Plan of the Exhibition

A Walk through the Exhibition

The venue for the exhibition „Charles the Bold“ are eight galleries of the Kunstkammer in the Kunsthistorisches Museum together with selected show-rooms in the Treasury.

 

Room 1: Family and Personality of Charles the Bold

The House of Valois and the territories ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy
The parents: Phillip the Good and Isabella of Portugal
The personality of Charles the Bold
Court, government and administration
 

Room 2: Art and Piety

Religious artworks and votive offerings commissioned by Charles the Bold and his wives, Isabella of Bourbon and Margaret of York

Room 3: Diplomacy and the Wars of Charles the Bold

In 1469 Archduke Sigismund of Austria sold Charles the Bold the County of Ferette, the Landgraviate of Upper Alsace, and Breisgau, reserving for himself the right to repurchase them at a later date
Charles the Bold and the Emperor Frederick III
Their meeting at Trier in 1473: Charles’ political ambitions
His eternal adversary: King Louis XI of France
Campaigns and Wars (the Siege of Neuss, the Battle of Grandson, the Battle of Murten, the Battle of Nancy)
The Burgundian Booty
 

Room 4: Death and Inheritance of the Last Duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois

Death and legacy of Charles the Bold

The engagement of Mary of Burgundy and Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg, later Emperor Maximilian I

Room 5: The Order of the Golden Fleece

The house order of the Dukes of Burgundy under Phillip the Good, Charles the Bold, and Maximilian I (statutes, chapters, ceremonies and rituals)
Charles the Bold’s pantheon of heroes (Jason, Hercules, and Alexander the Great)
 

Rooms 6 and 7: The Splendour of the Court of Burgundy

Courtly culture: tournaments, dancing, clothes and jewellery as princely display, illuminated manuscripts between splendour and propaganda
Art and patronage at the court of the Dukes of Burgundy: objets d’art, textiles, panel painting, sculpture
 

Room 8: The House of Habsburg and the legacy of Charles the Bold

Treasury Room: The Dynasty of the Burgundian Valois and the Burgundian Inheritance in the Treasury in Vienna

The Treasury is also a venue for this exhibition. Four adjacent rooms showcase magnificent artworks and objects that document Burgundian history and courtly patronage, among them tabards, the “Burgundian court goblet”, the Order of the Golden Fleece (cross of allegiance, potence or collar), the liturgical vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece