Giuseppe Arcimboldo Prague court

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526–93) was c36 when he left Italy to be­come a court portraitist to Hapsburg emperors Ferdinand I, Max­imil­ian II in Vien­na & Rudolf II in Prague.

Examine the enigmatic, Late Renaissance world of Arcimboldo and his most famous piece The Librarian c1566. He was one of the Italian artists who changed art during the Renaissance. Born into an artistic family in Milan, he started his career by designing stained glass windows for the Milan Cathedral. But Arcimboldo was attracted to the peculiar. In Prague Court, one of the great centres of the later Renaissance, Archimboldo became a very desirable painter for Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II. Rudolf II gathered creative around him: scientists, astronomers, authors and artists of every kind. This strengthened the possibility that portrait was of Wolfgang Lazius, a humanist and historian who served those Holy Roman Emperors in Prague.

Arcimboldo belonged to the Mannerist movement, famous for most of the C16th. His most well-known portraits were composite heads made out of fruits, vegetables and plants. So he wasn’t just an artist; he was a creative maverick. Arcimboldo wasn’t content with painting regular portraits - he wanted something new! Arc-imboldo’s creations turned the art scene upside down. Imagine a face crafted from foods. He played this style like a virtuoso. Of course The Librarian was just one piece of Arcimboldo’s wild collection of composite heads. He started a trend that caused artists to think outside the canvas. It took genius to mix fruits, vegetables and books to create a face.

The Librarian, 

c1566, height 67cm, width 50cm 

Skokloster Castle, Sweden

Arcimboldo created something unusual. He invented a librarian, not made of flesh & bone but from books. The librarian’s face is a stack of books, arranged to form a face that was strangely calm and surprisingly wise. Arcimboldo might have been saying Knowledge is my play ground, and I’m building it with books. He wasn’t just painting a librarian; he was crafting a symbol of intellect. Those books weren’t just random; they were a nod to the intellectual feelings of the Renaissance. He meant Look at all this knowledge, neatly stacked on my librarian’s face.

Another perspective was Roland Barthes’ essay on Arcimboldo, on the visual articulation of the intersection of man and nature. The fascination with Arcimboldo’s paintings was greater, because the Italian better challenged the viewer’s own ideas about the work’s exact purpose.

 Even though Arcimboldo was doing this long before the C20th Surrealists, his work has a dreamy, surreal feel, playing with reality in the coolest way possible. The Librarian wasn’t just a portrait; it was a portal into a whimsical realm of artistic eccentricity. The C16th Hapsburgs were thrilled with this artist, but cool heads reigned in the next centuries and his fame faded. We can see why modern Surrealists were attracted to Arcimboldo: his daring ascribing of human attributes to non-humans, his morphing of the natural with the extreme and grotesque, and transformation of the everyday and the dreamlike.

Under the layers of The Librarian, Arcimboldo didn’t throw books together randomly. In the face of wisdom, the face was a meticulous set of book spines as facial features. The eyes, nose, mouth were well crafted using the varied shapes and sizes of books. Arcimboldo was guiding a symphony of literature; the librarian’s face was a masterpiece.

And appreciate the diversity of the books used. They were either thick or thin; they were either bound in dark leather or in lighter hues. Each book seemed to have a personality of its own, contributing to the librarian’s overall character, a visual feast for book and art lovers alike.

Despite the quirky construction, the librarian’s expression was composed. It was not just a stack of literature; the face exuded tranquillity and wisdom coming from the composed arrangement of books. The composition was balanced, with books carefully arranged to create a harmonious whole, a testament to Arcimboldo’s talent that he could turn books into a surreal yet strangely natural face. 

An intimate friendship developed between Arcimboldo and Emperor Rudolf's son. In this work, the painter depicted the Emperor as the ancient god Vertumnus, the god of seasons, of inexhaustible change and agriculture. To realise this, he composed the face of the ruler from all kinds of plants, flowers and fruits. These were from different seasons and thus symbolised the eternal cycle of life. But the painting was not meant to hang alone but to be flanked by many other allegory paintings that Rudolf commissioned.

Arcimboldo, Rudolf II of Habsburg as Vertumnus, 1590 

Skokloster Castle, Sweden

Skokloster Castle, Sweden invites visitors to stroll through the halls and stumble upon a librarian made entirely of books, a historical and artistic jackpot! A Renaissance aristocrat’s worth was determined by the number of books he had read, OR by the quantity of books in his library. Arcimboldo was ridiculing the widespread theory then, by arguing that knowledge was not solely derived from book ownership but that real knowledge was more important. And in this exploration, unravel the layers of Arcimboldo’s genius, break down the eccentricities of The Librarian, and serve an important section of art history unexpectedly.

Conclusion In the grand stream of art history, Arcimboldo’s Librarian stood out as a bold stroke of creative genius. It was a journey into the surreal, a celebration of intellect and a testament to the endless possibilit-ies of artistic expression. Gaze upon the librarian’s face crafted from books, knowing it was not just witnessing a portrait; it was stepping into the great realm of a Renaissance rebel who dared to re-imagine the boundaries of art. Next time the reader is inside a good book, think of Arcimboldo i.e a reminder that knowledge was/is a masterpiece waiting to be unveiled.

In Rudolfine Prague, life was surrounded by the 30 Years’ War. Many of Arcimboldo’s paintings were lost, destroyed or stolen by the invading Swedish Army. Thus Archimboldo’s work is NOT in the great gallery in Prague’s Hradcany Castle

Credit to Philip Harvey and to Roland Barthes. 

Jugendstil - Art Nouveau in Prague

Jugendstil was the art­is­tic style that arose in Germany in mid-1890s and continued until WW1 loomed. It derived its name from the Munich magazine Die Jugend-Youth, which featured Art Nouveau designs. Two phases were seen in Jugendstil: 1] the early pre-1900 style that was mainly floral in character, rooted in English Art Nouveau; and 2] a later, more abstract phase, growing out of the Viennese work of the Belgian-born architect Henry van de Velde.

