Pasquale Revoltella

Pasquale Revoltella, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1855

Pasquale Revoltella (1862)

Baron Pasquale Revoltella (born June 16, 1795 in Venice , † September 8, 1869 in Trieste ) was a banker and entrepreneur in Trieste.

Revoltella played a key role in financing the Suez Canal and promoted the economic and cultural development of the city of Trieste in the 19th century. In addition to founding major companies such as Assicurazioni Generali and Lloyd Austriaco , he left numerous social and cultural institutions to the city such as the Museum Revoltella (gallery for modern art) and the commercial school, with which Revoltella laid the foundation stone for the University of Trieste .

Life

Pasquale Revoltella was born in Venice on June 16, 1795, the son of the simple butcher Giobatta Revoltella and his wife Domenica Privato . After the fall of the Republic of Venice and the subsequent economic crisis in the city, Revoltella moved with his parents to Trieste in 1797, which at the time was part of the Habsburg monarchy. Here he worked from 1817 as a simple warehouse worker in various trading companies a. a. with Theodor Necker , a Swiss businessman who also served as consul in Trieste. In 1827 Necker finally granted his protégé the power of attorney . As a representative of one of the most important trading companies in the city, Revoltella gained access to the circles of higher banking and finance. In the following years Revoltella cultivated more and more contacts with important personalities from politics and business and developed an extensive and influential network of relationships.

It was not until 1835, at the age of 38, that Revoltella founded his own trading company with start-up capital of 30,000 Florentines , which made him very wealthy after a very short time. At the same time, the politically and economically extremely clever and forward-looking Revoltella took on a senior management position at the Assicurazioni Generali insurance company , of which he had been a shareholder since the company was founded. In 1833 Revoltella and other dealers founded Lloyd Austriaco (from 1921 Lloyd Triestino ), another insurance company based in Trieste. The co-founder and close confidante of Revoltella was Karl Ludwig von Bruck (1798–1860), who later became Emperor Franz Joseph's Minister of Trade and Finance . In 1850 Revoltella actively entered political life and was elected to the Trieste City Council. In this function he supported numerous building projects in the city such as B. the expansion of the port of Trieste .

Palazzo Revoltella (1865)

In 1853 and 1854, Revoltella commissioned the Berlin architect Friedrich Hitzig (1811–1881) to build a summer residence, the Villa Revoltella , and a city residence, Palazzo Revoltella . At the inauguration of the palace on February 23, 1859, Revoltella's social advancement and his high social standing became clear: Among the guests of the former butcher's son were influential personalities such as the Austrian Finance Minister Karl Ludwig von Bruck, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and the French Count Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894).

Together with Lesseps, Revoltella had already launched the initiative to build the Suez Canal in 1855. Revoltella saw an advantage for the entire Austrian maritime trade in this construction project, but v. a. for the economic development of his hometown Trieste. Because the cheapest and shortest sea connection from the Middle and Far East to Europe led over the Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean Sea , up the Adriatic Sea to Trieste and made the city the center of trade with the Orient. When the Viennese ministries showed no interest in financing the construction project, Revoltella finally invested in the project itself in 1858 by investing around 25 million euros in the Suez Canal Society founded by Lesseps' ( Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez ). Florentines involved. Lesseps took up the position of president of the company, Revoltella became vice-president due to his large stake in shares. In 1861 Revoltella traveled to Egypt with Lesseps to check the progress of the canal construction. Due to its large exposure in the construction of the Suez Canal Revoltella was appointed on 10 May 1867 by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Baron appointed.

Revoltella died on September 9, 1869 after a serious illness in Trieste without witnessing the opening of the Suez Canal, which began shipping on November 3 of the same year. He was buried at his mother's side in the park of his country house.

In the course of his life Revoltella had held numerous public offices and was a partner or owner of numerous Trieste companies such as the insurance companies Assicurazioni Generali and Lloyd Triestino, the Hotel de la Ville , a brewery and a flour factory. Revoltella bequeathed most of his property to the city of Trieste after his death.

Revoltella's estate

Villa Revoltella in the Chiadino district of Trieste

In his will, Revoltella bequeathed his city residence, Palazzo Revoltella, to the municipality of Trieste . According to his last will, the building and the art collection it contained were opened to the Trieste public. Since a clause in the donation stipulated that all contemporary art movements must be taken into account through appropriate purchases, today's Revoltella City Museum and Gallery for Modern Art ( Civico Museo Revoltella e Galleria d'Arte Moderna ) not only include a collection from the 19th century, but also works of later art movements. The constant expansion of the art collection has led to the addition of buildings next door in recent years. The museum today includes u. a. Works by Pietro Magni ( Il taglio dell'istmo di Suez , La ninfa di Aurisina ), Anders Zorn and Franz von Stuck and hosts numerous exhibitions and events.

Revoltella's estate, Villa Revoltella , was also opened to the public and now serves as a city park. The legacy from his numerous businesses was used to establish various other cultural and social institutions. In 1877 in Trieste u. a. a commercial school (Italian Scuola Superiore di Commercio ) founded, which later became the University of Trieste .

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Revoltella, Pasquale Freiherr von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 25th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1873, pp. 396–398 ( digitized version ).
• G. Cervani:  Revoltella Pasquale Frh. From. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 9, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7001-1483-4 , p. 102 f. (Direct links on p. 102 , p. 103 ).

Web links

Commons : Pasquale Revoltella  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Biography of Pasquale Revoltella ( Memento of January 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (Italian)
• Revoltella Museum and Modern Art Gallery (Italian)
• der standard.at (June 25, 2020)
• Hubert Bergmann: Self-made man and tycoon with a vision: Pasquale Freiherr von Revoltella (1795-1869) - biography of the month on the homepage of the Austrian Biographical Lexicon (June 2020) .