The Paintings Gallery at the Academy of Fine Arts

From Rubens to Bosch

When the Academy of Fine Arts is founded in Vienna at the end of the 17th century, it has no art collection. It is not until 1822, 150 years later, that Count Anton Lamberg-Sprinzenstein bequeaths his extensive collection to the imperial academy.

In his will the Count decrees that the collection should be made accessible not only to art students but to the public as well. Thus the painting collection at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna becomes the first public museum within an imperial institution. This also shapes the training of the young artists; copying old masters is still part of the curriculum in the 1970s.

In 1877 the picture gallery, together with the academy, finds a new home in Theophil Hansen’s new building on Schillerplatz. Today the inventory stands at nearly 1,600 works. About 180 of them are permanently on display.

Among these are famous pieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Titian, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Peter Paul Rubens. The academy is in possession of Rubens’ Bozetti for instance, sketches of lost paintings from the Jesuit church in Antwerp. But probably the most famous work in the Paintings Gallery is The Last Judgement triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, which can be seen in the image above.