By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Green with envy because your friends are flying to Europe for a grand art pilgrimage through renowned museums and galleries? This summer, Seoul offers you solace. A portion of the rich collection from the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum Vienna is coming to Seoul. It is one of the three must-see places for art lovers traveling in Europe along with the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Spain.
The National Museum of Contemporary Art inside Deoksugung Palace near City Hall opens the ``Great Habsburg Collectors'' exhibition next Tuesday. The exhibition brings together 64 paintings from renowned painters ranging from Tiziano Vecelli and Paolo Veronese, two artists who led the 16th century Venetian school during the late Renaissance, to the 17th century Baroque masters Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velazquez. Works by artists who bridged the period _ Prague-based mannerists such as Hans von Achen and Bartholomeus Spranger _ will also be on display.
Considering the fact that the number of ``blockbuster'' exhibitions _ those focused on master painters from the 19th or 20th century _ has greatly increased in Seoul in recent years, this exhibition is a rather fresh attempt to shed light on earlier centuries.
The exhibition stands out in that it is not dependent on the fame and popularity of one single artist, but is based on the paintings' collectors. Glorious collectors they are _ the rulers of the Habsburgs including Emperors Rudolf II, Leopold I, and Empress Maria Theresa as well as other avid royal art patrons such as Archdukes Leopold Wilhelm and Ferdinand II.