Antique albumen photo, Josef Wlha, Schloss Hof (322) Entrance Grille, 1885

Description: Antique albumen photo, Josef Wlha, Imperial Schloss Hof (322) Entrance Grille, 1885 Dimensions of image: 22.7 x 17.6 cmDimensions of support board: 33 x 24 cm This is one of a group of 34 antique albumen photographic prints of Schloss Hof, taken by the renowned Austrian art photographer Josef Wlha (1845-1918) in 1885. The photographs were inherited from my wife's late father, who trained as a cabinet-maker before having a distinguished working life as an ornamental blacksmith and later, an internationally respected maker of tools for craft glass-makers. Josef Wlha (1845-1918) was the most important Austrian art photographer at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. From 1887 he was correspondent for the Central Committee for research and preservation of art and historical monuments, and in 1899 he was awarded the large gold motto medal. Wlha moved to Vienna in the early 1870s, opened an art and photography shop in Josefstadt around 1881 and his first studio in Vienna around 1884. In 1888 and 1898 he took part in the annual trade exhibition in the Rotunda. Already in the first show he showed the broad spectrum of his work and presented photographs of art and architectural monuments from most of the Austrian monarchy's crown lands, featuring well-known objects that are important for the decorative arts (art ironwork, mostly grilles, interiors, furniture, etc.) From 1882 onwards he published over 15 books and folders on individual buildings and their decorative arts, including: “Kaiserliches Schloss Hof” [Imperial Schloss Hof Palace], 1885. Wlha worked in a straightforward documentary style, where the objects are the focus of the photos and details are clearly visible. In 1903 he had to retire from professional life for health reasons and sold the publishing house to the photographer Rudolf Bimberg. His archive of photographs was transferred to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna during his lifetime and is now in the Austrian National Library. The Albertina, Vienna also has a good collection. Schloss Hof is a palace located in Marchfeld, Austria near the border of Slovakia. It once belonged to Prince Eugene of Savoy who purchased it late in his life in 1725. He had it enlarged in the Baroque style by the architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt in 1729 and used it as an elaborate hunting lodge. He left it to a niece in his will, and it was later purchased by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and became part of the imperial estates. The castle was originally built in the 1620s to the east of what was then the medieval fortress of Hof. After Prince Eugene of Savoy acquired the complex in 1725, he expanded it into a representative country residence. In 1755 the castle was purchased by Austria's sovereign Maria Theresa. From 1773 to 1775, Franz Anton Hillebrandt carried out a conversion and expansion to give it the appearance it has today. The Baroque garden was reconstructed to its historical appearance by 2019. Josef Wlha’s photographs captured Schloss Hof in 1885. That is only four years before the palace was vacated and the imagery represents the structure in its original condition from the late eighteenth century. According to Josef Mauer, an art historian who visited Schloss Hof shortly after Wlha and published his account of the palace: “a large part of the furniture listed is still there and has remained in the place that Prince Eugene assigned to it.” Albumen photographic prints The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, is a method of producing a photographic print using egg whites. Invented around 1850, it was the first commercial process of producing a photo on a paper base from a negative - previous methods - such as the daguerreotype and the tintype - having been printed on metal. It became the dominant form of photographic positives from 1855 to the start of the 20th century, with a peak in the 1860–90 period. Albumen prints have a shiny surface and were routinely adhered to a card backing support board, as the thin paper of the albumen print was prone to curling up.

Price: 10 GBP

Location: Bolton

End Time: 2024-11-08T21:14:08.000Z

Shipping Cost: 24.58 GBP