In the 1870s, a painter's studio ranked among Vienna's sights. Every afternoon between three and five, the studio at Gusshausstrasse 25 opened its doors to visitors; travelers made it a fixed part of their itinerary, Empress Elisabeth came in the autumn of 1872, and from 1873 the legendary studio parties were added to the attraction. The man who drew these crowds was Hans Makart, an Austrian history and decorative painter. In 1872, he had spent 127,000 guilders on tapestries, antiquities, weapons, carpets, and palms; those who entered found themselves not so much in a workshop as in a painting they could walk through, with its master working before an audience at the center.
The path there began in Salzburg. Makart was born on May 28, 1840, on the first floor of the Old Residence; a brief period of study at the Vienna Academy from 1858 proved unsuccessful, and around 1860/61 he became a pupil of Karl Theodor von Piloty in Munich. Travels to London, Paris, and Italy followed. In March 1869, Emperor Franz Joseph I brought the twenty-eight-year-old from Rome to Vienna and had a state studio set up for him; the Emperor had already purchased one of his paintings.
What emerged from this studio was rarely made to fit a room. A taste for the exotic runs throughout Makart's work; paintings such as “The Harem” and “A Japanese Woman” announce it in their very titles. In the winter of 1875/76, Makart traveled to Egypt with two fellow painters; “The Nile Hunt” also dates from this period. In the 1870s, he designed five pictures of the senses for a private apartment on the Parkring, each 314 centimeters high and only 70 wide, narrow wall panels intended for the strips between the windows. “The Five Senses: Sight” shows a young woman raising a hand mirror to her face; behind her, a dark palm frond fans out, roses bloom at the edge, and the narrow format forces her body into a turn of effortless elegance. The five paintings never reached the apartment; in 1901, they entered public ownership through Galerie Miethke and today hang in the Upper Belvedere.
Vienna cherishes its habits, and the curiosity of those days has found a successor: the city that once came in the afternoon to watch Makart paint now views his paintings close up through cameras. Much of the image data used by Meisterdrucke in Austria to produce his art prints comes from these high-resolution scans by the Belvedere and the Wien Museum, along with the Kunsthistorisches Museum. For a painter whose effect lies in materiality, in brocade, cascades of flowers, and shimmering skin, this is a fitting custom; the images carry the finest trace of the brush into the print.
Makart made his grandest appearance on canvas in 1878. After a journey to Flanders for the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Flemish painter Rubens, he painted “The Entrance of Emperor Charles V into Antwerp in 1520, 1878,” more than nine meters wide and over five meters high. The young emperor rides in armor through the decorated city, banners and flowers fall from the houses, and directly at his horse's feet, barely veiled, walk the maidens of honor from the historic entry; Albrecht Dürer had described them as an eyewitness in 1520. The scandal was calculated, contemporaries claimed to recognize prominent Viennese women among the nudes, and the gamble paid off: Paris awarded the painting a gold medal at the 1878 World's Fair, and in 1882 the Hamburger Kunsthalle purchased the “Entry” for 130,000 marks. There, the giant disappeared behind a plaster wall and remained hidden until 2016; it has been freely displayed again only since 2020.
On April 27, 1879, Vienna demonstrated what it had in this painter. To mark the imperial couple's silver wedding anniversary, a ceremonial procession moved along the Ringstrasse, with 14,000 participants in Renaissance costume, every group dressed to Makart's designs, again after Dürer: this time after his printed sheets for the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I. The painter himself rode in the procession, dressed in dark blue velvet and a broad, feathered hat, on a richly caparisoned horse, and the city gave the celebration his name; from then on, it was known as the Makart Procession. His name became a label in general; Makart style meant plush, heavy wall hangings, and massive chandeliers, a Makart bouquet was an arrangement of dried flowers, palm fronds, and grasses, and a Makart hat had a broad brim with a feather.
In February 1881, Makart received his last major commission, the ceiling painting for the staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The only part he completed was the color sketch “Victory of Light over Darkness,” now in the Belvedere. In it, Helios rises with his four-horse chariot from blazing yellow light, the horses surge diagonally out of the brightness, luminous figures in veils hover above, and dark bodies plunge headfirst into the chasms of cloud below; the entire vault is conceived as a single upward pull. He never executed the ceiling itself; a brain disease took the work from his hands, and Vienna lost Hans Makart on October 3, 1884, at only forty-four years of age. For two days, his coffin lay in state among the tapestries and palms of Gusshausstrasse before he was carried out to an honorary grave at Vienna Central Cemetery.
