Vienna, Panorama from Palais Kaunitz

In the Panorama from Palais Kaunitz Bellotto attempted to summarize a very broad panorama in a painting of limited dimensions. The garden, the facade of the palace on the garden side, the church of Mariahilf and a panorama are all represented in a perhaps somewhat laboriously executed but exceptionally fascinating perspectival painting.

In the left foreground Wenzel Kaunitz is depicted with several servants on the roof terrace of one of the outbuildings of his palace at Mariahilf near Vienna. Kaunitz’s palace was one of the approximately four hundred country estates of the nobility and the prosperous citizenry which were built in the environs of Vienna, after the aggression of the Turks had finally been quashed in 1683. Count Wenzel Kaunitz (1711—1794) had risen from a humble civil servant in the diplomatic corps to an almighty Chancellor and was the confidant of Empress Maria Theresa. In recognition of his merits he was admitted to the Order of the Golden Fleece and later awarded the title of “F�rst”. He is shown on the left side of the terrace, identifiable by the red ribbon of the Golden Fleece.