Josef Kott Frescos at Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

Josef Kott of Vienna: Interior Design Studies 1885

Josef Kott (fl.1880s/1890s) ran a Vienna-based decorating company, whose commissions included the interior painting of palaces and theatres across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Examples of his work include grand interiors at Peleș Castle in Romania and the magnificent Konzerthaus Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The prevailing architectural style in Vienna in the late 19th century was Historicism, characterised by revival styles like Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Gothic, and Neo-Baroque. Facades and interiors were exceptionally grand and opulent, idealising and reinterpreting past styles to create a contemporary aesthetic that represented the power of the Habsburg Empire.

Josef Kott's commissions were part of this endeavour to enlist artists and craftsmen in the service of this ideology. Kott's firm is thought to have subcontracted the Künstler-Compagnie, the decorative workshop of the Klimt brothers Gustav (1862–1918) and Ernst (1864–1892), and their friend Franz Matsch (1861–1942). Later, Gustav Klimt famously went on to become a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement, his work departing from the academicism of his early decorative employment.

The exquisite Classical and Renaissance design studies in this collection showcase Josef Kott's exceptional talent as a draughtsman, and evidence the historical reference points that were a direct influence in his decorative work.