The fate of Alfonse Mucha (1860-1939), Czech painter, ill­ustrator and graphic artist, worked in Paris at the turn of the century, then some time in the U.S. He returned to Prague in 1913. There he particip­ated in the décor­ation of several buil­dings, being an active proponent of Czech modern art. So if some of the Prague Art Nouveau artists came from Vienna or learned in Vienna’s architectural schools, especially Otto Wagner's, Czech artists grew their way into Art Nouveau. Wander around AN sites in Prague and notice that Prague Art Nouveau artists had their favourite decorative pattern: a set of tree branches with flat and overlapping leaves.

Some areas of the town were designed in Jugendstil style. But out­side the city’s inner centre, the general state of the buildings did not look good. The broken windowpanes, the falling plaster and the Art Nouv­eau door han­dles repl­ac­ed by standard ones were certainly due to the Russ­ian legacy. But there haven't been many reconstruction programmes as there were in western Europe, so most or­iginal Art Nouveau buildings were not pulled down in Prague.

Sunflower Door, Prague, 1900

Quora   

A romantic walk across the Vlata on Charles' bridge will show the great astronomical clock (unique except for Strasbourg Fr­ance), rectan­g­le stone towers, part of the ancient city wall with typ­ical steep slat­ed roof and four peaks in the angles. For Classical Music lovers, there is a concert in every church every day. Till 1918, Prague was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then became the capital of Czechos­lov­akia (and later the Czech Republic).

But from the later C19th, independence movements arose. These voi­c­es claimed political autonomy and also cultural autonomy. In any case, Prague was not as broadly spread then as it is today. So a lot of Art Nouv­eau buil­d­ings that are today in Prague were in fact in other little indep­endent towns eg Smichov. Modern Prague started in the 1920s, and like many other large towns of that time in Europe, the capital city grew rap­idly. The era was contem­porary with fast rural depopulat­ion com­bined with start of industry. All the city walls were razed during later in the century.

The Sunflower Door was part of a building designed in the Art Nouveau style that was popular ac­ross Europe at turn of C20th. This decorative style was charact­erised by its use of nat­ural forms, curved lines and intricate floral-plant inspired motifs. The door bel­onged to the Art Nouveau movement expressing love for nature, with a prominent sunflow­er being a central design element. The door was created in historic Prague, a city known for its wide range of architectural styles, from Gothic & Baroque, to Renaissance & modernist. The Sunflower Door contributed to the city's reputation as an architectural treasure trove and is a bel­ov­­ed detail among the city's many historic buildings. It was a beau­t­­iful example of how everyday obj­ects like doors were transformed into works of art in Art  Nouveau period, and remain today.

Hilbert House, 1904

Sidewalk Safari

This door was built in 1900 by Czech architect Osvald Polivka (1859-1931), associated with the Secession-Art Nouveau period in Prague. Expl­ore the feminine con­tent of image graphics. There is an ancient language structure that assigned either a feminine or mas­cul­ine attribute to an action. The person waiting to catch a ball is in fem­inine-passive; the ball thrower is in masculine-active mode. Sex­ual designations based on body functions have been part of lan­guage as a form of classifying & understanding the world.

Designed in 1904 by Czech architect Kamil Hilbert with period decorations by Karel Novák, this is Hilbert House. The nicely curved arabesque metal work integrates very well with the carving on this street entrance door. The arabesque style glass bord­er­ing etching adds an additional transitional detail between the interior and exterior of the window. The arabesque radial pattern above the door functions like other Art Nouveau doors.

Villa Henlenka 

designed by Alois Korda in 1903

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Villa Henlenka was designed by Alois Korda in 1903. With its angle tower and floral glazing, this villa accumulated many Art Nouveau and tradit­ional features. Although it is the best example of Jugendstil villa near Prague, today the villa requires a lot of renovations.

                                      

Municipal House, 1905-11

architect Osvald Polivka
Prague Now

Municipal House (1905-11), designed by Osvald Polívka, was Prague’s most vigorously art-nouveau building. Every detail of its design and decoration was carefully considered and every painting and sculpture was loaded with symbolism. The city authorities wanted a multi-purpose building which offered not only public services but also cultural events eg concerts in Smetana Hall. The most symbolic nationistic event in Municipal House was Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence, 1918. Extrav­agantly decorated both inside and outside by leading Czech artists, it conjures up fin de siècle atmosphere. Restored in the 1990s after decades of neglect, the perfect decorations are in the restaurant.

Grand Hotel Europa was once the jewel-in-the-crown on Wenceslas Square. When the hotel opened in the 1870s, it was a symbol of luxury unprecedented in Czechoslovakia. Over the years, the hotel rooms became outdated, but the facade remained sparing with Art Nouveau details.  After renovation in 1906, the hotel once again luxurious.  

Royal Hotel Europa, 1906

Wiki

Hilbert House (1911) was sculptor and architect František Bilek’s studio and home, complete with semi carved stones and bricks. The whole building has beklen designed by Bilek from the furniture to the door handles, a perfect building to be used as a Museum about Bilek’s sculpture work. Brick work masonry was articulated by pillars in form of corn sheav­es, trying to express Bilek’s view on substance of life. See Bilek Villa in WanderBook.

Dancing House, 1992-6

modern and deconstructivist architecture

Wiki

 

Dancing House was designed by Czech architect Vlado Milunić & Canadian Frank Gehry on a perfect riverfront space. It consists of 2 cylindrical towers in daring shapes, it resembles two people swaying and dancing to music. One tower one bends at the middle, curving back, inspiring many to think of Ginger Rogers twirling about in the arms of Fred Astaire. In a city known for 1000 years of art & architecture, this modern building in Prague provided a sleek and modern contrast to the Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau standouts all around the town. The French restaurant on the top floor is very elegant.

Read Petr Wittlich's book, Art Nouveau Prague, 2000

Amazon

"The Stamp Thief" a good documentary

The Stamp Thief was a documentary investigating a Holocaust event: that some unknown Nazi stole priceless stamp collections from concentration camp victims and buried the stolen stamps in a small town in Poland. Producer Gary Gilbert set out to confirm the story and recover the stamps. His approach: do a fake film shoot. His goal: to deliver justice by returning the stamps to their rightful owners or community.

