Seite - 87 - in Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, Band LIX
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The Entwurff einer historischen
Architec-tur
(Outline of an Historical Architecture,
1721), produced by the Viennese court architect,
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, has long
been recognized as a pivotal work in the litera-
ture of architecture.1 The actual development of
the book has proven difficult to sort out, howev-
er. A unique unfinished version of the book, sent
by the Habsburg court antiquarian, Carl Gustaf
Heraeus, to the Tessin family of architects and
collectors in Stockholm in 1720, provides some
insight into these difficult problems. This copy
demonstrates that much of the work was still
unfinished even in the last months before pub-
lication. A number of the plates were evidently
not yet prepared, and others, which had been en-
graved years earlier, were still awaiting revision.
The Tessins’ copy also bears conflicting dates
of 1710 and 1712, suggesting that the work was perhaps to have been published about a decade
before it became available. Although it is possi-
ble that there was a small earlier edition, it seems
likely that this was never produced. Furthermore,
the incomplete book sent to the Tessins facilitates
a substantial revision to our understanding of the
development of the work, particularly in regard
to the collaboration of Fischer and Heraeus, as
well as illustrating the rather close link between
the courts in Stockholm and Vienna.
The Entwurff draws heavily on the Renais-
sance tradition of architectural reconstruction
of ancient monuments. Fischer himself cites
Pirro Ligorio, Andrea Palladio, and Juan Bautista
Villalpando, all active in the 16th century, as
models. The antiquarian work of Giovan Pietro
Bellori is also very evident. Fischer knew Bellori
in Rome in the 1670s and 1680s, and copied
some of the medals in his collection showing
FISCHER VON ERLACH’S
ENTWURFF EINER HISTORISCHEN ARCHITECTUR
BEFORE 1720
Kristoffer Neville
This article expands my earlier discussion of the early reception of the Entwurff. – K. Neville, The Early Reception
of Fischer von Erlach’s Entwurff einer historischen Architectur, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
66, 2007, pp. 154–169, lays out the pre-1712 development of the project and the precise mechanism that brought
the book to Stockholm in greater detail than can be done here, with further references. This elaboration is possible
because of a discussion in the summer of 2008 with Professor Johan Mårtelius of the Royal Technical University in
Stockholm, who had seen an unusual version of Fischer von Erlach’s book that forms the basis of this article. My
deepest thanks for his contribution. Versions of this paper were presented at the University of Vienna and at the
Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich in June and July of 2009. My thanks to Dr. Friedrich Polleroß and
Professor Hellmut Lorenz, Vienna, and to Drs. Iris Lauterbach, Peter Prange, and Peter Heinrich Jahn, Munich, for
their helpful questions. An Academic Senate Research Grant from the University of California, Riverside, allowed
me the time and travel pursue the topic.
1 For the Entwurff, see A. Ilg, Die Fischer von Erlach. Leben und Werke Joh. Bernh. Fischer’s des Vaters, Vienna
1895, pp. 522–581. – J. Schmidt, Die Architekturbücher der beiden Fischer von Erlach, in: Wiener Jahrbuch für
Kunstgeschichte 9, 1934, pp. 147–156. – G. Kunoth, Die Historische Architektur Fischers von Erlach, Düsseldorf
1956. – H. Sedlmayr, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Stuttgart 1997, pp. 228, 320–324. – H. Lorenz, Johann
Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Zürich 1992, pp. 42–48. – P. Prange, Entwurf und Phantasie. Zeichnungen des
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656–1723), Salzburg 2004.
Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte
Band LIX
Entnommen aus der FWF-E-Book-Library
- Titel
- Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte
- Band
- LIX
- Herausgeber
- Bundesdenkmalamt Wien
- Institut für Kunstgeschichte der Universität Wien
- Verlag
- Böhlau Verlag
- Ort
- Wien
- Datum
- 2011
- Sprache
- deutsch, englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-78674-0
- Abmessungen
- 19.0 x 26.2 cm
- Seiten
- 280
- Schlagwörter
- research, baroque art, methodology, modern art, medieval art, historiography, Baraock, Methodolgiem, Kunst, Wien
- Kategorie
- Kunst und Kultur