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 into Antwerp in 1520 1878 (see also 141422 141423 and 141424) - (MeisterDrucke-68755).jpg "The Entrance of Emperor Charles V (1500-58) into Antwerp in 1520, 1878 by Hans Makart")
 into Antwerp in 1520 1878 (see also 141422 141423 and 141424) - (MeisterDrucke-68755).jpg)
.jpg "The Harem by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "A Japanese Woman, circa 1870 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Five Senses: Sight by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Victory of Light over Darkness, 1883-84 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Woman, 1870s-1880s by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Summer by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Nile Hunt by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Cleopatra, 1875 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Treasures of the Sea, c. 187075. by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Treasures of the Sea, 1865-80 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Death of Count Pappenheim, General during the Thirty Years")
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_Peinture_de_Hans_Makart_(1840-1884_-_(MeisterDrucke-941405).jpg "La mort de Cleopatre (The Death of Cleopatra) by Hans Makart")
_Peinture_de_Hans_Makart_(1840-1884_-_(MeisterDrucke-941405).jpg)
.jpg "The Sinking of the Nibelungen Treasure in the Rhine by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584314).jpg "Lady in White by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Design for the Jubilee Procession of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria: The Textile Industry, 1879 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Michelangelo Buonarroti by Hans Makart")
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_from_1890_Princess_von_Liechtenstein_by_-_(MeisterDrucke-1588708).jpg "Portrait of Hanna Klinkosch (1849-1925), from 1890 Princess von Liechtenstein by marriage by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1582957).jpg "Entry of Emperor Karl V in Antwerp by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584315).jpg "Amalie Makart, First Wife of the Painter by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584315).jpg)
.jpg "The Hunt of Diana, study, 1879 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Sinking of the Nibelungen Hoard in the Rhine by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657800).jpg "Karoline Gomperz, née Bettelheim by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Musical Entertainment by Hans Makart")
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 into Antwerp in 1520 1876-77 (see also 141421 141422 and 140423) - (MeisterDrucke-83588).jpg "Study for The Entrance of Emperor Charles V into Antwerp in 1520, 1876-77 by Hans Makart")
 into Antwerp in 1520 1876-77 (see also 141421 141422 and 140423) - (MeisterDrucke-83588).jpg)
.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Ancient Sacrifice Scene by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Flora by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Diego Velázquez by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Diego Velázquez by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657990).jpg "Actress Charlotte Wolter as Messalina by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Design for Theater Curtain A Midsummer Night")
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.jpg "The Five Senses: Hearing by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Resting Bacchante by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Treasures of the Sea by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Victory of Light Over Darkness by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Lady, Standing in a White Dress by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657319).jpg "Queen Titania and the Donkey by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Dante and Virgil in Hell by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Titian by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Self-portrait in front of the easel, before 1868 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Triumphal Procession of a Roman by Hans Makart")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-653448).jpg "Marie Kalergi (1840-1877) by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Lady Wearing a White Dress Reclining on a Sofa by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Leonardo da Vinci by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Sketch for a Dome in Renaissance Forms by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Ida and Risa Ruessemayer, Nieces of Johann Ruessemayer by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Portrait of Henriette Mankiewicz by Hans Makart")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-96163).jpg "Procession of Homage in Honour of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Portrait of Eugenie Scheuffelen by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1658464).jpg "Touch - from the Series The Five Senses by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1658464).jpg)
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1070619).jpg "Anna von Waldberg (1831–1884) by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1582960).jpg "Anna von Waldberg by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1582960).jpg)
.jpg "Bacchus and Ariadne by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657989).jpg "The Triumph of Ariadne by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Modern Amoretti, Triptych, central panel, 1868 by Hans Makart")
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_oil_on_canvas_-_(MeisterDrucke-1462210).jpg "Falconer by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1558187).jpg "Marie Kalergi (1840-1877) by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1558187).jpg)
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584312).jpg "Self-Portrait by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584312).jpg)
.jpg "Allegory of Religious and Profane Painting by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Amalie Makart, née Rothmayr, the Artist")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657954).jpg "Portrait of a Lady with Feather Hat, Seen from Back by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657954).jpg)
.jpg "Magdalena Plach by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Allegory of the Law and Truth of Representation by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Triumphal Procession of Diana with Bacchus by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Modern Amoretti, Triptych (right panel) by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1582956).jpg "Sleeping Snow White by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Gothic Tomb Church of St. Michael, Side View by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Portrait of Magdalena Plach by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Japanese Girl by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Raphael by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584313).jpg "Faun and Nymph by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1584313).jpg)
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657844).jpg "Taste - from the series The Five Senses by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657844).jpg)
.jpg "Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1585261).jpg "Snow White Receives the Poisoned Comb by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Charlotte Wolter as the Empress Messalina by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Design for the Jubilee Procession of Emperor Franz Joseph: The Railway Workers by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Gomperz, Karoline, née Bettelheim by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657836).jpg "Hearing - from the series The Five Senses by Hans Makart")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1657836).jpg)
.jpg "Hans Makart by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Diego Velázquez by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Nero at the Burning of Rome by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Decorative Design for Empress Elisabeth")
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.jpg "Venice Pays Homage to Caterina Cornaro by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Allegory of the Law and Truth of Representation by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Anthony van Dyck by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1583724).jpg "A Midsummer Night")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1583724).jpg)
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1582955).jpg "Harvest by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The sinking of the Nibelung treasure in the Rhine by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Falconer by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Albrecht Dürer by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Mermaids and the Tiger, 1872-73 by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Faun and Nymph by Hans Makart")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1583726).jpg "Hanna Klinkosch, a Well-Known Member of Vienna")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1583726).jpg)
.jpg "Color Sketch for the Ceiling")
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.jpg "Titian by Hans Makart")
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_pouse_d_-_(MeisterDrucke-1561551).jpg "Seated Portrait of Countess Gabrielle Louise Marie Duchâtel by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Raphael, Italian Renaissance Artist by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "Gambrinus by Hans Makart")
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.jpg "The Hunting Castle by Hans Makart")
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