The Stamp Thief documentary was written by Gary Gilbert, 2025

Reddit

The film chased the story of a rogue Nazi officer tasked with cataloguing the valuables of Jews sent to concentration camps. Apparently he seized the chance to steal millions of dollars worth of rare stamps and buried them in his home, now in Poland. In a real-life mission, Gilbert embarked on a daring quest to uncover the truth and recover the stamps. Disguising his investigation, Gilbert sought to return the stamps to their rightful heirs or to a museum, delivering a small yet powerful act of justice 75+ years post-Holocaust. This true tale unfolded in the suspenseful documentary.

Director Dan Sturman was an investigative journalist and is now noted L.A-based director, writer and producer who created Academy Award-winning documentaries. Sturman has since filmed many subjects, his works including quality documentaries shown at classy festivals eg Twin Towers.

Sturman and Gilbert debated about finding stamps stolen by the Nazi officer and buried in a basement in Legnica Poland. Stamp Thief set out to find the stamps after hearing the story from his fellow screen writer, David Weisberg. Who could invent a more intriguing premise? David's father, psychiatrist   Paul Weisberg treated a fireman married to the daughter of the Nazi who allegedly stole the stamps from a concentration camp. 

Nazi Trio, found by producer Dylan Nelson

Film Freeway

Stamp Thief was a probing search: while the Nazis occupied Poland in WW2, the Nazi officer whose job was to catalogue valuables belonging to Jews sent to camps saw his chance. Sadly this was not the case of a hero who disobeyed orders and tried to help the victims of the Holocaust. The Nazi officer, who decided to pocket millions of dollars worth of stamps stolen from the victims, buried them in the basement of his home. Thanks to the discovery of a detailed map showing the approximate location of the stamps, a group of Americans flew to Poland.

 When the L.A television writer-producer learned that an SS officer probably stole stamps from Jewish concentration camp prisoners and hidden them in a Polish basement, the American launched a long quest to find the rumoured box of treasures, despite the minimal chance of locating them.

Sample of stamps from pre-WW2

JIFF

How Gilbert found about the stamps was an unlikely tale. It began with a psychiatrist who happened to have a patient in the 1970s. The patient told the story of the missing stamps, and the psychiatrist became so intrigued, he helped devise an elaborate retrieval plan to dig them up behind the Iron Curtain. He never followed through, but he shared the plan with his son, who happened to be an avid stamp collector. As the film unfolded, the pieces fell into place and the story became increasingly engrossing. The team that went to Poland in 2015 grew more invested in returning the stamps to their rightful owners. So does the audience!

The mission was steeped in symbolism. For Gilbert, a single stamp not only represented the many thousands of stamps stolen from Jews, but the 6 million who’d never reclaim their personal treasures. Gilbert knew the second he heard the story that he was going to go, because the only thing crazier than going would be to not go. What’s craziest was how Gilbert tried to retrieve the stamps. The more he talked to lawyers, the more he realised how difficult it was to get seized Jewish property out of Poland. So he planned to access the basement by pretending to use it as a film set for a fake historical drama. [It was hard labour, digging 4+’ into the basement ground that had been solid since WW2]. The Poland expedition meant deceiving the Polish building manager, residents and film crew, and members of the U.S team had to grapple with the ethics of their dishonesty!

The team included Sturman as well as Gilbert’s personal contractor who posed as the set designer. But Sturman really came to supervise the surreptitious dig for the stamps during fake rehearsals in the basement. Those involved all hoped that once the truth emerged, the misled people would see that the deceit happened to right a greater wrong.

Instead Polish reactions to discovering the truth were largely scary, but an unknown hero emerged in Polish crew member, Sylvia. She chose to fully support the Americans and their mission. Her decision as a Polish person was that each Polish person should have been self-responsible.

There were no criticisms in the on-line reviews, but here's my own feedback. I didn’t know the film was going to be about research and although that was my own fault, it was occasionally annoying. I wasn’t fascinated in their endless interviews, phone calls, meetings and letters. It might have been a fictional adaptation of the normal story of Nazis taking gold wedding rings & gold dental crowns from victims before they went into the gas chambers. And although I knew exactly why the team acted secretly and illegally as they did, the immorality of Lying for a Good Cause was barely tackled. 

I already knew that many modern Poles were still denying their nation’s part in the Holocaust. But the intractable mistrust between some Poles and Jewish Polish survivor families was not really challenged in the film.

Gary Gilbert, Judy Kirshner Gilbert, Elizabeth Malloy, Dan Sturman

in Hollywood, April 2025, 

Larchmontbuzz

 

Emp Rudolf, Prague: arts, science, palace

Rudolf II (1552-1612) was born in Vienna to Maximilian II and Maria of Austria, grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Part of the Habsburg dynasty, they ruled a union of Austria, Germany, Hungary, Croatia & Czech Republic (1483-1806). At 11 Rudolf was separated from his big family and sent to his uncle Philip II’s Spanish court, where he lived a lonely 8 years with stern tutors. He returned from Madrid as a lonely young man.

Old Royal Palace within Prague Castle, started C12th 

additions by Rudolf II

Living Prague

The eldest surviving son of Emperor Maximilian II and Maria, who was herself the daughter of the Emperor Charles V, Rudolf was crowned King of Hungary in 1572 and of Bohemia in 1575 as Rudolf II. He succeeded his father as Emperor in 1576.

The new Holy Roman Emperor moved the Habsburg capital from Vienna to Prague in 1583, settling in the centre of his mighty Empire. The Habsburgs had traditionally favoured Vienna, but the Ottoman Empire had invaded Hungary decades before; thus the Habsburgs had fought lengthy land wars on their border since. Prague Castle put Rudolf safely distant from Turkish army’s advance.

Prague was a key centre in continental Europe, a land-locked city with Baltic Sea 500 km north and Adriatic Sea 600 km south. It was a busy urban centre comparable in size & culture to Amsterdam and located at the cross-roads linking Vienna, Krakow, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Munich.

The court-centred city flourished, split into 4 administrative areas: Old Town, New Town, Lesser Town and Castle. Between Old Town and the river to the north was the gated Jewish town, with its inhabitants locked in each night. Accounts of Prague burghers & merchants revealed that wealthy families owned items that extended to distant lands. Luxury items flowed.

Collecting was a Habsburg family passion. Rudolf’s grandfather liked Roman coins and dad Maximilian loved antique statues. So the imperial seat became a lavish court where Rudolf became a very royal collector. Lions, parrots, Turkish armour and exotic stones from Sth America and the Far East poured into Rudolf’s collections. His court attracted diplomats, artists, artisans and scientists seeking the Emperor’s patronage contributed to Prague’s dynamic cultural richness for 30+ years.

