Wien: Schwarzenberg Palais

 

Max Pollak

  1886 - 1970 (biography)

c. 1919  

aquatint and soft-ground etching 

23 x 19 5/16" platemark 

pencil, lower right, in image 

not stated 

pencil titled, lower left, in image; titled "Vienna, Schawrzenberg Palais", along lower left sheet edge; red Friedl Pollak Collection stamp in lower left sheet corner 

 

cream wove 

published 

artist 

22607 

$450.00 

The Palais Schwarzenberg is a Baroque structure located within the grounds of Vienna's Schwarzenbergplatz. Designed by architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt in 1697, it was completed under the direction of master-builder Anton Erhard Martinelli in 1728.

Immediately following the commencement of World War II, which entailed the siege of Vienna by Soviet forces in April of 1945, alterations were made to the grounds shown in this image. Using the labor of German prisoners of war, the lawn and marble statuary were removed and paved, and a massive Soviet war memorial colonnade was erected in front of the Palais, featuring a twelve-metre bronze and gold statue of a Red Army soldier.

Aside from these changes much of the Palais remains the same, featuring a Marmorgalerie (marble gallery) and original architectural features, and it operates partially as a hotel and event venue.