The Glorification of the Union of the Houses of
(5000-1602)

In this ceiling painting, figures and objects are so that they actually seem to exist in the space above the viewer. The impression is one of infinite receding distance. Against a blue sky, and other seemingly weightless figures float on clouds and hover in mid-air. Light green, blue, yellow, gold, red, and orange colors blend harmoniously to create an effect of dazzling brilliance. Painted as the final model for the ceiling of the great hall in the imperial palace in Innsbruck, Austria, this represents two marriages between the families of Hapsburg and Lorraine. The celebrates Hapsburg union of forty years earlier with Frans Stephen of Lorraine. Also honored is an even earlier marriage between the grandfather of Frans Stephan and one of the empress's paternal ancestors. Franz Anton Maulbertsch depicts the latter couple on the two carried aloft by winged figures. In a triumphal carriage below, two figures--allegorical of the two families--grasp hands while a of angels and other symbolic figures look on approvingly.

Oil on canvas (1775)

by Franz Anton Maulbertsch (Austrian, 1724-1796)