6
LES BRONZES DU PRINCE DE LIECHTENSTEIN
FOREWORD
W
hen Prince Karl I von Liechtenstein commissioned the two monumental bronzes of Christ in Distress and Saint Sebastian from Adriaen de Fries, he would not have imagined how significant this decision was to be: after this momentous start bronzes remain a major strength of the Princely Collection to this day. Fortunately, no important bronze from the collection was sold during the difficult period which followed World War II and I have been able to add to it with important acquisitions such as Jacopo Sansovino’s Saint John the Baptist or, very recently, the great portrait Bust of Pope Alexander VIII by Domenico Guidi, which brings a foremost example of Roman Baroque sculpture to the collection. Bronzes have always been one of my favourite fields of interest, which may not be surprising given that I grew up surrounded by these magnificent works of art. I am vey happy that it has been possible for me to enrich the Princely Collection and am delighted to exhibit for the first time, at the Galerie Kugel in Paris, all of my recent acquisitions together with the historical collection. Prince Karl Eusebius I, the son of Karl I, was the first to amass bronzes together with his most precious treasures in his “Guardaroba” or private cabinet in Feldsberg Castle, probably in a rather small space. The entire collection of bronzes is here exhibited in a single room of the Galerie Kugel, in a dense and unexpected display which will allow the visitor to view this essential part of the Princely Collection very much as it was originally presented.
Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein