FELIX AUSTRIA, SCHÖNBRUNN ON THE PO RIVER’S BANKS FOR A DAY
Casting an eye on the worktop where the materials from the Fattovich collection have been meticulously laid out is a heart filling experience. Over here there are some magnificent collars; over there the scarves and their pendants; the sparkling brooches, the crosses, the plates, the badges, the medals that come in all sizes and metals: a kaleidoscope of colours where Austria’s red and white stand out together with Habsburg’s black and yellow, while, in the distance, the golden medals shine their light.
Giovanni Fattovich (1901-1986), renowned physician and Director of the Psychiatric Hospital in Venice, was born in Zara, the capital of Dalmatia, which used to belong to the Austrian part of the AustroHungarian Empire. His origins had clearly nurtured his passion for imperial antiques and, in particular, for those of the 19th century’s as Zara had become a part of the Austro-Hungarian area at the beginning of the 19th century after the long Venetian dominion and Napoleon’s interlude. His attention was caught by the orders, the decorations and the medals, objects that can be easily cherished, and that seized the charm of the times when they were created. No limits to the artist’s imagination, as they were not meant to comply with rigorous dimensional constraints: they were not to be sold but, rather, to be admired. Browsing through the literature on this topic, complete with a broad array of pictures, history flashes by the reader who barely needs to read the text: so, a glance is enough to capture the end of the Middle Ages, marked by the transformation of the religious Medieval Chivalrous Orders, born with the Crusades, into profane tools of mutual legitimation of the reigning dynasties and the high aristocracy, where religious aspects were confined to a mere functional role to the exercise of temporal power. Similarly, the birth of civilian Orders of Merit, which mirrored the gradual democratization of the society that would quickly lead to the French Revolution, is more effective in transferring the passage of both rationalism and empiricism from the epistemological to the gnoseological field than any other treaty on the Age of Enlightenment. Going back to the Fattovich collection, by looking at the glittering array of objects, decorations and Habsburg medals, one is instantly reminded of the place once occupied by the Danube monarchy in Central Europe. The ponderous volume written on that topic by Václav Mericka, Bohemian scholar and collector active in the second half of the 20th century, is a stark reminder of that era. Mericka dedicated his volume to Giovanni Fattovich, whose collection he used as a source of inspiration for the beautiful illustrations that embellish his work.
Among the objects presented by Mericka in his volume, which will be put up for sale at the next Bolaffi auction in June, we have selected four. As far as the Order of the Golden Fleece is concerned, the oldest and most prestigious Austro-Hungarian order, three decorations for everyday use, made of gold, enamels and hard stones have been chosen; one of them is illustrated in the picture here. The Order of Saint Stephen, founded in 1764 by Maria Theresa to highlight the Kingdom of Hungary as part of the Habsburg dominions, is represented by a wonderful collar in golden-silver and enamels, to be worn during ceremonies; it consists of 24 Saint Stephen crowns, alternated with pairs of SS (the initials of Saint Stephen) and MT (the initials of Maria Theresa), plus a further crown that, together with the cross beneath, forms the pendant. Just as impressive is the collar of the Order of the Iron Crown, founded by Napoleon in 1805 shortly after his coronation as King of Italy, and inherited from the Habsburgs who gave him new statutes in 1826, after the coronation of Franz I as King of the Lombard-Venetian territory.
