Johann Rudolf Czernin von und zu Chudenitz
Encyclopedia
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
; died or buried on 23 April 1845 in Vienna) was a k. u. k. Austrian civil servant and theater director. He descended from the old Bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
noble family Czernin von und zu Chudenitz
Czernin von und zu Chudenitz
The Czernin family is one of the oldest and most important dynasties originating in Bohemia, present-day Czech Republic.- History :The family is descended from the clan of "Drslavice", like several other Bohemian families. The first known bearer of the family name was "Comes" and Camerarius regis ...
. He was the son of Count Prokop Adalbert Czernin, who offered Mozart in 1776 a one year's rent, provided he would write some compositions for the Count's orchestra. His sister was Countess Antonie Lützow. And perhaps most important his deceased mother was the sister of Archbishop Colloredo, thus the Count was a nephew of the Salzburg Archbishop
Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
.
Life
Czernin went to school in SalzburgSalzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, where his uncle, Count Hieronymus von Colloredo
Count Hieronymus von Colloredo
Count Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Graf Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz was Prince-Bishop of Gurk from 1761 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1771 until 1803, when the Archbishopric was secularized.-Life:He was the second son of Count Rudolf Wenzel Joseph Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz , a...
was the bishop. The young Czernin and certainly his sister were in connection with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
(and almost the same age), who wrote a violin and piano concerto for them. Countess Lützow, 25 years old, was a fine pianist and Mozart composed a piano concerto (KV. 246
Piano Concerto No. 8 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major, K. 246, or Lützow Concert was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in April of 1776 in the same year as the Haffner Serenade . Countess Antonia Lützow, 25 or 26 years old, second wife of Johann Nepomuk Gottfried Graf Lützow, the Commander of the Hohensalzburg...
) for her in 1776. Count Johann Rudolph Czernin was an aspiring violinist. In 1778 he founded an orchestra, which played on Sunday afternoons at the Lodron family . Leopold Mozart
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
sent Wolfgang, then in Paris, an amusing account of its first meeting, at which both Leopold and Mozart’s sister Nannerl played. Leopold wrote of Czernin's limited achievements as and indefatigable violin player.
In 1781 Czernin married Theresa Schoenborn and traveled with her to Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, and England, and became interested in the new fashion, the English landscape garden. At the end of the 18th century, Czernin made the Hunting lodge Jemčina very famous. In the presence of representatives of the Bohemian and Austrian aristocracy famous Cursorial hunting
Cursorial hunting
Cursorial hunting, also called endurance hunting, is a hunting strategy practiced by animals that are much slower over short distances than their quarry but have superior endurance over long distances....
parties were held here, and scholars and scientists from the Bohemian National Patriotic Movement were invited as guests.
In 1810 Goethe was invited to Krásný Dvůr Castle, the family estates, near Karlsbad
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
. In the meantime, Czernin began to accumulate paintings and drawings, and had twenty years later, the most important collection of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
. In 1813 he bought The Art of Painting
The Art of Painting
The Art of Painting, also known as The Allegory of Painting, and or Painter in his Studio, is a famous 17th century oil on canvas painting by Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer. Many art historians believe that it is an allegory of painting, hence the alternative title of the painting...
, a genre work by Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
. From 1817 until 1825 František Tkadlík
František Tkadlík
František Tkadlík was a Czech painter. Many of his works were painted in the Classicist and Empiricist styles. He served as court painter to the Czernin family from 1817 until 1825, and acted as guard of their art gallery in Vienna...
was the court painter
Court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre...
for the Czernin family and appointed as the guard of their art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
in Vienna.
In 1823 Czernin was appointed president of the Academy of Fine Arts
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is an institution of higher education in Vienna, Austria.- History :The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy by the court-painter Peter Strudl, who became the Praefectus Academiae Nostrae. In 1701 he was ennobled as Baron of the Empire...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. This office he held until 1827. As early as 1823, he was appointed by the Emperor Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
. He was entrusted with the leadership of the imperial collections of the Court; but also the Burgtheater
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
on Ringstrasse was under his direction. He also founded the Society of the Patriotic Museums.
Johann Rudolf Czernin, Count von und zu Chudenitz died at the age of 88. His private art collection at his death consisted of nearly 2,000 engravings, which laid the foundation of the Czernin Collection. Parts of this collection can still be seen in the Residenzgalerie
Residenzgalerie
The Residenzgalerie is an art gallery in the Alte Residenz, Salzburg, Austria. Its collection includes works by Rembrandt, Carel Fabritius, Carlo Saraceni and Hieronymus Francken II.-History:...
in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
.