Dynastic Power and Alliances in Europe
1650–1789
When the Thirty Years’ War came to an end, several dynasties vied for predominance in Europe, first and foremost the French kings and the Austrian Habsburgs. Louis XIV of France epitomized the absolute monarch and his court set the standard for aristocratic culture. The German princes were able to gain a certain limited sovereignty, marked by a mitigated form of absolutism.
When the Emperor Charles VI died without an heir in 1740, the political struggle between Austria and Prussia escalated. Not only Prussia, but Bavaria and France as well objected to the Habsburg princess Maria Theresa succeeding to the imperial throne.
This unleashed the War of the Austrian Succession, from which five great European powers emerged and now struggled to assert their own various interests: England and France clashed over their overseas territories, and from 1756 to 1763 Austria and Prussia fought a war over Silesia. Following this Seven Years’ War Austria, Prussia and Russia directed their expansionist drive against Poland.
Henri Testelin, King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) in Front of the Parliament, ca. 1685.
(Inv.Nr. Gm 93/60)
Antoine Pesne, Frederick II, King of Prussia (1740-1786), as Commander, ca. 1745.
(Inv.Nr. 1990/28)
Army Tunic for Commanders Worn by Frederick II of Prussia, 1789.
(Inv.Nr. U 267)
Army Tunic for the Men of Duke Karl Wilhelm von Braunschweig’s Infantry Regiment (No. 21), ca. 1780.
(Inv.Nr. U 9)
Louis Elle, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans (1671-1721), in a Hunting Costume, ca. 1678.
(Inv.Nr. Gm 2001/1)
Court Dwarf, ca. 1680.
(Inv.Nr. 1988/987)
Prince-Elector Tankard, 1662.
(Inv.Nr. KG 2000/43)
Peter Winter, Lidded Beaker with Motifs from the Turkish Wars, after 1683.
(Inv.Nr. KG 99/158)
Grenadier – Figure for Tobacco Storage, 1715.
(Inv.Nr. U 2492)
Johann Daniel Bager, The Marriage Contract, 1762.
(Inv.Nr. 1988/296)
Anna Rosina von Lisiewski, Scholar in the Study, ca. 1765.
(Inv.Nr. Gm 2004/4)
Figure Group "Discord in Marriage", 1765-1770.
(Inv.Nr. KG 95/26)
Martin Engelbrecht, Paper Theater "Baroque garden scene", ca. 1750.
(Inv.Nr. 1989/1586.1-6)
Johann Daniel vom Berg, Coin Scale with Seventeen Weights in the Original Box, 1780-1789.
(Inv.Nr. 1989/1944.1)
Frog Plate after Johann Nathanael Lieberkühn, after 1734.
(Inv.Nr. HI 75/30)
Johann Jakob Haid, The Merchant, ca. 1760.
(Inv.Nr. 1987/153)
Model of a 12-Pound Cannon, 1759-1762.
(Inv.Nr. W 3282)
B. Müller / Johannes Esaias Nilson, The Polish Salt Mine Wieliczka near Krakow, ca. 1760.
(Inv.Nr. Gr 73/138)
Game Table for Chess, Nine Men’s Morris and Tric-Trac, ca. 1750.
(Inv.Nr. KG 93/64)
Detail of the Game Table.
(Inv.Nr. KG 93/64)