Rudolf devoted his life to accumulating the greatest collection of the arts in all of Renaissance Europe. He owned works by Leonardo da Vinci, Paolo Veronese, Pieter Brughel Elder, Titian and Hieronymus Bosch, as well as sculptures by Adriaen de VriesAnd he amassed vast treasures as patron of Mannerists, e.g., Hans von Aachen, Bartholomeus Spranger, and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

Durer, Feast of the Rosary, 1506, 162 x 192 cm,

National Gallery Prague
Wiki

All these works seduced Rudolf who was helpless under their spell. German artist Albrecht Dürer had produced The Feast of the Rosary (1506), an image of the Virgin and Child surrounded by high-status believers including a pope and some kings. In early C17th this was a Venice altarpiece of the German Church. For a century, the city’s transient German merchants had prayed before it, hoping for prosperity at Venice’s many marketplaces. Rudolf had a huge appetite for art and his frantic notes commanded a European network of ambassadors and dealers who serviced his obsession, buying treasures on his behalf. Now Rudolf pestered the German community ceaselessly, sending his men to meet the church’s clergy for haggling. The congregation wouldn’t part with it but in 1606 they relented. In the building’s dim medieval interior, the painting was extricated and wrapped in carpets. He paid 9 times the original price for The Rosary, a fantastic sum! Flemish artist Bartholomeus Spranger accompanied The Rosary on its trip; the strongmen who were ordered to carry The Rosary from Venice to Prague had to haul it over the Alps by hand, working in a relay to carry it over. Mud and snow made the journey gruelling, so when the Rosary finally arrived in Prague, Rudolf sent everyone out to relish it alone.

Inventories from 1600 showed exquisite items eg seashells mounted in silver. Crammed into cabinets were trinkets made out of mother-of-pearl and coral, engraved brass plates, clocks, headpieces, helmets, maths instruments and the skins of thoroughbred Indian horses. Other key objects included a phial of the earth from which God created Adam; nails from Noah’s ark; and stuffed exotic animals. 

Jost Bürgi, mathematician, astronomer and clockmaker,

had his own clock workshop at Prague Castle.
World of the Habsburgs

Rudolf started major Renaissance additions to Prague Castle, new palace wings and the Mathematical Tower for his treasures. Each acquisition needed space so Rudolf modified his castle to make room for his growing number of objects. He built halls for his pictures and sculptures, and smaller rooms for jewels, books & animals. The Kunstkammer-cabinet of curiosities sat in a corridor. And next to his bedchamber were his favourite objects. Rudolf believed his religious possessions shielded him from harm, using his treasures for protective rituals. When Rudolf felt under threat from his enemies, he collected his Holy Grail (an agate bowl that collected Christ’s blood whilst on the cross)!

Cellini Salt Cellar

Reddit

Commissioned by French Francis I, the Cellini Salt Cellar was gifted in 1570 to Rudolf II's uncle Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol. Then it featured in Rudolf II’s Kunstkammer. The salt cellar was an enamelled gold table sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini,  portraying Land, Tellus and Sea, Neptune. It was to promote conversation among intellectuals on the object's meaning. Today it is kept at Kunsthistor-isches Museum in Vienna, one of the world's most famous works of gold-smithing. Mounted on an ebony base, it features the mythological figures of Neptune and Demeter, flanked by a small temple and a shell to hold pepper and salt. Worth $US55-$65 million now.

His ambitious collection would be encyclopaedic! The Kunstkammer was organised into themes: Naturalia: natural history, zoology, botany, mineralogy; Scientifica: clocks, watches, globes; Artificialia: coins & prints. Knowledge was constantly evolving; scholarship was never complete.

Rudolf’s accumulation of objects did not isolate him. He allowed trusted scholars, scientists and alchemists into his flats to admire his objects. By studying his range of curiosities unmatched in size, diversity and variety, some of Rudolf’s circle made key discoveries. See his loved court astronomers; Tycho Brahe used Rudolf’s mathematical instruments to track Mars’ orbit. Later Johannes Kepler used these results for his laws of planetary motion, proving planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.

Rudolf may well have suffered from schizophrenia; his young brother Archduke Matthias and his army prepared to take over in 1611 and did, once Rudolf died in 1612. Some of the court’s wealth was transferred back to Vienna, which quickly became the settled Habsburg seat of power. The religious, dynastic and territorial issues that Rudolf left unaddressed during his reign led to the outbreak of 30 Years’ War (1618).

Prague Castle Art Gallery

Living Prague

Rudolf II changed Prague into a vibrant Renaissance hub in 1583-1612, but then Europe fell into one of the most destructive conflicts ever. When a Swedish army invaded Prague in 1648, soldiers pillaged 69 bronze statues, 470 paintings, 179 ivory objects and 600 agate & crystal goblets, and substantial war booty. Many precious items from Rudolf’s collections are still in Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. But many items stayed in Prague Castle. Some were pillaged by the Swedish Army stationed in Prague after 30 Years’ War ended in 1648, and ended up in Swedish collections.

Imperial crown made in Prague by Jan Vermeyen for Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, 1602

Hofburg Palace in Vienna

Wiki

Philip de Laszlo, Hungary's finest portraitist! Spy?

László, Portrait of Franz Joseph I

in hussar field marshal's uniform, 1899

Hungarian National Museum

Philip de Laszlo: His Life and Art is a 2010 biography by Duff Hart-Davis, based on the artist’s papers, letters, press cut­t­ings and diaries. Hart-Davis was qualified to do the writing; he was related to King George III and to two of my favourite historians Duff Cooper and son John Julius Norwich. The author’s connections to royal, ar­is­tocratic and literary circles were clear, even in art history. The 145 plates in his book were fine examples of de Laszlo’s portraits.

Fulop Laub (1869-1937) was born in Budapest to a Jewish tailor. Due to hard work and talent, he joined Hungary’s Nat­ion­al Academy of Arts, then studied in Munich and Paris. Once he'd converted to Catholicism in 1894 and Hungar­ianised his name to Philip de Laszlo, royal commis­s­ions arrived eg Aust­rian Emperor Franz Joseph, Pope Leo XIII, Kaiser Wilhelm II, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. And Presidents Theodore Roosevelt & Calvin Coolidge. His career matched the final peak of Europe’s last great royal courts!

