Troja Palace [1] is a Baroque palace located in Troja, Prague's north-west borough (Czech Republic). It was built for the Counts of Sternberg from 1679 to 1691. The palace is owned by the city of Prague and hosts the 19th century Czech art collections of the City Gallery.
The palace's design has been influenced by French and Italian architecture and is mostly the work of French architect Jean Baptiste Mathey. The latter also built the palais Buquoy in Prague, currently the French embassy. Prior to Mathey, Domenico Orsi worked on the castle. Silvestro Carlone was the Master Builder.
The stairs between the palace and the gardens are the work of two sculptors from Dresden: Johann Georg and Paul Heermann. They sculpted statues representing the fight of gods and giants. The terrace is decorated with a rare collection of vases made by Bombelli, also active in Slavkov u Brna, at Slavkov-Austerlitz castle (close to Brno). The central axis of the garden projects towards the spires of the St. Vitus Cathedral in the Prague Castle.
The palace's main room is decorated with a magnificent baroque Habsburg's apotheosis. Many mythological elements are presented in this trompe-l'œil decoration. It was realised by the brothers Abraham and Izaak Godijn, painters from Antwerp who commenced their work at the castle in 1690. The paintings are considered to be among the best examples of Baroque fresco painting in Northern Europe. The fresco's use illusionist effects and narrate in a triumphalist way the history of the Habsburg Dynasty. The design follows the Baroque schema of architectural symbolism whereby the ceiling depicts the celestial world and the walls the terrestrial world. The ceiling is decorated with celestial beings that were said to protect the Habsburg territories. Underneath the curved surfaces below the ceiling, angels and putti are floating before trompe-l'œil architecture showing scenes from Habsburg history. The walls depict the terrestrial world with one of the scenes on the shorter walls celebrating the victory of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor over the Turks. In one scene we see the trompe-l'œil effect of a Turk falling down with his arms outstretched while his shadow is reflected on the painting (see illustration). The longer wall holds statues or busts of the Habsburg rulers in grisaille . [2] The fresco programme achieved a sophisticated and complex synthesis of fictionalist painting of architecture and lively figural scenes. [3]
Francesco Marchetti and his son Giovanni realised most of the other paintings in the castle.
The palace was bought in 1922 by the Czechoslovak state, which started a restoration in the seventies. Since this period the palace has been hosting an exhibition of Czech paintings of the 19th century: Josef Čermák, Václav Brožík, Julius Mařák, Antonin Chittussi, Jan Preisler, Mikoláš Aleš.
Media related to Troja Castle at Wikimedia CommonsCoordinates: 50°06′59″N14°24′46″E / 50.11643°N 14.41287°E
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Trompe-l'œil is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a comparable illusion in architecture.
Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the early 17th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to combat the Reformation and the Protestant church with a new architecture that inspired surprise and awe. It reached its peak in the High Baroque (1625–1675), when it was used in churches and palaces in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Bavaria and Austria. In the Late Baroque period (1675–1750), it reached as far as Russia and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America, beginning in about 1730, an even more elaborately decorative variant called Rococo appeared and flourished in Central Europe.
Ca' Rezzonico is a palazzo on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and displays paintings by the leading Venetian painters of the period, including Francesco Guardi and Giambattista Tiepolo. It is a public museum dedicated to 18th-century Venice and one of the 11 venues managed by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.
The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy.
Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective di sotto in sù and quadratura, is the tradition in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo art in which trompe-l'œil, perspective tools such as foreshortening, and other spatial effects are used to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on an otherwise two-dimensional or mostly flat ceiling surface above the viewer. It is frequently used to create the illusion of an open sky, such as with the oculus in Andrea Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi, or the illusion of an architectural space such as the cupola, one of Andrea Pozzo's frescoes in Sant'Ignazio, Rome. Illusionistic ceiling painting belongs to the general class of illusionism in art, designed to create accurate representations of reality.
Andrea Pozzo was an Italian Jesuit brother, Baroque painter, architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician.
Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, but the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace or the Royal Castle. The castle now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and The Budapest History Museum.
The Pompeian Styles are four periods which are distinguished in ancient Roman mural painting. They were originally delineated and described by the German archaeologist August Mau, 1840–1909, from the excavation of wall paintings at Pompeii, which is one of the largest group of surviving examples of Roman frescoes.
Wallenstein Palace is a Baroque palace in Malá Strana, Prague, that served as a residence for Imperial Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein and now houses the Senate of the Czech Republic.
Schloss Weißenstein is a Schloss or palatial residence in Pommersfelden, Bavaria, southern Germany. It was designed for Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Archbishop of Mainz, to designs by Johann Dientzenhofer and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. Weißenstein, built as a private summer residence, remains in the Schönborn family. It is considered a masterwork of Baroque architecture.
Brežice Castle is a 16th-century castle in the town of Brežice, in southeastern Slovenia, at the street address Cesta prvih borcev 1.
Škvorec Chateau is a chateau, formerly a minor castle, located in Škvorec in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, about 23 kilometres (14 mi) east of Prague. The chateau, locally also known as the Starý zámek, was indirectly first mentioned in historical sources in 1279, yet fully documented as late as since 1404. This Gothic castle was rebuilt during the 1520s into a Renaissance palace; but in 1639 – during the devastating Thirty Years' War – the premises were looted, burned and until 1710 laid in ruins. The chateau was restored then, this time in the Baroque style. Between 1860–1884 most of the compound was demolished, leaving only the buildings in south-eastern corner.
The Embassy of Poland in Prague is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of Poland to the Czech Republic. The chancery is located at ul. Valdštejnská 8, Prague.
The Lobkowicz Palace is a part of the Prague Castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the only privately owned building in the Prague Castle complex and houses the Lobkowicz Collections and Museum.
Waldegg Castle is a castle near Solothurn, but in the municipality of Feldbrunnen-St.Niklaus of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Czech Baroque architecture refers to the architectural period of the 17th and 18th century in Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia, which comprised the Crown of Bohemia and today constitute the Czech Republic.
Abraham Godijn or Abraham Godyn was a Flemish painter who, after a stay in Italy, worked for a time as a court painter in Prague where he produced magnificent Baroque frescos. He later returned to Antwerp.
The Galleria degli Antichi and the Palazzo del Giardino are adjacent, contemporaneous, Renaissance-style buildings located on Piazza d`Armi #1 in Sabbioneta, in the Province of Mantua, region of Lombardy, Italy. Prior to 1797, the buildings were connected to the Rocca or Castle of Sabbioneta, and the gallery once housed the Gonzaga collection of antique Roman statuary and hunting trophies. While the architectural design of the gallery is striking, the richness of the interior decoration of the palazzo is also dazzling.
Livio Retti was an Italian Baroque painter who worked mainly in present-day South Germany, at the time the Duchy of Württemberg, the Duchy of Bavaria, some secular or ecclesiastical franconians principalities and some free imperial cities such as Schwäbisch Hall for example.
Izaak Godijn or Izaak Godyn was a Flemish painter who, after a stay in Italy, spent most of his known artistic career as a court painter in Prague. He produced magnificent Baroque frescos and hunting still lifes. He is credited with introducing the Baroque Netherlandish tradition of hunting pieces into Bohemia.
