The ‘Portrait Gallery on the History of Austria from 1400 to 1800’ was opened at Ambras Castle in 1976. The Upper Castle has been displaying around 250 portraits from imperial collections or found in Habsburg castles ever since.
Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol assembled an extensive collection of portraits. He was especially interested in miniature portraits of family members, members of German and other princely courts, popes, generals, and famous men and women from his past and present. This collection with the impressive volume of around 1,000 portraits is today displayed in the Coin Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The ‘Portrait Gallery on the History of Austria from 1400 to 1800’ was opened at Ambras Castle in 1976. The Upper Castle has been displaying around 250 portraits from imperial collections or found in Habsburg castles ever since.
Unlike Ferdinand II’s historical-universal portrait collection, today’s portrait gallery is primarily arranged according to dynasties and genealogy.
Aside from well-known members of the Habsburg family, who controlled the fate of Europe for centuries, it also documents their complex family ties. Moreover, the Habsburg Portrait Gallery also provides a multi-faceted glimpse into the art of courtly portraits, which became the first established portrait form in the first half of the sixteenth century. While members of bourgeois society commissioned portraits, first and foremost, to leave their appearance to posterity, courtly portraits had a representative function: they showed an ideal image of the ruler, reflecting his position, dignity, and self-confidence.
The increasing need for representations of rulers resulted in the artist position of court painter.
Jakob Seisenegger, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Hans von Aachen, Giovanni Pietro de Pomis, Alonso Sánchez Coëllo, Bartholomäus Spranger, Francesco Terzio, Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, Joseph Heintz the Elder, Frans Luyckx, Guido Cagnacci, and Diego Velázquez.
A tour of the gallery across three storeys of the Upper Castle takes visitors on a journey through European history. The portraits reflect the marriage and alliance policies of the ruling dynasties as well as the art and cultural history of a new era.
Ambras Castle
Schlossstraße 20
6020 Innsbruck
Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed in november
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