The objects, on display to the public for the first time, include Frankenthal porcelain, Würth silverware and an Empire pendule with a matching pair of candlesticks. The objects are ?records of the mastery of artists, the patronage of princes and their compulsion to parade prestige and status, and the changing face of aristocratic interiors,? say the exhibition organisers.
The objects were returned to the care of the Esterházy Foundation, which manages the Esterházy estate, at the beginning of the year after the 40-year contract with the state of Burgenland expired and officials moved out of the building, said foundation head István Ottrubay.
The collection is being shown in ten rooms which have been faithfully restored to their original state.
?In the central room, which has also been renovated, a marble statue of Leopoldina Esterházy by the 18th century Italian master Antonio Canova can be seen,? said Ottrubay.
Two of the ten rooms are dedicated to important anniversaries this year: the 90th birthday of Princess Melinda Esterházy and the hundredth anniversary of the death of Countess Margit Esterházy, he added.
Visitors can see photographs of Melinda Esterházy, the widow of Pál Esterházy, dancing in ballets in London, Vienna and Bayreuth. The ballerina took the title ?primaballerina? at the Budapest Opera when she was just 24 years old.
After the death of her husband, in 1992, Melinda Esterházy placed the entire Esterházy estate into three foundations.
?Members of the Esterházy family were patrons of the arts and art collectors well known all over Europe for four centuries, and the foundation wants to continue this activity. Every year it spends about EUR 2 million on culture from the proceeds from farms, forests and hunting grounds formerly owned by the family,? Ottrubay said. ?Collecting art for the Esterházys meant collecting contemporary art, and the foundation wishes to take this tradition further, giving young talented artists from Central Europe a chance to show themselves,? he added.
An example of this endeavour is the exhibition Central Europe Revisited III at the nearby monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine. The show features more than a hundred works by artists from Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria.
Source: Múlt-kor