This piece is particularly relevant for Italy, as its symbol, the Iron Crown, was the crown of Lombard Kings and it is still kept today in the Cathedral of Monza. It consists of 12 oak crowns, linked by the monogram FP in italic (the initials of Franciscus Primus), each in turn linked to the reproduction of a smaller Iron Crown plus a pendent with the Order’s emblem. To conclude this short preview, we will present a gold medal that, while not being amongst the most important in terms of period, subject or dimensions, fits perfectly in the collection for two reasons. First and foremost, it shines a new light on Franz Joseph I, the King that ruled over the declining Empire burdened by his own personal tragedies: the murder of his wife Elisabeth - the unforgettable Princess Sissy of a popular film series - and the Mayerling tragedy with the violently quarrelled death of his son Rudolph, heir to the throne. Secondly, the representation of Saint Stephen’s Imperial Crown, between two branches of bay and oak, with Joseph Franz imperial motto: “Viribus Unitis” - “union is strength”, or better said, “there is strength in numbers” - which he chose for his accession to the throne in 1848 after the revolutionary events of that year. It well expressed the political programme of the young emperor who wanted to bring his people back to unity, thus prevailing over the centrifugal impulses of the time. Throughout the 68 years of his reign, he stayed faithful to his motto. The auction is expected to be a major event for both enthusiasts and connoisseurs sharing the passion for orders and decorations, in other words for phaleristics - to use a relatively recent neologism. In recent years, phaleristics has abandoned its subordinate role to gain its own space and relevance next to numismatics. That is not all, though: the auction will prove to be particularly interesting for the public at large as well. No historical period can spark feelings of nostalgia like the Austrian-Hungarian Empire of the late 19th century: a boundless territory encompassing Lake Constance, the remote Bukovina, the Elbe Valley and the Dalmatian Coast. A melting pot of peoples and religions, a two-headed administration, Imperial (for the Austrian part) and Royal (for the Hungarian part), that used to work with 11 official languages, Italian being one of them.
The atmosphere that marked the end of such a cosmopolitan and cultured Empire became the subject of a literary genre imbued with a sense of nostalgia: from Musil to Stephan Zweig, to Kafka himself, many writers turned that feeling into the common thread of their work, although they often turned to the disguise of irony. The greatest poet of the finis Austriae was Joseph Roth. We would like to remember here one sentence, uttered by a Galician aristocrat of one of his novels: at the end of the war, the Empire now being disintegrated, he found himself living as a Polish citizen and in need of a passport to travel in Central Europe. He thus decided to retire to the coast to write his memoirs. After his words: “My old country, the monarchy used to be like a big house with many doors and many rooms for different kinds of people. Now the house has been partitioned, broken, shattered. There is nothing for me to find out there. I am used to living in a house, not in a booth.” Such words still sound very modern: in the 20th century we saw where identity compartmentalisation can lead to, and the 21st century sadly looks just as promising. Therefore, “God save Francis the Emperor...”
By Carlo Barzan
Giovanni Fattovich (1901-1986), renowned physician and Director of the Psychiatric Hospital in Venice, was born in Zara, the capital of Dalmatia, which used to belong to the Austrian part of the AustroHungarian Empire. His origins had clearly nurtured his passion for imperial antiques and, in particular, for those of the 19th century’s as Zara had become a part of the Austro-Hungarian area at the beginning of the 19th century after the long Venetian dominion and Napoleon’s interlude. His attention was caught by the orders, the decorations and the medals, objects that can be easily cherished, and that seized the charm of the times when they were created. No limits to the artist’s imagination, as they were not meant to comply with rigorous dimensional constraints: they were not to be sold but, rather, to be admired. Browsing through the literature on this topic, complete with a broad array of pictures, history flashes by the reader who barely needs to read the text: so, a glance is enough to capture the end of the Middle Ages, marked by the transformation of the religious Medieval Chivalrous Orders, born with the Crusades, into profane tools of mutual legitimation of the reigning dynasties and the high aristocracy, where religious aspects were confined to a mere functional role to the exercise of temporal power. Similarly, the birth of civilian Orders of Merit, which mirrored the gradual democratization of the society that would quickly lead to the French Revolution, is more effective in transferring the passage of both rationalism and empiricism from the epistemological to the gnoseological field than any other treaty on the Age of Enlightenment. Going back to the Fattovich collection, by looking at the glittering array of objects, decorations and Habsburg medals, one is instantly reminded of the place once occupied by the Danube monarchy in Central Europe. The ponderous volume written on that topic by Václav Mericka, Bohemian scholar and collector active in the second half of the 20th century, is a stark reminder of that era. Mericka dedicated his volume to Giovanni Fattovich, whose collection he used as a source of inspiration for the beautiful illustrations that embellish his work.
