Humprecht Johann Czernin von Chudenitz

Humprecht Johann Czernin von Chudenitz

Humprecht Johann Graf Czernin von Chudenitz (born February 14, 1628 in Choustník , † March 3, 1682 in Prague ) came from the noble family Czernin von Chudenitz . He was a diplomat in the service of Emperor Leopold I and has also emerged as an art collector and builder.

Life

Humprecht was born in the maternal castle in the village of Choustník near Tábor . His parents were Johann Baptist Czernin von Chuderitz and Susanna geb. Homuth from Harasow. He first attended the Jesuit College in Prague and was then sent on the Grand Tour to complete his education. From 1645 to 1648 he toured Italy, France and the Spanish Netherlands. He stayed in Rome, Florence, Brussels and perhaps Paris, among others. When he returned to Bohemia, he decided to become a cardinal . A second trip to Italy for this purpose was unsuccessful.

In 1650 his uncle Hermann gave him a post as chamberlain at the court of the Archduke and later Emperor Leopold I. A year later he inherited the title of count and large estates in Bohemia from this uncle. In 1652 he married the Italian Maria Diana Hippoliti da Gazoldo, a lady-in-waiting of the Empress Eleonora , whom he had met at the Viennese court. The marriage, from which two sons emerged, failed, the couple separated 14 years later and divorced in 1674.

Leopold soon entrusted his chamberlain to diplomatic tasks. 1657–58 Humprecht was involved in negotiations leading up to Leopold's election as emperor, and from 1660–1663 he held the office of envoy of the Habsburgs in Venice . Among other things, he acquired the title of royal governor, imperial privy councilor and the Order of the Golden Fleece . But he did not succeed in establishing himself permanently at the imperial court after his return from Italy.

Humprecht made a name for himself among contemporaries as an art and architecture connoisseur. He worked as a builder on his property in Kosmonosy and Mělník , built the Humprecht Castle near Sobotka as a hunting and pleasure palace and in 1669 began building the Czernin Palace on the Hradcany . The palace is one of the largest baroque buildings in Prague. However, the building was not completed during Count Humprecht's lifetime. Originally, it was also supposed to house the Count's collection of paintings, which Humprecht set up in Venice and has continuously expanded since then. When Humprecht died, the collection comprised around 750 paintings and by 1733 had grown to over 1,100 works. Humprecht's heirs gradually sold them and dissolved them completely around 1778. An illustrated inventory of her from the years 1668–1669 has been preserved, which bears the name “Imagines galeriae” and lists a number of works that have already been lost.

family

Hunprecht Czernin married the lady-in-waiting Maria Diana Hippoliti da Gazoldo on May 31, 1652 in Vienna (born September 2, 1636 in Mantua ; † September 22, 1687 ibid). The marriage resulted in at least six children, two of whom reached adulthood:

• Hermann Jakob (born July 25, 1659 in Vienna, † August 8, 1710 in Prague); January 1–12, 1687 Maria Josepha Slavata of Chlum and Koschumberg; October 2-6, 1709 Antonia Josepha Countess of Kuenburg
• Thomas Zacharias (born August 23, 1660 in Vienna, † February 14, 1700); ⚭ Susanna Renata Countess of Martinic

Literature and Sources

• Zdeněk Kalista (ed.): Korespondence Zuzany Černínové z Harasova s ​​jejím synem Humprechtem Janem Černínem z Chudenic. Dopisy z let 1645-1648, Melantrich, Praha 1941. - Correspondence between Count Humprecht and his mother, Zuzana Czernin. With a foreword by the editor. ( online )
• Zdeněk Kalista: Mládí Humprechta Jana Černína z Chudenic, zrození barokního kavalíra (The youth of Humprecht Johann Czernin von Chudenitz, the birth of a baroque cavalier), Prague 1932. (not viewed)
• Petr Maťa: Svět české aristokracie (1500-1700) . Nakladatelství lidové noviny, 2004, ISBN 80-7106-312-6

Web links

Commons : Humprecht Johann Czernin von Chudenitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature and other media by and about Humprecht Johann Czernin von Chudenitz in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
• Hana Seifertová: Barokní obrazárny. Dějiny a současnost. - Description of the painting collection