Shaping Baroque Salzburg

The Residenzgalerie Salzburg, like many of its fellow institutions in Central Europe, contains few works created locally. Besides the requisite holdings in paintings by the artists of the Danube school, Austrian Old Master galleries in particular contain mostly Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Flemish works. Rather than functioning as repositories for great Austrian painting [this is found almost exclusively in ceiling frescoes] the institutions act as documents of local collecting habits, patronage, and tastes. Fürsterzbischof Guidobald Graf von Thun 1654 – 1668: Ein Bauherr für die Zukunft, on view at the Residenzgalerie Salzburg until 8 February 2009, operates from this principle, showcasing the collections and architectural patronage of the eponymous cleric.

The Residenzgalerie director Dr. Roswitha Juffinger is credited with the dynamic concept for an exhibition extending beyond the walls of the gallery. Under her guidance, curators have organized numerous tours of the sites and edifices constructed under the Graf von Thun during his rule from 1654 to 1668. In total, these structures and spaces comprise much of the Bauraum of Baroque Salzburg. To supplement the presentation of the Graf’s architectural patronage, curators have painstakingly reconstructed the projected contents and appearance of the his collections with an eye to the questions raised by grey areas in the historic documentation of the group. A book accompanying the exhibition explores the debates more closely, permanently recording this ephemeral arrangement of familiar works.

Link to Exhibition Site

Link to Book Site

The Specifics:

Juffinger, Roswitha (ed.). Fürsterzbischof Guidobald Graf von Thun 1654 – 1668: Ein Bauherr für die Zukunft. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg: Residenzgalerie Salzburg, 2008.