The Utility of Splendor

Ceremony, Social Life, and Architecture at the Court of Bavaria, 1600-1800

Edited for publication by Christian F. Otto and Mark Ashton

Cloth $70.00 ISBN: 9780226443300 Published February 1994

The grand palaces and princely villas of the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty—Nymphenburg, Schleissheim, the vast Residenzschloss in Munich, and others—impress visitors with their great halls and intimate cabinets, dramatic stairhalls and seemingly endless rows of sumptuously decorated rooms. But these dazzling residences did not exist solely to delight the eye. In The Utility of Splendor, Samuel John Klingensmith discusses how, over the years, successive rulers reshaped the internal spaces of their residences to reflect changes in the elaborate ceremony that regulated daily life at court.

Drawing on a broad range of sources, including building documents, correspondence, diaries, and court regulations, Klingensmith investigates the intricacies of Bavarian court practice and shows that Versailles was only one among several influences on German palace planning. Klingensmith offers a cogent, detailed understanding of the relations between architectural spaces and the ceremonial, social, and private life that both required and used them. Handsomely illustrated with photographs and plans, The Utility of Splendor will appeal to anyone interested in how life was lived among the nobility during the last centuries of the old regime.

Samuel John Klingensmith (1949-1986) was assistant professor of art history at Tulane University.

Contents

Contents

List of Illustrations
Editors' Preface
Acknowledgment
Preface
1. Introduction
2. The Residenz in Munich
The Residenz before Maximilian I
The Residenz under Maximilian I
The Residenz under Ferdinand Maria (1651-1679)
The Residenz under Max Emanuel (1679-1726)
The Residenz under Karl Albrecht (1726-1745)
The Residenz under Max III Joseph (1745-1777)
The Residenz under Karl Theodor (1777-1799) and Max IV Joseph (1799-1825)
The Accommodation of Subsidiary Functions
3. The Country Houses
Country Residences before Max Emanuel
The Country Houses under Max Emanuel, 1679-1704
The Country Houses during the Late Reign of Max Emanuel, 1715-1726
The Country Houses under Max Emanuel's Successors
The Campagne
4. Apartments and Säle: Issues of Program and Plan
Court Ceremony: Versailles and Vienna
Court Ceremony: Bavaria
Court Ceremony and Palace Plans: France
Court Ceremony and Palace Plans: Bavaria
5. Elements of Everyday Life
Court Attendance
Lever and Coucher
Dining in Public and Private
Festivities and Receptions
6. State Acts: Diplomatic Receptions and Audiences
International Diplomacy
Receptions in Bavaria
Private and Public Audiences
Lodging and Dining Diplomats
Appendixes
1. The Bavarian Wittelsbachs, 1500-1800
2. Excerpts from the Diary of Graf von Preysing, 1719
3. Annuel Court Itineraries, 1719 and 1720
4. Aufwartungs-Ordnung 1739
5. Kammerordnung 1769
6. Schedule of Ceremonies and Festivities at the Double Marriage between the Electoral Houses of Bavaria and Saxony, June-July 1747
7. Ceremonial Observed at the Zeremonientafel Held on the Day of the Procura Wedding of Princess Maria Antonia Walburga, June 13, 1747
8. Chronological Record of Diplomatic Receptions in the Residenz: The Greeting of Envoys in the Anterooms
9. Numerical Distribution of Court Personnel by Office in 1738 and 1781
10. A Note on Staircases
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Plans

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