Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

In the early 1860s, the so-called art-archaeological or archaeological exhibitions enjoyed great popularity among the Central European public. These were not archaeological exhibitions in today’s sense of the word, as they presented historical, often medieval artefacts from private, ecclesiastical, and public collections. In the autumn of 1860, the Vienna Antiquities Society (Wiener Alterthumsverein) organized a model exhibition of this kind, and in the summer of the following year a similar exhibition was held in Prague by the Arkadia association, with a focus on Bohemian medieval artefacts. In Brno, too, the private collections of the local aristocracy and bourgeoisie had developed to such an extent that a public exhibition of art and antiquities could be planned. Judging by the speed with which this charity exhibition was organized, such an exhibition was probably already envisaged by the local art-loving elite.

In the first days of February 1862, catastrophic floods caused by a sudden thaw accompanied by extreme rainfall struck a large part of Moravia, including Brno. Among the immediate expressions of solidarity was the proposal by the regional governor, Eugen Count Braida (1813-1880), to organize an exhibition to raise money for the victims of this natural disaster [Braida 1862a]. The plan was announced in the press on February 11 and the exhibition opened just fourteen days later, on February 25. The exhibition committee consisted of Count Braida, the initiator of the event; Moriz Trapp (1825-1895), the curator-adjunct of the Francis Museum in Brno; Josef Ethler, a merchant, collector and amateur painter; and Josef Adolf Auspitz (1812-1889), the principal of the local German secondary school. In a very short time, these art enthusiasts managed to gather a large set of paintings, sculptures and other antiquities from the private collections in Brno and the surroundings.  Count Braida was the exhibition’s guarantor, and Auspitz provided two halls in the new k. und k. Realschule, built in 1858-1859 according to the design of the Viennese architect Ludwig von Förster (1797-1863) on Jánská Street. Trapp and Ethler were responsible for the cataloguing and installing the objects.

Despite the tight deadline, the Brno printing house R. Rohrer’s Erben managed to publish a relatively extensive catalogue featuring basic descriptions of the artefacts and the names of their owners, some of whom were identified by their monograms. The arrangement of the catalogue corresponded to the layout of the artefacts in the exhibition. According to a handwritten note in the copy of the catalogue preserved in the Moravian Library, the first room was curated by Josef Ethler. This room displayed 107 paintings by both well-known and lesser-known artists from various periods, including contemporary works. Among the most popular items in the exhibition were the life-sized portraits of Archduke Karl Ferdinand (1818-1874) and his wife by the leading contemporary portraitist of the Austrian aristocracy, Franz Schrotzberg (1811-1889), lent by the archducal couple. The second exhibition hall featured a diverse array of artworks, including paintings, sculptures, watercolors, and prints. However, the primary focus was on applied arts ranging from antiquity to the 19th century. This section showcased objects made from materials such as glass, porcelain, silver, ivory, mother-of-pearl, coconut, alabaster, and marble. Additional highlights included textiles, embroideries, and paraments (e.g. medieval chasubles from the treasury of the Brno Cathedral), antique and modern furniture, clocks, weapons (e.g. the ceremonial sword of the Moravian provincial governor, presented to Heinrich Kajetan, Count of Blümegen, by Empress Maria Theresa in 1753), and many objects of non-European art. Visitors were particularly captivated by exotic works from West Africa, which were brought back by the naval officer Erwin Count Dubský (1836-1909) from his 1855 expedition aboard the corvette Carolina. The exhibition featured several pieces of written heritage, along with a variety of small objects (referred to as "Nippsachen"), curiosities, and works by amateur artists. The second part of the exhibition, which included 384 items, was curated by Moriz Trapp. He also wrote an extensive report about the exhibition that provided in-depth descriptions of the most interesting works. This report was published in installments in the daily newspaper Brünner Zeitung. Unlike the exhibition catalogue, Trapp’s text organized the exhibits into categories based on material: (1) embroideries and fabrics, (2) weapons, (3) sculptures, (4) carvings, (5) cups and vases, (6) furniture, (7) ethnographic art objects, and (8) paintings. In the introduction to his article, Trapp mentioned that due to a tight deadline, the selection of works was limited to private collections in Brno, although "some gentlemen willingly sent a few precious objects from their country estates" [Trapp 1862].