Crown Princess Cecilie of Germany, 1908

Prussian Palaces and Gardens, Berlin

Wiki

In 1892 he met Lucy Guinness, from the wealthy Ir­ish Protestant bank­ing family. They married in 1900, built a refined house in Pest, had 6 children, raised into the Hung­arian nobility by Emperor Franz Josef, convert­ed to An­g­lic­anism and moved to Vienna.

Eventually he needed a bigger stage: Britain. From 1907 on, when he was based in London and joined the Royal Society of Brit­­ish Art­ists, de Laszlo’s career boomed. But the tim­ing was problematic. As war with Germany and ally Austro-Hungary approached, de László needed to become a British subject to protect his sons from con­scription into Hungary’s army. Citizenship came in 1914!

In Berlin, outbreak of host­il­ities in Aug 1914 saw wild demonst­ra­t­ions against for­eigners. And in return, spy fever generated by WW1 placed many imm­igrants in Britain und­er sus­pic­ion. In May 1915 a German U-boat sank the Lusitania off Ireland’s SW coast, kil­ling 1200 pass­en­gers and crew. The Times demanded internment of Bri­tain’s c9,000 nat­ur­alised aliens, children excluded from schools and property taken. Thankfully P.M Asquith prot­ected naturalised Brit­ons.

de László was concerned for his family in Budapest, who depended on him for financial support. The Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs in London suggested he use the Dutch diplomatic bag because all ordinary post to Holland was censored. Although neut­ral, the Dutch were con­sidered pro-German and closely monitor­ed.

MI5 knew who was going in and out of de László’s studio, and they in­tercepted his mail. The case against him became more serious in July 1917 when a report, attributed to de László, revealed British maritime los­ses and mine product­ion; that the king wanted the war to end; and that Alsace-Lorraine wasn’t worth fighting for. It suggested that de László was desperate to have his Hungarian nationality restored! Above all, they found, de László was a con­vert­ed Jew with a wide social circle that included an entrée to British and German courts.

de László was grilled by Basil Thomson (Special Branch) and Ver­non Kell (MI5) in Aug 1917. If MI5 couldn’t intern de László for pacifism, they might convince people that he’d abused the diplomatic bag, creat­ing secret cont­acts with the en­emy. So they sent de László to Brixton Prison in Sept 1917, until a nervous breakdown saw him freed.

The attitude to aliens in Britain worsened. In July 1918, Evening News called it "Enemy Alien Week"; a rally was held in Tra­f­algar Square; vigil­an­te groups hunted for Ger­man spies. And negative attitudes to natur­al­ised Britons didn’t al­ter with war’s end in Nov 1918. A news­paper editorial demanded to know what MI5 had un­ear­th­ed on de László. & the case was debated in the House of Lords, May 1919! None­­theless the case against the art­ist was still brought before the Denatur­al­is­ation Comm­ittee. His 5-day hearing took place in June 1919. The pro­s­ecution in­c­luded Att­or­ney General Sir Gordon Hewart while De László’s defence team included ex-Home Secr­etary, Sir John Sim­on. The 3-man committee took merely 15 minutes to dismiss the case.

Princess Beatrice, 1926

Royal Collection

Wiki

King Umberto II of Italy, 1928

private collection

Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), 1925

Royal Collection Trust

Unbelievably Philip’s career was not destroyed. In the 1920s-30s, this international, multi-lingual man was invited all over Europe and North America to paint the portraits of important royals, nobles and church leaders. Consider a few examples: Lord Richard Percy and Lady Diana Percy (1922, 1924); Queen Marie of Romania (1924); Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark (1925); Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Lady Edwina Mount­batten (1925); U.S Presid­ent Calvin Cool­idge (1926); Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canter­b­ury (1926); King Alfonso XIII of Spain (1927); Prince Louis II and Princess Charl­otte of Monaco (1928); George Bell Bishop of Chichester (1931); Andrew Mellon (1931); and Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (1932).

Archbishop of Canterbury, 1937

Lambeth Palace, London

He was widely respected, and elected president of Royal Society of British Artists in 1930. So see the portraits, cat­alogue and exhibitions in the de Laszlo Archive.  And perhaps read Giles MacDonogh, To Frame a Painter | History Today, Feb 2021.

 

Marie Schmolka: Czech, UK, Nicholas Winton

The Nicholas Winton story was a joy to write and was well received by the readers. Now we can ask who planned the rescue of Jewish and political refugees from the Nazis in Czechos­lovakia and who involved Nicholas Winton in Britain?

Marie Schmolka

Maria Schmolka Society

Marie Eisner (1890–1940) was born to a non-religious Jewish family in Prague. She was a quiet woman, a social democrat involved in social work and high-level politics. With Hitler’s takeover in neighbouring Ger­many, she coordinated the assistance to refugees from the Nazi regime who sought asylum in Czechoslovakia. Her social democratic links helped her with leading politicians. As a leader of the Jewish women's movement, Eisner became the re­presentative of JOINT and HICEM, two Jewish refugee organisat­ions, and the sole Czechoslovak represent­ative on the League of Nations Commission for Refugees.

Marie Eisner married at 30 and although their short marriage remained child­less, she loved her step-children. After the death of her lawyer-husband Leopold Schmolka, Marie toured the Near East - it was this visit to Pal­es­tine that stirred her Zionist passion. On returning to Prag­ue, Marie joined the Zionist Organisation, WIZO and the Jewish Party, of which she soon was a central fig­ures.

In 1933 she was the founder and president of the National Coor­dinating Committee for Czech Refugees, where her col­l­eagues included Max Brod. This was the organisation that took the central role in the relief campaign for Nazi victims from Germany, both Jews and non-Jews. It was thought she was the moving spirit in the est­ab­lish­ment of the relief committee for the Jews of Carp­ath­ian Ruth­enia, part of the 1st and 2nd Czechos­lov­ak Republic between the wars (and the location of my in-laws’ home).

