Diplomatic and Cultural Relations between the Habsburgs and the Serenissima: The Role of Venetian Painting at the Eighteenth-Century Imperial Court in Vienna (APART-GSK Funding Programme ÖAW – Mentor Univ. Doz. Dr. Werner Telesko)
During the early modern period, the relations between Vienna and Venice were characterised by complexity and breadth. Unfolding across multiple spheres, from the political and diplomatic to the cultural — between which points of intersection often arose — these relations were also an expression of often diverging, if not opposing, and varied interests. The Settecento saw the consolidation of important artistic ties between the Serenissima and the Habsburg Imperial Court, which favoured the spread and reception of cultural models from the Veneto region beyond the Alps. This process of cultural transfer took place through diplomatic, artistic, and patronage networks. The APART-GSK project, funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, aims to explore the role of Venetian painting as a protagonist in the phenomenon of cultural transfer between Vienna and Venice in the Eighteenth Century. On the one hand, the significance, and functions of Venetian painting in the socio-political and cultural context of the Habsburg Imperial Court will be analysed. On the other hand, the broad spectrum of dynamics that gave rise to this transfer phenomenon will be explored. An interdisciplinary methodological approach will be used to investigate the interrelationships between several fields, such as diplomacy and history of collecting, cultural transfer research and Habsburg representation. The project aims to provide the first systematic study of Venetian painting as a protagonist in a phenomenon of cultural transfer.
