Maria Viktoria Imperial Countess of Attems-Heiligenkreuz

An Artists Life in the Spirit and Tradition of the Imperial and Royal Monarchy

Peter Rath

The Forbearers

The Family of Attems was of ancient Catholic nobility in the former county of Friaul, that was named after the mentioned fortress of Attems, near Cividale, about 1025, but was referred to for the first time as such by Konrad of Attems in 1102. It began with Arbo Attems (2.2. 1170) and Henricus Attems (6.2. 1170) the researchable lineage of the family’s origin. The family had a seat and voice under the nobility in the parliament of Friaul. While after the conquest of Friaul by the Venetian Republic a part of the family remained at the Fortress of Attems (Attimis), Friedrich , born 1447, deceased 1521, moved to Goerz, and became Chancellor in 1473 to the last Count of Goerz. He was inaugurated as such in 1500 by Emperor Maximilian the First and in 1506 became the regent of Lower Austria. 1 Adelslexikon see Appendix.

The Family 2 Unbelievably helpful with questions relating to genealogy was again my friend, Peter Sator.

M a r i a V i k t o r i a Josepha Mathilde Jacqueline, Imperial Countess 3 Actually Countess, although over and over, and in spite of the strictness of laws concerning and relating to the nobility and enforced by the authorities, the Families to this day as in this present case have not utilized the addition of "Imperial" to their title ( which was related and associated with to the fallen Holy Roman Empire), to differentiate themselves from the simpler Count titled families. of Attems-Heiligenkreuz, was born in Vienna on 8.12.1899 . She died on 25.6.1983. Her Father, V i k t o r Karl August, was Imperial Count of Attems-Heiligenkreuz born in the Principality of Görz, and died in Millstatt on 16.10.1949, and was the president of the Austrian Marine Authority in Trieste and recipient of the Order of Franz-Joseph. The mother, Mathilde Dorothea Ludovika Schürer von Waldheim (one born to to the Saxony originated glass manufacturing family that emigrated to Bohemia during the 16th Century and with noble title "Walthaimb" in Prague 1592) was born in Vienna 27.0.1868 and died in Graz 24.6. 19424 The name of the mother, Mathilde Schürrer von Waldheim, will certainly catch the attention of every Austrian exlibris collector. The Imperial and Royal painter of the courtly Coat-of-Arms, the Imperial Council Ernst Krahl in Vienna, in the year 1913, created anespecially beautiful exlibris for Dr. Friedrich Schürrer von Waldheim, which is depicted in the Yearbook XI/1913 of the Austrian Exlibris Society.
 
Maria Viktoria was married in Graz on the 8th of May 1940 to the Marquis Riccardo Pallavicino 5 After the Annuario Art. Marquis Pallavicino clearly is attributed to the Count Pallavicini, which was also indicated to the association of the existing share of Marquis Rene Pallavicino by the Family and indicated with the addition of "from the House of the Count of the Holy Roman Empire and the State of Pallavicino" See article in the Adelslexikon Pallavicini. North Italian ruling family, which originally appears with the Count Obertus Pelavicinus in the years 1112-1116 under his present day name and who after the "Pace lunense" of 18.10.1124 belongs and relates to the Count Otbert I. in 960 appears originally with the family of the Obertines. The property of the family spread between Parma and Piacenza and extended farther to "Stato Pallavicino" (With the Residence Busseto) and became later incorporated into the Dukedom of Parma. See GhdA, in the Appendix. the Royal Italian Reserve Officer of the Dragoon Regiment Savoia, and son of The Marquis Rolando Pallavicino and Marquese Bianca Pallavicino, born the Countess of Terlago from Trient. 6 Marriage announcement from the Archives of the Heraldic and Genealogical Society "Adler" in Vienna (there as Schürer von and zu Waldheim). The marriage remained without children. Maria Viktoria adopted on 20.10.1965 a distant nephew, Count Victor von Attems-Gilleis, born on 25.3.1956 in Diadema, Argentina 7 Count Victor von Attems-Gilleis, and especially his brother, Count Christian von Attems-Gilleis, as well as Princess Eva zu Windisch-Graetz born Baroness von Isbary, were very helpful with the research about the artiste From her husband she inherited one half of the castle at Terlago, which at the present time is the property of her adopted nephew. The other half was inherited by and belongs to the Pallavicino Family.

Curriculum Vitae8 Construction of the first sought after own retirement plan, copy of the Princess Eva zu Windisch-Graetz.

1906 - 1915 Public school in Trieste, 1915 - 1917 Nursing School at Sacre Coeur in Graz, 1917 - 1922 Diploma for instructing French at the Universität of Graz, 1922 - 1923 Home Economics school, 1923 - 1934 was occupied in her parent’s seasonal business at the Hotel Seevilla in Millstatt, 1932 - 1933 Business College in Vienna, 1935 - 1951 Managing Seevilla, 1951 - 1972 Managing Rosenhof, 1951 - 1972 Management of the Strandkaffe (Leased out from 1958 on), 1951 - 1972 Management of the Campingplatz (Leased out since 1970), 27.11.1972 Retiring of all Concessions.