It must have been a exhausting life for Schmolka, attending the conferences of international comm­ittees in Gen­eva, Paris and London, as well as Jewish con­ferences ded­ic­ated to social and national causes. She visited the areas where refugees huddled, collecting evidence to mobilise public opinion and writing appeals to foreign amb­assadors in Prague and to Jewish agencies abroad.

Originally German Jewish refugees found Czechos­lov­akia welcoming, but they were gradually viewed with suspicion. And other countries refused to offer asylum at all: Schmolka knew this first hand as she was the Czech delegate at the infamous Evian Conf­er­en­ce in July 1938. in France. Even Britain would take only unacc­omp­an­ied children – that way, no criminal foreigner parents would invade their nation.

After the Sept 1938 Munich agreement and the subsequent annexation of the Czech borderlands, the relief organisations in Prague were unable to cope with the large influx of refugees from the occupied Sudet­en­land; both Jews and political oppon­ents of Nazism were flooding in. Her struggle intensified on behalf of Jew­ish refugees who were stranded in no-man's-land, the narrow strip between the 1939 German and Czechoslovak borders.

It was Marie Schmolka’s appeal for help that brought the young Nicholas Winton (1909-2015) to Prague in Dec 1938. For the next three weeks, Winton helped organise the emigration of Czech Jewish children to Great Britain. He returned to Britain in Jan 1939, two months before the occupation, and continued with refugee work. Winton was definitely a hero, but it is clear that other, longer serving volunteers had already worked to save thousands of Jewish and political refugees from the Nazis.

Schmolka's appeals were met by other human­e U.K volunteers eg Doreen Warriner, a representative of the Brit­ish Committee for Czech Refugees. Doreen was monit­or­ed by MI5 between 1938-52 for her remarkable efforts!

When Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Marie Schmolka and her co-workers from the Committee for Refugees were among the first arrested. In the meantime Warriner supported Winton with the vital Kindertransport programme.

The Czech Kindertransport arrived in London, Feb 1939

The Guardian 

Hannah Steiner, president of Czech WIZO, was arrested a day after the German occupation of Prague in March 1939, so Marie Schmolka presented herself to the Gestapo and declared that she was responsible for all the activities of the relief committee. Soon after, Schmolka was imprisoned for two months in the not­or­ious Pan­krác Prison where the Gestapo subjected her to hideous questioning. Schmolka was released only in May 1939, thanks to ongoing protests of the Ministers of the Protect­orate of Bohemia and Moravia.

After her release, Schmolka had the energy to resume her work. But even more unbelievably, in Aug 1939 Adolf Eichmann, the head of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, sent this Jewish woman to Paris, to demand more efficient Jew­ish emigration!!

Terrified by the outbreak of the WW2, Schmolka moved to London and established herself. She was active on behalf of the Czechoslovak Jewish refugees and exiles, working in Bloomsbury House. This was the former Palace Hotel purchased in Gower St which became the meeting place for the Czech, Zionist and Quaker social workers. Months later in March 1940, Marie Schmolka was dead at 46, having exhausted herself into a fatal heart attack. She wouldn’t take time off work to seek out medical care.

Prominent Zionists and luminaries of the Czech­os­lov­ak­ian government in exile gathered at the Golders Green Cremat­or­ium (no grave) to say farewell to one of the key European organisers of Jewish emigration before and during the early years of WW2. Jan Masaryk, the Czechoslovak foreign minister, made the main speech.

The Czech exile WIZO group changed their name to Marie Schmolka Society and in 1944, published a slim memorial. Now the Marie Schmolka Memorial is collecting information for her memorials - a plaque at her house near Hampstead, a statue in Prague and a prize for historical work addressing female Jewish social workers in the Holocaust.

A plaque at her house in London

honouring the heroine.  Press to expand

The women organisers featured in the cont­emp­orary records, but disappeared from public memory later on. There were monographs of Schmolka's fellow Zionists Felix Weltsch and Max Brod but Schmolka, who saved thousands of lives, was very difficult to trace. Some new information emerged in April 2019, at an Association of Jewish Refugees Conference,  

London. Thank you to the Marie Schmolka Society  and to Anna Hájková, in History Today 2018

First Romanian king; stunning Peles Castle

Romania united in 1859 and became a nation in 1877. First Prus­sian Prince Carol (1839-1914) of Hohenzollern became King Carol I of Romania from 1881. In 1873 when Carol visited the location where the beautiful castle now stands, he loved the stunning Carpathian Mountains scenery. So he quickly bought land in a small vil­lage Sinaia. Why there? Sinaia Monast­ery had been founded by Pr­ince Mich­ael in 1695, used as the roy­al res­id­ence until Peles was built.

                          

Peleş Castle in Sinaia

Under Charles’ control, 300 people laboured endlessly on Peles for two years. In 1875, the impressive castle was fin­ish­ed, spread­ing across 3,200 square ms. Sev­er­al teams of European architects and de­signers had to work throughout the years, including archit­ects Joh­an­nes Schultz (1873-83) and Karel Liman (1896-1924). The summer cas­tle was de­sign­ed in a Neo Ren­ais­­sance style combining features of cl­as­sic European styles - decorated by JD Heymann (Hamburg), August Bembe (Mainz) and Bernhard Ludwig (Vienna).

Carol planned the royal res­idence and hunting pre­serve for summer each year, the name coming from the Peles Creek that passed through the court­yard. Peles sat on a his­t­or­ic medieval road that connected Tran­syl­vania and Wallachia. A rail­way line was soon built to Buch­arest (122 km) and many aristo­cr­atic families moved their summer homes nearby.

He was the first King of Romania, from 1881 until his death. One of the most imp­ortant polit­ical figures in Romania’s his­tory for his successes, Carol refin­ed his passion for archit­ect­­ure. The Sov­ereigns’ Gate opened into the cast­le, and a mon­u­men­t­al marble stair­case went to the Hall of Hon­our, the official recep­tion space with walnut panelling and stat­ues. The ties bet­ween the Rom­anian and other royal families att­racted big names to the cast­le eg Austro–Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph, in 1886. Carols’ wife, Queen Elizab­eth, was a patron of the arts and de­signed rooms sp­ec­ific­ally for artists, mus­icians and writers’ enter­t­ain­ment.