Among the objects presented by Mericka in his volume, which will be put up for sale at the next Bolaffi auction in June, we have selected four. As far as the Order of the Golden Fleece is concerned, the oldest and most prestigious Austro-Hungarian order, three decorations for everyday use, made of gold, enamels and hard stones have been chosen; one of them is illustrated in the picture here. The Order of Saint Stephen, founded in 1764 by Maria Theresa to highlight the Kingdom of Hungary as part of the Habsburg dominions, is represented by a wonderful collar in golden-silver and enamels, to be worn during ceremonies; it consists of 24 Saint Stephen crowns, alternated with pairs of SS (the initials of Saint Stephen) and MT (the initials of Maria Theresa), plus a further crown that, together with the cross beneath, forms the pendant. Just as impressive is the collar of the Order of the Iron Crown, founded by Napoleon in 1805 shortly after his coronation as King of Italy, and inherited from the Habsburgs who gave him new statutes in 1826, after the coronation of Franz I as King of the Lombard-Venetian territory.
This piece is particularly relevant for Italy, as its symbol, the Iron Crown, was the crown of Lombard Kings and it is still kept today in the Cathedral of Monza. It consists of 12 oak crowns, linked by the monogram FP in italic (the initials of Franciscus Primus), each in turn linked to the reproduction of a smaller Iron Crown plus a pendent with the Order’s emblem. To conclude this short preview, we will present a gold medal that, while not being amongst the most important in terms of period, subject or dimensions, fits perfectly in the collection for two reasons. First and foremost, it shines a new light on Franz Joseph I, the King that ruled over the declining Empire burdened by his own personal tragedies: the murder of his wife Elisabeth - the unforgettable Princess Sissy of a popular film series - and the Mayerling tragedy with the violently quarrelled death of his son Rudolph, heir to the throne. Secondly, the representation of Saint Stephen’s Imperial Crown, between two branches of bay and oak, with Joseph Franz imperial motto: “Viribus Unitis” - “union is strength”, or better said, “there is strength in numbers” - which he chose for his accession to the throne in 1848 after the revolutionary events of that year. It well expressed the political programme of the young emperor who wanted to bring his people back to unity, thus prevailing over the centrifugal impulses of the time. Throughout the 68 years of his reign, he stayed faithful to his motto. The auction is expected to be a major event for both enthusiasts and connoisseurs sharing the passion for orders and decorations, in other words for phaleristics - to use a relatively recent neologism. In recent years, phaleristics has abandoned its subordinate role to gain its own space and relevance next to numismatics. That is not all, though: the auction will prove to be particularly interesting for the public at large as well. No historical period can spark feelings of nostalgia like the Austrian-Hungarian Empire of the late 19th century: a boundless territory encompassing Lake Constance, the remote Bukovina, the Elbe Valley and the Dalmatian Coast. A melting pot of peoples and religions, a two-headed administration, Imperial (for the Austrian part) and Royal (for the Hungarian part), that used to work with 11 official languages, Italian being one of them.
The atmosphere that marked the end of such a cosmopolitan and cultured Empire became the subject of a literary genre imbued with a sense of nostalgia: from Musil to Stephan Zweig, to Kafka himself, many writers turned that feeling into the common thread of their work, although they often turned to the disguise of irony. The greatest poet of the finis Austriae was Joseph Roth. We would like to remember here one sentence, uttered by a Galician aristocrat of one of his novels: at the end of the war, the Empire now being disintegrated, he found himself living as a Polish citizen and in need of a passport to travel in Central Europe. He thus decided to retire to the coast to write his memoirs. After his words: “My old country, the monarchy used to be like a big house with many doors and many rooms for different kinds of people. Now the house has been partitioned, broken, shattered. There is nothing for me to find out there. I am used to living in a house, not in a booth.” Such words still sound very modern: in the 20th century we saw where identity compartmentalisation can lead to, and the 21st century sadly looks just as promising. Therefore, “God save Francis the Emperor...”
By Carlo Barzan