From Vienna to Rome. Habsburg Masterpieces from the Kunsthistorisches Museum

For the first time in Italy, the exhibition offers an extraordinary encounter with more than fifty masterpieces drawn entirely from the prestigious collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Through a refined selection of works collected or commissioned between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries by distinguished members of the Austrian imperial family, the project reveals the historical and cultural identity of the Viennese museum—an institution that embodies the splendor of an empire and the intellectual ambition of a dynasty.

A special section is devoted to the museum’s architecture itself: the majestic building designed by Gottfried Semper and Carl Hasenauer, a true temple of art whose monumental character represents one of the most fascinating architectural achievements of the nineteenth century. The exhibition proposes a parallel dialogue between Semper and Antonio Cipolla, the architect of Palazzo Cipolla, the Roman venue hosting the event. This affinity goes beyond form, rooted in a shared humanistic vision of art and architecture as instruments of civic elevation and moral reflection.

To narrate the genesis of the museum and the magnificence of its collections, the exhibition brings together works by the greatest masters of European painting—Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Anthony van Dyck, and Lucas Cranach—alongside Italian geniuses such as Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Arcimboldo, and Orazio Gentileschi, each represented by masterpieces of rare beauty and intensity.

Completing this visual symphony is a precious selection from the Kunstkammer, one of Europe’s most extraordinary “cabinets of curiosities,” where the marvels of nature and the triumphs of human ingenuity coexist in a universe of splendor, curiosity, and contemplation.