                            

Peles Castle Piano Room

  
The dec­or­ations in each of the 160 rooms were given themes, with the finest examples of Eu­r­opean art, Murano crystal chandeliers, German stained-glass and Cor­doba leather-cov­er­ed walls. Many of the rooms were decorated to resemble the various world cultures eg the 1906 Mus­ic Room’s carved teak Indian furniture was gifted by a Maharajah. It contained a 1621 harpsichord from Antwerp, upright piano and organ

Given his military background, King Carol had a solid knowledge of weapons. The Great Armory Room hosts fine col­lect­ions of 4,000+ arms and ar­mour. Mainly C14th-17th from Western and East­ern Eur­ope and Asia, they were collected in 1903. Note the German armour of the C16th or 17th, and a full armour for the horse and knight.

                               

Welcome inside the front door

Due to its remarkable archit­ecture and exhibits, The Royal Library-Great Salon was special. It impress­ed with ceiling carved from linden wood, gilt, large chandeliers and Italian neo-renaissance decor­ations. See rare books with leath­er covers and gold emboss­ing and look for a secret door behind a bookshelf for the king to hide.

Peles’ architects drew in­sp­iration from classical styles like German and Italian Renais­s­ance, and Fr­ench Baroque eg the German stained glass and painted mur­als on the castle exter­ior. The interior, espec­ially the main hall, is beau­t­if­ully decorated with sculpt­ed wood & stained glass windows, sym­bols of elegance and royalty.

Great Moorish Salon

Wiki

Carrara marble was everywhere eg terraces decorated with royal st­at­ues, so the cas­tle could be an imp­res­sive residence fit for its pol­itical and cult­ural functions. Moor Hall was by painter and sculptor Charles Lecompte du Nouy, having Spanish-Moorish elements with a marble fount­ain.

The castle's 60-seat Theatre Hall and royal box were decorated in Louis XIV style, while the ceiling paintings and decorative fre­sc­oes were designed by famous Austrian art­ists Gustav Klimt and Fran­tz Mat­sch. And handmade silk embroideries adorned the ceil­ing and walls of the Turk­ish Salon. The horology exhibition had 50 different clocks from the private royal collection: grand­fathers, pendulum table clocks, fireplace clocks, al­arm clocks, poc­ket wat­ch­es etc. And pieces that belong­ed to Queen Marie, Carol II and King Mich­ael, mostly dating to the C19th. These collections of dispar­ate int­er­ior decorat­ion styles probably reflected King Carol’s eclectic tas­te.

                       

Theatre Hall, Peles Castle

From the start Peles was one of the most tech­nologically adv­an­ced palaces and expensive in Europe. It was the first European cas­tle fully supplied by locally produced el­ectrical po­wer, had its own 1884 power plant, cen­t­ral heating system in 1897, central vacuum sys­t­em, elev­at­or for the royals, hot and cold running water.

Besid­es Peles Castle, other buildings were erected, such as the royal stables and Foisor Hunting Lodge. And King Carol I’s successor, King Ferdinand built a smaller castle, Pelisor, on Peles grounds. Pel­isor was de­s­ign­ed in the art nouveau-style by the Czech architect Karel Liman from 1893-1914.

Peles remained a royal residence until 1947 when, after the forced ab­dication of King Michael I, Peles and the other royal propert­ies were taken by the Communist govern­ment. In 1948 the whole estate was closed, and art works went to Bucharest’s Art Mus­eum. The comm­unist government opened the castle as a tourist attract­ion, decl­ar­ed it the National Peles Museum in 1953 and kept it open until 1975.

Pres Nicolae Ceaușescu closed the entire estate in 1975-90, making it a State Protocol Area, limited to 1] mil­itary per­sonnel and 2] visiting heads of state. Fortun­ately the museum curators fri­ght­en­ed the President, saving Peles from military damage and from the Ceaus­escus. After the 1989 Romanian Revol­ut­ion, the cas­­tle became a heritage site and re-opened as a mus­eum with c400,000 visitors an­nually. Peles Museum has guides for those wanting historic tours.

Passionate about art, King Carol had collections covering c60,000 art objects. Additionally the ceramics collection held tiles and porcel­ain taken from the greatest C19th centres, was established by Queen Marie from 1914-27, and later pieces were purchased by the Museum. The wealth of artwork includes thousands of paintings and scul­ptures.

                              

Peles Castle gardens and statues

All photo credits: effitimonholiday

 

Polish chess team, world champs 1924-39

My parents thought Russians were the most intelligent, and my in-laws thought Czechs were most cultured. So thanks to Culture.pl for these Polish data, totally new to me. 

In Interwar years, chess was very popular in Poland. It was endorsed by key political figures as a pastime that Polish citizens could adopt eg Marshal Józef Piłsudski prime minister (1926). Chairman of Poland’s Chess Association, Piłsudski also valued Jews because the Jewish communities promoted chess. But the first chess Olympiad was held in 1927 in London, won by Hungary. Poland was excluded, because the regulations still barred professionals.

Rubinstein vs Tartakower 1927

Teodor Regedzinski (1894–1954) played for Poland at 5 Interwar Olympiads, winning 5 medals. He had German roots and collaborated with the Nazis in the war, to provide security for his wife and son. So he was imprisoned by the Polish authorities after war ended.

Poland was a chess power in the Interwar era! All the Olympiads they participated in pre-WW2 ended with Poland being on the podium (except for 1933). There were many other competitors in Poland till 1939, but because the majority were Jewish, most were handed over to the Germans or shot; Poland’s chess prowess disappeared.

The July 1930 Hamburg Olympiad was the first where pros could play, against 17 other nations. Poland sent Akiba Rubinstein, Ksawery Tartakower, Dawid Przepiórka, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman. The biggest rivals were Hungary & Germany. The Poles beat Hungary and drew with Germany, Poland winning 1.5 points over Hungary (win 1 point, draw .5, loss 0). Poland’s best player was Rubinstein (1880–1961), and the fine Hamburg victory remained Poland’s best-ever Olympic chess triumph!

Polish team, Chess Olympiad in Hamburg, 1930

(L) Frydman, Tartakower, Rotmil, Rubinstein, Makarczyk, Przepiórka, 

Culture.pl

In mid-1930s, Rubinstein’s depression worsened and he could no longer play competitively. Rubinstein was being taken care of by his wife, who’d opened a diner in Brussels. Despite being Jewish, the family survived the Holocaust; his wife died (1954) and Rubinstein died (1961) in Antwerp.

