Page - 83 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

The Absent Empress 83 studio photography – the sweeping side curtain, cramped composition, and studio props – but this portrait is a photomontage. To produce the image, the anonymous artist assembled elements from two separate Ludwig Angerer cartes (Fig. 1 and 2), painted a new backdrop to link the disparate photographs, and then photographed the final product for sale at Joseph Bermann’s Kunsthandlung on Vienna’s Graben.9 At roughly nine by six centimeters, the object measured the same size as a standardized carte de visite photograph, suggesting that it was meant to be collected in an album where individuals might compile cartes. Comparisons with contemporary Viennese carte de visite group portraiture reveal an almost identical composition and setting. In an 1862 portrait of the future novel- ist and playwright Arthur Schnitzler with his parents, Luise and Johann Schnitzler (Fig. 5), the young parents appear in nearly the same pose as the imperial couple; the mother sits on a high back chair on the left side of the frame, and the father stands behind with his hand resting upon her shoulder. However, closer inspection uncov- Figure 4: Anonymous, The Imperial Family, published by Joseph Bermann Kunsthandlung, 1860, photomontage. Figure 5: Emil Rabending, The Schnitzler Family, 1862, carte de visite.