Vor den Vorhang (Before the curtain)

Subproject I: Digitization of the Figurines of the Viennese Court Theaters (19th century)

A research project within the framework of Strategie Kulturerbe digital, submitted jointly with the Coin Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (see Subproject II ).

Our target
The Collection of Drawings of the Theatermuseum contains a culturally and historically important collection of figurines – the technical term for costume designs in the theatre sector – from the Vienna court theaters, i.e. the Altes Burgtheater on Michaelerplatz and the Kärntnertor Theater (court opera), which comprises around 4,500 objects.
This convolute contains drawings by artists such as Philipp von Stubenrauch (1784–1848), Vinzenz Chiesa (1790–1867), Albert Decker (1817–1871), Girolamo Franceschini (1820–1859), Albert Kretschmer (1825–1891) and Franz Xaver Gaul (1837–1906), who were permanently employed at these theaters as “wardrobe masters”, i.e. costume designers.

Cultural-historical significance
As these original figurines – all unique – document hundreds of productions from the period around 1800-1870, they provide information about an entire theatre era that was characterized by very different styles: from a conservative post-rococo to the Napoleonic-influenced Empire style to the Biedermeier style reflecting the Restoration to a somehow more liberal, popular comedic style reminiscent of the revolutionary movements of 1848 and the beginning of historicism.
The chronological examination of the entire collection reveals the aesthetic change in the costume design of that time, which in its nature always fluctuates between everyday life and fiction, tracking down new fashions and at the same time setting new trends.
All of this justifies the cultural-historical significance of this collection, which also comes from two of the most important stages in the German-speaking world at the time. But it is not only interesting from a historical and scientific perspective, but can also serve as a source of inspiration in the artistic and practical field, for example through comparisons with current costume design and fashion. Its publication on our Online Collection ultimately represents a unique study opportunity for aspiring and established costume designers, as well as for directors, dramaturges and interested laypeople.

Project goal
Until May 2023 about 3,800 figurines from this collection had already been catalogued and digitally recorded over the last decade; around 2,400 had already been photographed. The aim of the project is to completely process the collection, for which around 700 data sets still need to be created and around 2,100 objects still need to be photographed.
In the course of this work, the already processed and the newly recorded parts of the collection will then be published online together, in the online collection of the Theatermuseum and subsequently on Europeana and in the Kulturpool.

Sustainable use and innovation potential
By entering the data in a targeted manner into the object and event module in the museum's database (TMS), not only the artist who designed the piece but also the production data with the title of the piece and the role and, in most cases, the names of the actors who wore the costume will be available. This alone makes thousands of other pieces of information (personal references, biographical data, theatre roles) accessible. Another desideratum within the framework of this project is to also show the connection between “objects” (here figurines) and “events” (here theatre productions) in the Online Collection, which was not possible until now and requires special programming by the IT staff and web designers of the KHM-Museumsverband as well as by external programmers.

If such programming also makes it possible to find online and query the authors and composers of the plays and operas recorded in the event module, as well as all other people involved in a production, then a huge amount of data will be available that comprehensively covers almost a century of Austrian (theatre) history. Finally, freely and free of charge on the Internet, such a data set can be used sensibly for academic and curatorial research and illustrate brilliant but also less famous episodes of Viennese theatre. The numerous figurines include not only well-known plays such as Calderón de la Barca’s Das Leben ein Traum and Grillparzer’s Weh dem, der lügt, but also stage works that have been forgotten today, such as Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer’s Rubens in Madrid, Carl Töpfer’s Der Pariser Taugenichts, Charles Lebrun’s Die Puritanerin or Eduard von Bauernfeld’s Der Selbstquäler. The same applies to the people involved in these productions, who either went down in history as stars or about whom we know very little so far, but who can appear in a new light thanks to the expanded query options.

This project is headed by Dr. Rudi Risatti, curator of the collection of hand drawings and models at the Theatermuseum.

Header: Freely after Girolamo Franceschini, Curtain design and figures for “Giotto and Zerlina” (Giovanni Golinelli), Vienna Court Opera 1855, Theatermuseum, Inv. No. HM4327.