Ksawery Tartakower (1887-1956) was born in Rostov-on-Don in a Polish-Austrian Jewish family. Dad taught him chess but his parents tragically died in a 1911 pogrom, so he moved to Vienna to study Law. Ksaw was more drawn to chess, and after successes in 1909-13 tournaments, he chose chess over Law. In WWI he was in Austria’s army then moved to Paris. Post-war he played well in many tournaments and wrote chess theory for French and German press.

By 1920s he was a top 10 players globally. When Poland’s Chess Association started in 1926, Tartakower represented Poland. He was 2nd best of the 1930 team, winning 12 points in 16 games. In the 1930s Tartakower represented Poland at 6 chess Olympiads, winning gold medal in Hamburg, plus 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. And he won a silver in 1939 in Buenos Aires. He was still there when WW2 started, but he chose to go home. Too old to join with the Polish Army in France, he joined the French Foreign Legion. Tartakower survived and later, distrustful of Communist Poland, became a French national. He played for France at 1950 Dubrovnik chess Olympiad, and died in Paris in 1956.

Dawid Przepiórka (1880-1940) was born in Warsaw, son of a real estate owner. Young Dawid discovered chess in a Warszawski newspaper and fell in love. After dad’s death, Dawid inherited his parent’s tenement houses, becoming wealthy himself. In 1905 he moved to Göttingen then Munich to study maths. But he left uni, being more drawn into the chess world. In 1910 he married Melania Silberast in Munich, had 2 children & moved to Warsaw.

In 1924, Przepiórka came 2nd in a tournament in Gyor Hungary and 2 years later won a Munich tournament. 1926 also saw Poland’s 1st chess championship in Warsaw, with Dawid crowned winner. He was Poland’s 3rd strongest player at Hamburg’s Olympiad, taking 9 points in 13 games.

From 1928-33 Dawid became chess journal Świat Szachowy’s editor-publisher. As well as representing Poland in Hamburg, he competed at the 1931 Prague Olympiad. Alas Przepiórka lost to USA’s Israel Horowitz in a game that should have drawn, so Poland won the silver medal instead. Later he played a major role in sorting Warwaw’s 1935 chess Olympiad as head of the Technical Committee, winning the 1937 Golden Cross of Merit, a key Polish state award.

In WW2, Przepiórka stayed in Occupied Warsaw near a chess coffeeshop, filled with players playing after the Nazis closed official chess clubs. In Jan 1940, the Nazis raided and gaoled all of the clients, incl Przepiórka. Some were later freed but Jewish Przepiórka was shot and his wife and children also died. The Golden Cross of Merit protected no one.

Casimir Makarczyk (1901-72) was born in Warsaw and attended Michał Kreczmar Middle School alongside noted literary Poles eg Leopold Tyrmand. In 1915 his family moved to St Petersburg where Kaz learned to play chess. Then he returned to Warsaw in 1918 where he began studying Law. But financial problems ended his education in 1922. He worked in a bank and edited chess sections in newspapers, while studying philosophy. In 1926 he editor at Świat Szachowy then worked at Ministry of Public Works

In 1927 he won silver at the Warsaw championship and bronze in Łódź. This streak granted him a place on the Polish team at 1928’s chess Olympiad in The Hague. Then he represented Poland at 5 chess Olympiads in the Interwar period, winning 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. He was Poland’s 4th best player in the 1930 golden team in Hamburg, winning 7.5 points from his 13 games.

Christian Makarczyk joined the Polish resistance in WW2 and Warsaw Uprising. As a result he was taken into a German camp near Dresden & liberated in 1945. He returned to Poland, settling in Łódź where he was an aide at the Logic Dept of Lodz university. Non-Jews survived! In 1948, he became Poland’s new chess champion at a Kraków tournament, then won the Łódź title in 1949. In the 1950s, he was withdrawing from public chess life, dying much later.

Paulin Frydman(1905-82) was born into an educated Warsaw Jewish family. His uncle Szymon Winawer was a noted chess player, the uncle who introduced the lad to the game. Frydman took a liking for chess and when he was only 16, Czyn Journal published his chess puzzles. In 1922, he joined the Warsaw Society of Chess Supporters and at 19 won second place at their championship. He also medalled at Poland’s first championship in 1926, securing a place in Poland’s 1928 Olympiad team at the Hague.

Frydman then represented Poland at 8 Interwar Olympiads, taking 3 bronzes, 3 silvers and 1 gold - his chess career reflected the great strength of Polish chess pre-WW2, Frydman’s golden years. And he won Warsaw’s contests 5 times and came second in the 1935 Nationals.

At Buenos Aires’ 1939 Olympiad he won 13 points in 17 games, contributing largely to the team’s silver medal. Frydman stayed in Buenos Aires when war broke out, joining in Argentinian competitions until 1941. Then he ran a chess salon at Rex Coffee House Buenos Aires, creating a good income. Frydman’s life there was close to famous Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. Frydman died in Buenos ires

Mieczyslaw Najdorf (1894-1954) was a Polish Jewish chess player in the later 1930s, a vital figure in Olympic teams. In 1939 he chose to stay in Argentina after the 1939 Olympiad. Post-war he won the status as a top player anywhere, before making headlines creating new world records in Blind Chess, playing 45 opponents simultaneously! Having survived the war, Najdorf later retained his excellence.

A simultaneous chess game with Dawid Przepiórka
Society of Chess Lovers in Kraków, 1927

Culture.pl

Like other great Jewish competitors in Poland pre-WW2, most lived in a huge, educated community (30% of Warsaw) that had supported Poland’s 1930 gold-winning team. Antoni Wojciechowski (1905–38), one of the best Poles of that era, represented Poland at Munich’s 1936 Olympiad in great games. His style was risky and very entertaining for viewers. Sadly he died pre-war from pneumonia.

It’s accurate to say that Poland was a chess power in the Interwar era. All the Olympiads they participated in pre-WW2 ended with Poland being on the podium (except for 1933 Folkestone). There were many other competitors in Poland till 1939, but because the majority were Jewish, most were handed over to the Germans or shot; Poland’s chess prowess disappeared.