Although there was some speculation about an extension, the show lasted less than two weeks, from Tuesday, February 25, to Sunday, March 9, 1862, attracting considerable interest from the local press. The school eventually needed the space for its own purposes, but articles in the press also mentioned an upcoming exhibition featuring 14 urban planning competition projects for the expansion of Brno. The total proceeds from the fixed admission fee of 20 kreutzers amounted to 424 guldens, which was donated to the Moravian governorate to benefit the flood victims [Braida 1862b]. This means that the exhibition welcomed 2,120 paying visitors, undoubtedly a success given the impromptu nature of the event. In addition to the organizers – Eugen Count Braida and his family and Josef Ethler – the lenders included well-known collectors and art lovers (e.g. Karl Kühnl, Josef Karl Lauer, Adalbert Freiherr Widmann), as well as numerous other personalities of the public and political life in Moravia (e.g. Christian d'Elvert, Ernst Johann Herring, Vladimir Count Mittrowsky), and artists (e.g. sculptor Josef Břenek). Lubomír Slavíček compiled a detailed list of these lenders and placed them in the context of Moravian art collecting. He agreed with one of the press commentators who wrote that "never before have so many artistic gems been displayed side by side in one exhibition space in Brno." [Slavíček 2017]. In fact, the first exhibition to offer a similarly broad selection from Brno private collections was the 1925 show in Brno’s House of Arts, organized by the Moravian Art Association (Mährischer Kunstverein).

The organizers of the Brno Charity Exhibition for Flood Victims in Moravia consciously followed the example of the exhibitions of antiquities (1860 in Vienna and 1861 in Prague), mentioned at the beginning of this entry. However, they were aware that in the variety of exhibits and the broad time frame, their project went beyond the scope of these “archaeological” shows, which focused largely on medieval artefacts: "The committee did not set out to organize an exhibition of antiquities, as was the case in the previous year [sic!] in Vienna and Prague; researchers and admirers of Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance art will nevertheless find here much of what is available in Brno and its surroundings from these periods." [Anonymous author 1862a] The foreign press announced the Brno show as one in which "the Middle Ages will be especially well represented." [Anonymous author 1862b]

Petr Tomášek

Works Cited

Anonymous author 1862a: Anonymous author, Lokales und Provinzielles: Brünn, Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 41, 19. 2., p. 324

Anonymous author 1862b: Anonymous author, Alterthumskunde, Illustrirte Zeitung 38, 1862, no. 974, 1. 3., p. 147

Braida 1862a: Eugen Graf Braida, Anruf zu einer Ausstellung von artistischen Sehenswürdigkeiten in Brünn zum Vortheile der Ueberschwemmten in Mähren, Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 36, 13. 2., p. 283

Braida 1862b: Eugen Graf Braida, Danksagung, Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 60, 13. 3., p. 477

Trapp 1862: Moriz Trapp, Ausstellung von Kunstgegenständen in der k. k. Oberrealschule, Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 52–57, 4. – 9. 3., pp. 309–310, 417–418, 425–427, 433–435, 441–443, 449–451

Slavíček 2017: Lubomír Slavíček, „Noch nie waren in Brünn in einem Ausstellungsraume so viele Kunstschätze neben einander zu sehen“. Výstava obrazů a starožitností 1862 a brněnští sběratelé té doby, Opuscula historiae artium 66, 2017, no. 2, pp. 204–239

Further Reading

Christian d´Elvert, Der alte und der neue mähr. Kunstverein, Notizen-Blatt der historisch-statistischen Section der kais. königl. mährisch-schlesischen Gesellschaft zur Beförderung des Ackerbaues, der Natur- und Landeskunde, 1883, no. 5, pp. 33–39

Jitka Sedlářová, Historie uměleckého sběratelství na Moravě, Opus musicum 31, 1999, no. 4, pp. 73–78

Lubomír Slavíček, „... hier in Brünn das Interesse für die Kunst anzuregen“. Brněnské umělecké výstavy v letech 1851 až 1878, Bulletin Moravské galerie v Brně LXXV, 2017, pp. 34–55

Jana Svobodová – Libor Blažek, Muž se zlatým řetízkem – Dáma s náhrdelníkem, 1834, Brno v minulosti a dnes. Sborník příspěvků k dějinám a výstavbě Brna 16, 2002, pp. 185–199, 534–536

Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 34, 11. 2., p. 267

Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 42, 20. 2., p. 331

Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 44, 22. 2., p. 347

Brünner Zeitung, 1862, no. 65, 19. 3., p. 514

Die Dioskuren. Deutsche Kunstzeitung VII, 1862, no. 15, 13. 4., p. 118

Lumír XII, 1862, no. 14, 3. 4., p. 336

Moravské noviny XII, 1862, no. 13, 11. 2., p. 49

Moravské noviny XII, 1862, no. 14, 14. 2., p. 54

Moravské noviny XII, 1862, no. 20, 7. 3., p. 78

Neuigkeiten XII, 1862, no. 42, 12. 2., [p. 1]

Neuigkeiten XII, 1862, no. 72, 14. 3., [p. 3]