UMGEBUNGSENTDECKER
TRAVEL IMPRESSIONS OF AN ART AND HISTORY LOVER
and my experiences as a teacher in China
Düsseldorf as a Baroque Residence and Art City
CONTENT
History - from the Houses of Berg, Wittelsbacher, Electors and Medicis
Düsseldorf fair - a spectacle since 1394
The Düsseldorf Castle - and what is left of it
Jan Wellem - Baroque splendor comes to Düsseldorf
The Düsseldorf picture gallery - a lot of world-class art
Carlstadt, Hofgarten, Jägerhof Palace, Benrath Palace - Carl Theodor von der Pfalz
Düsseldorf -
Baroque Residence and Art City
Many people know that Düsseldorf is a state capital, but it is not well known that it was a residential city for 400 years. The counts of Berg made Düsseldorf to be a residental city and the most popular prince of Düsseldorf was Jan Wellem.
Who was Jan Wellem?
Every Düsseldorfer knows him, an equestrain statue of him stands in front of the town hall but hardly anyone knows exact details about him. What does he embody for Düsseldorf? Jan Wellem - that sounds down-to-earth and solid. Was he like that?
Equestrian statue of Jan Wellems by Gabriel Grupello in front of the old town hall. It is one of the (supposedly) most beautiful equestrian statues in Germany. At this place Grupello lived in what is now the Grupello house, where he also had his studio. Art played an important role in Düsseldorf at the time of Jan Wellem.
His real name was Johann Wilhelm and he was a real Baroque prince with all the trimmings - lavish, willing to represent, allonge wig, bon vivant, etc.
Was Düsseldorf a city that could live up to this claim or did he make it one?
Jan Wellem came from Pfalz-Neuburg on the Danube and came from the Palatinate line of the Wittelsbach family.
A South German on the Lower Rhine? Heritage? Marriage?
But let's start at the beginning: When did Düsseldorf become a city at all? And on whose territory was this city?
Who does not want to Historical and wants directly to the art, can here click.
1288 - Düsseldorf gets City Rights
1288 - the Battle of Worringen - after all the largest battle of the Middle Ages in northwest Central Europe - had developed out of the Limburg succession dispute:
The Duchy of Limburg between Aachen in the east and the Meuse in the west was in great demand.
When Irmgard von Limburg died, this duchy was to be bequeathed - but to whom?
There was once her husband Rainald von Geldern, but according to the feudal rights of that time, others were also entitled to inherit, including Count Adolf V. von Berg.
The Duke of Brabant was not one of the beneficiaries, but he was very interested in Limburg, because owning this duchy would mean a considerable increase in power. That in turn displeased the Archbishop of Cologne, because the Limburg question was about the power of Cologne on the Lower Rhine.
Since Adolf V. von Berg could not have enforced his inheritance claims, he sold them to the Duke of Brabant.
Other other interests simmered:
1. The Grafschaft Mark was a fiefdom of Kurköln and its Count Eberhard von der Mark aspired to independence.
2. The citizens of Cologne wanted to become more independent from the electorate.
On the one hand there were the following parties: the Count von Berg, the Duke of Brabant, the Count von der Mark and the Cologne bourgeoisie.
On the other side stood Kurköln with his allies, including the Count of Geldern.
In short, the conflict ended with the Battle of Worringen in 1288.
The Battle of Worringen 1288 from a manuscript by the Brabantsche Yeesten in the Royal Library of Brussels
This battle was won by Brabant, Berg and Mark, which led to several far-reaching developments:
1. Düsseldorf was granted city rights on August 15, 1288 by the Count von Berg. This was mainly for strategic reasons to reduce the influence of Kurköln on the Lower Rhine. However, it would be another 100 years before their headquarters were relocated from Berg to Düsseldorf.
2. Limburg went to Brabant.
3. The Grafschaft von der Mark became independent from Cologne and gained supremacy in southern Westphalia.
4. The Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried von Westerburg, was first captured by Count von Berg and locked up at Burg Castle. There was a large amount of ransom for him.
5. The Cologne bourgeoisie expelled the archbishop of the city of Cologne. This fact led to the Archbishop of Cologne residing in Bonn from then on.
6. Allegedly, as a result of the battle, the rivalry between Cologne and Dusseldorf, which is still lived out to this day, arose out of the question "Alt oder Kölsch?" and other "important" basic questions.
1386 - Düsseldorf becomes a noble residence
Only when Count Wilhelm II. Von Berg was appointed Duke in a Reichstag in 1380 did he move from Burg Castle to Düsseldorf in 1386.
Anyone who aspires to develop a city into a residential city needs spiritual institutions. So Adolf V founded a monastery and had the collegiate church of St. Lambertus built for it. The church was consecrated in 1394. It became the ducal burial place and replaced the Altenberg Cathedral . 1642 the function was as grave lay at the Church of St. Andrew on which a few hundred meters away is .
St. Lambertus ,
oldest church in Düsseldorf and burial place of the Dukes von Berg
Düsseldorf also needed a saint. So Apollinaris was transferred from Remagen and brought here.
