IIde Vue du Parc de Neu-Waldeck prise du Pavillon Chinois vers le Midi, from Views of the Park and Gardens of Marshal Count de Lacy at Neu-waldegg

Art Historical Context

This enchanting engraving, titled *IIde Vue du Parc Neu-Waldeck prise Pavillon Chinois vers Midi* (Second View of the Park of Neu-Walde Taken from the Chinese Pavilion toward the South), captures a serene landscape from the 1782 series *Views of the Park and of Marshal Count de Lacy Neu-waldegg*. collaboratively by Austrian artists Jakob Matthias Schmutzer Carl Conti, Clemens Kohl and Franz Karl Zoller it offers a precise, panoramic vista of manicured parklands, featuring trees, paths, and distant figures of men strolling amid the greenery. The vantage point from the Chinese Pavilion evokes the era's fascination with exotic chinoiserie follies in European gardens. Printed on large sheets measuring up to 20½ x 25⅞ inches, this work exemplifies the meticulous techniques of 18th-century engraving, where fine lines and cross-hatching convey depth, texture, and atmospheric perspective. Such prints were prized for documenting aristocratic estates like Marshal Count Franz Moritz von Lacy's Neu-Waldegg near Vienna, a lavish summer retreat blending natural beauty with neoclassical landscaping. Lacy, an esteemed military leader of Irish descent in Habsburg service, commissioned these views to immortalize his opulent grounds. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2009), the piece highlights the Enlightenment-era shift toward picturesque gardens as symbols of refinement and leisure, inviting viewers to imagine leisurely afternoons in this idyllic haven.

About the Artist

Jakob Matthias Schmutzer|Carl Conti|Clemens Kohl|Franz Karl Zoller · 1733–1811

Comment on works: copper engraver