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Large Rosa Room

Grand & Imperial Tour

The three Rosa Rooms are named after the artist Joseph Rosa, who executed fifteen landscape paintings for the ensemble at the behest of Maria Theresa in the 1760s.

The large-format paintings depict idealized landscapes, wholly in keeping with eighteenth-century taste.

The portrait in the middle of the front wall of the Large Rosa Room shows Franz Stephan of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa. While she ruled the Habsburg Hereditary Lands as queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria, and so on and so forth, Franz Stephan ruled over the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1745 he was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Nonetheless, Franz Stephan is remembered not as a politician or military commander but as a financial expert and patron of the sciences. He founded the menagerie at Schönbrunn, the oldest zoo still in use in Europe. Franz Stephan was also in charge of the remodelling of the palace park. Appropriately enough, the windows of this room offer a splendid view of the gardens.

The full-length portrait of the emperor shows the monarch standing at a table surrounded by various artefacts and collector’s objects that allude to his artistic, historical and scientific interests.

Francis Stephen of Lorraine surrounded by scientific instruments. Oil painting by E. Kölbnitz, around 1765.

Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H./ Photographer: SG Medienhaus / Collection Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Picture Gallery

Large Rosa Room at Schönbrunn Palace: view of the room

Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur und Betriebsges.m.b.H./ Photographer: Sascha Rieger

Landscape with rich staffage of resting shepherds and cattle. Oil painting by Joseph Rosa, 1761.

Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur und Betriebsges.m.b.H./ Photographer: Alexander Eugen Koller / Collection Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Schönbrunn Palace site

The Large Rosa Room

The Large Rosa Room also contains a portrait of Emperor Franz I Stephan. It shows the monarch standing at a table surrounded by various objects and collector’s items that reflect his interest in the arts, history and the natural sciences.

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The Palace

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Large Rosa Room

The Large Rosa Room

Hall of Mirrors

Second Small Rosa Room