Great Habsburg Collectors Masterpieces: From the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna

Acquisitions of 1891 to 1918

The nephew of Ferdinand I (1793-1875, Emperor of Austria), Francis Joseph I, inherited the throne and married Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria (known as "Sisi"). She was born in 1837 and assassinated in 1898 in Geneva, their only son Rudolf also dying an unnatural death. Archduke Francis Ferdinand I (1863-1914) inherited the throne but was assassinated in Sarajevo, the incident sparking the start of World War I. The elder Francis Joseph I died in 1916, and his nephew Charles I (1887-1922) became the last emperor of Austria. After the conclusion of World War I, Charles I gave up state affairs and left Austria in exile.

Francis Joseph I (1848-1916) reorganized the different Habsburg art and scientific collections and had in 1871 the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Art, opened 1891) and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History, opened 1881) built to concentrate the collections in two sumptuous and richly decorated museum buildings.