The development of the Artiste

After the somewhat dry part of the family’s history, which is quite essential to the understanding of her personal being, we now return to the artiste’s development
She inherited her talent for drawing from her mother Mathilde, whose Landscape water color paintings are still in the possession of the Family. Already at the age of 12 years she composed the table chart of her Attems family’s ancestral heritage, which she decorated with painted Coats-of-Arms. 9 Handwritten report of Princess Eva zu Windisch-Graetz.
She spent her childhood in Trieste and Graz. She studied at the Art Schools 10. Feuchtmüller Rupert: Kleine Kunstgeschichte der Österreichischen Briefmarke 1850-1938; Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1967 Vienna. in Graz with Anton Marussig, Daniel Pauluzzi and Alfred von Schrötter. Later she also studied in Munich and Rome.
During the many travels through Italy and Austria, numerous pen-and-ink sketches were created, as well as drawings of significant buildings and landscapes (Viaducts of Udine, Goertz and its vicinity, as well as almost everything in Friaul.)Later in Vienna she also did a series of important buildings (Museo di storia naturale a Vienna, Palazzo Arcivescolvile, Monumento a Mozart, Kahlenbergerstraße, Leopoldsberg, Pratermotiv) as well as views of Tyrolean castles, monasteries as well as manor houses. 11 Text by V. Parroco, from the Allgemeinen Künstlerlexikon Saur,. The information given here, after a comparison of the text, probably from: Riccio, A.; I disegni a penna di M.V. Attems, in "Studi goriziani" VII, 1930, pages 113-125; extracted by Marcello Ravazzolo in the Triest City Library.
How Maria Viktoria arrived at the creation of exlibris is not quite clear, but without a doubt, at that period no artist could escape from the "Exlibris Fever" so popular at that time. The years between 1890 and 1925 became both the quantitative as well as qualitative blossoming time for these little leaves of paper and within this time in Germany alone there were created an estimated 100.000 exlibris. 12 Schutt-Kehm, Elke: Das Exlibris; Page 29. Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher Nr. 600; Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund 1990.
How much the artiste was captivated by fascination with exlibris is evident and proven to the present with the uncovering of 32 of exlibris that she made, as well as four designs she created for bookplates. Her works are very thoroughly accomplished and function both with heraldic-armorial, as well as landscape themes and details a bit overwhelmingly excessive. Depicted are primarily castles and fortresses and mansions, which are often given with family Coat-of-Arms of their owners on the exlibris.
Her activities as an Artiste encompass a wide spectrum. Illustrations for books, picture postcards, and even the design of postage stamps were not foreign to her ways. 13 Six stamps were made for the occasion of, or in conjunction with Catholic pilgrimage purposes for the general Catholic Holidays from the 7th to the 12th of September in 1933, in memory of the Battle of Liberation in 1683 against the Ottoman-Turks. See Footnote #9

A list of the exlibris creations, as well as an attempt of a general overview of the graphical works of Maria Viktoria von Attems will be viewable from June 2002 on the Internet web site http://www.members.aon.at/musikus The exlibris images were made available through the friendly help of Dr. Claudia Karolyi from the Franz Kubat Collection in the possession of the Austrian National Library. .

IMAGE OF THE EXLIBRIS FOR MARIA VIKTORIA ROYAL COUNTESS OF ATTEMS. From the year 1930.
In the upper half is the shield of 1630 which was attributed to County nobility 14 Originally the Attimis presented until the 14th Century on silver field a black bear. First after then followed the coat-of-arms with the three points of which the helmet decoration presented the three the three lungeing Dogs. This Dog became and took the honorary place in 1630 as part of the middle, or respectively the heart section of the shield. See the Adelslexikon. Quartered by a red centered shield, in which from its bottom edge an emerging dog rises of a silvergray color and is leashed by and ringed with a gold and red neck-collar. In numbers 1 and 4 fields in gold a black double-eagle with a golden crown and armed. In fields 2 and 3, in red from below, is rising from the half-height of the shield extending over itself completely silver points. It is interesting in this case to note that the Countess of Attems has moved somewhat beyond the heraldic flights of fancy, in that for Ladies it was not desirable to utilize the normal shape of a shield, with respect to that she, with perhaps the exception of the Maid of Orleans, was not required to go into battle. For the same reason it is a rather poor style and form to present a noblewoman’s Coat-of-Arms and include a helmet. Instead of this, it was civilly taught, that the ladies born of nobility would bear a rhomboid or lozenge formed shield, which is exactly so well suited for shields representing the four fields. 15 The text was kindly placed for application by Karl Fellhuber. The chosen slogan at the very top of the shield : "Those in the Halls have never cradled me - those in their coffins always ruled the heart and the hand", originates from Boerries von Muenchhausen. 16 Anonymous handwritten reference in the Franz Kubat Exlibris Collection in the Austrian National Library On the lower half of the print, on a book opened from its left side, the page of the book bears the name of the owner of the exlibris, and on the right side of this, the no longer existing tower (turret) of the Attimis Fortress in Friaul. The foreground of the print testifies for her love of cats and to her artistic painting.

IMAGE OF THE EXLIBRIS FOR THE BARON AND THE BARONESSE RUDOLF AND JAQUELINE VON ISBARY
Year of creation unknown.

For Rudolf Baron von Isbary 17 Austrian nobility and baronial class whose family originated from Greece (Dipl. d.d. Wien 5. August 1893). See ÖFA., born 16.5.1858 in Vienna, an industrial magnate, died in Vienna 28.3.1932, he married in Millstatt on 30.5.1885 Jacqueline Schuerer von Waldheim 18 Sister of the mother Mathilde See Footnote 3.,who was born in Ober Doebling on 26.10.1859 and died in Vienna 6.3. 1936. Illustrated on the right side of the exlibris is the lake villa at the Millstatter Lake, the place where Maria Viktoria, Countess of Attems-Heiligenkreuz worked. Related to the the House of Austria is this part of the of the Count von Attems-Gilleis through Crown Prince Rudolf and his wife, born Princess Stefanie of Belgium, in relation to their daughter Elisabeth Marie’s 19 Famous on account of her second marriage to the socialist Leopold Petznek, and also as "the red archduchess". first husband, Otto, Prince of Windisch-Graetz. Their son, Ernst Weriand, Prince of Windisch Graetz, to whom in second marriage Eva Baronesse von Isbary was joined. Their youngest daughter Elisabeth is married to the Count Christian of Attems-Gilleis.

 
 

ILLUSTRATION OF THE EXLIBIS FOR OTTONIS IMP. (ERATORIS) AUSTRIAE, REG,(IS) HUNGARIE.
Created in 1933.

He who was born as Crown Prince of Austria and Hungary in 1912 (Imperial and Royal Highness), Prince and Archduke Otto of Austria, succeeded on account of his father’s , Karl the First, Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary’s death. He was pronounced of the IV. Ect. in 1922, after the constitutional laws of the Monarchy to this legitimate imperial title. As a writer he has also applied his title Otto of Austria, and at present he bears the name of Otto von Habsburg, Doctor of Political (State) Science at the University of Loewen (under the Lorrainian secondary title of Prince of Baar was also bestowed.) He was born on 20.11.1912, and became married to Regina, Princess of Saxony- Meiningen, and Countess of Saxony.
In the center we see the coat-of-arms of the House of Habsburg. The crowned shield is twice devided, to the right 20 One must strictly observe that by all emblazoning, the descriptions of the shield is from the view of the shield bearer's, so that the heraldic right in print means left and vice versa. Abbreviations of the heraldic subject nomenclature and terminology were expanded. the red crowned standing lion of the Habsburgs on a golden field. In the center there is a silver crossbeam on a red field (Austria) and to the right the Lorrainian Duchy’s original coat-of-arms consisting of three above each other positioned stubbed silver eagles on a diagonally to the right positioned red beam. The crown here is indicating a seven pronged royal crown which represents the attributes of all princes, archdukes of Austria as well as royal princes of Hungary. Surrounding the shield and clearly visible is the Order of the Golden Fleece. This order to this present day is given as the Order of the House to the Head of the House of Austria.
Left side on the exlibris is the double-eagle of the coat-of-arms of the Austrian Empire with the imperial insignias. Above it the crown of Rudolf is positioned, which was created in 1602 in Prague in the workshop of the Court at the request of Emperor Rudolf the Second (1552-1612), as his private Habsburgian House crown. In 1804 this became the state crown of the new Austrian Imperial State. On the right side on the exlibris is the Hungarian royal coat-of-arms from the House of Austria. On the right half, the field is divided seven times by alternating silver and red stripes. On the left half is a crown from which rises the patriarchal cross. Above the shield is the Hungarian Holy Crown of King Stephan. The exlibris itself is identical to the small coat-of-arms of 1915, where in all respect the motto of "indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter" for understandable reasons was left omitted.
Emperor Franz Josef I. proscribed this coat-of-arms in his manuscript of October 11, 1915 to Baron Burian as follows (excerpt) " I find myself determined that the common coat-of-arms resulting from that of my own House coat-of-arms combining those of the coats-of-arms of Austria and of Hungary to be established..."

 

For genealogical reference literature the following was used:
The Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility, which has since 1952 been under the supervision of the German Committee of legal Nobility who also published it, and especially those that appeared in this series as the Lexicon (Encyclopaedia) of the Nobility, specifically Part A to SCHM with its reference literature. Prom the various sections of the Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility , developments of family history were taken from Section I. Austria, Section II. For Prince Windisch-Graetz, Count Pallavicini see Adelslexikon; for the Count of Attems and Baron Isbary, see Adelslexikon, for Schürrer - Waldheim see The Austrian Family Archives Vol. 1963. For Marquise Pallavicino see Annuaro della Nobilita` Italiana.