Mausoleum von Wilhelm dem Reichen, Herzog von Jülich-Kleve-Berg
Der Apollinarisschrein mit den Gebeinen des Heiligen
Spätgotisches Sakramentshäuschen
Blick ins Mittelschiff von St. Lambertus
1394 - Consecration of St. Lambertus
The Düsseldorf fair
The consecration of St. Lambertus, i.e. the parish fair or fair, is celebrated to this day. It is the Düsseldorf fair that attracts around four million visitors every summer for ten days.
The court suitors Henry VIII of England are said to have been to this fair, which of course looked completely different centuries ago, to see his future wife Anna von Kleve, who incidentally was born in Düsseldorf Castle and raised in Castle Castle.
With some traditions that have become an indispensable part of the city today, the origin, like here at the fair, is rather unknown to many.
The fair is one of the largest folk festivals in Germany - and one of the most beautiful with its location on the Rhine meadows right next to the river, the silhouette of the old town opposite and the gable-end facades of Oberkassel in the background.
A Rhine ferry brings the fair visitors from the old town to the other side of the river, where the fair takes place. The Rhine promenade and the old town are already in a lively festive mood, then it goes expectantly across the water. From the rail of the ferry you can see the current of the river only one or two meters away from you and when you arrive at the pebble beach on the side of the fair, people are sitting there on a warm summer evening on the Rhine beach, the roller coasters rustling in the background and the bright screams of adrenaline-fueled carousel drivers fill the air, you're there again.
The fair is big, the way between the two suspension bridges is long.
There is no curfew like at the Munich Oktoberfest, which closes at 11 p.m. So it can happen that on warm midsummer nights you lose track of time and only go home in the early morning.
Jülich-Berg
Jülich-Kleve-Berg
and a Renaissance Castle for Düsseldorf
Back to the Bergs: The Counts of Berg became more powerful, were first appointed dukes, then they merged with Jülich in 1423 to form the Duchy of Jülich-Berg and finally there was another merger with Kleve to form the Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg in 1510. A principality of impressive size had thus developed in the west of the empire. The main residence of this confederation remained Düsseldorf.
(Are you interested in the Kleve dynasty, their princes and their residence in Kleve? Click here)
(How the connection between Jülich-Berg and Kleve came about is shown in more detail here.)
The castle, which was built in 1260 at the confluence of the Düssel in the Rhine, was converted into a palace in the Renaissance style from 1549. These renovations were carried out by William the Rich, the brother of Anna von Kleve, the wife of King Henry VIII of England. Incidentally, Heinrich the Rich also married in the very highest European circles, his wife was Maria von Habsburg, the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I. You can tell: Jülich-Kleve-Berg had made it to the very top in the circles of the English royal family and the German imperial family . Incidentally, the mausoleum of William the Rich is in the Church of St. Lambertus. Above it is shown as a photo. Back again? Click here.
There is only one tower of the castle on the banks of the Rhine in the old town,
which you can see on the above, right photo, in which the Maritime Museum is now housed. The castle square next to the tower is where the castle stood. Why did it disappear today? In 1794, Düsseldorf was shelled by French revolutionary troops and burned out. At this point in time it was no longer a main residence, and Düsseldorf had become less important. There was another fire in 1872 and the south wing, which was still standing, was demolished in 1896.
Der Schlossturm, heute ist darin das Schifffahrtsmuseum untergebracht. Es ist der einzige Teil des Düsseldorfer Schlosses, der bis heute erhalten geblieben ist.
The castle square next to the tower is where the castle stood. Why did it disappear today? In 1794, Düsseldorf was shelled by French revolutionary troops and burned out. At this point in time it was no longer a main residence, and Düsseldorf had become less meaningful. In 1872 there was another fire and the south wing, which was still standing, was demolished in 1896.
The fire of the Düsseldorf Palace in 1872, August von Wille, Düsseldorf City Museum
License: public domain, you can find the link to the picture here.
Das süddeutsche Herzogtum Pfalz-Neuburg kommt ins Spiel
Zur gleichen Zeit, als Jülich-Kleve-Berg seinen Höhenflug im 16. Jahrhundert erlebte, spielten sich im Süden Deutschlands ganz andere Entwicklungen ab, die bald auf Düsseldorf Einfluss nehmen sollten.
In Bayern entstand 1505 ein neues, junges Herzogtum, das aus dem Landshuter Erbfolgekrieg hervorgegangen war: Pfalz Neuburg.
Die Herzöge von Pfalz Neuburg gehörten zu den Wittelsbachern.
(Wenn du wissen willst, wie es zu der Entstehung dieses kleinen, neuen Herzogtums kam, klick hier. Auf der Seite "Barock in der Donauregion" steht es genauer.)
Der Sprössling dieses neuen Herzogtums Phillip Ludwig (geb. 1547) heiratete 1574 die Prinzessin Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg. Die Achse Neuburg-Düsseldorf war entstanden.
1614 Düsseldorf fällt an Pfalz-Neuburg
In Jülich-Kleve-Berg hatte der sechste und letzte Herzog Johann Wilhelm (1562-1609) keine Nachkommen, womit das Herzogtum mit dessen Ableben zur Erbmasse für entferntere Verwandte wurde.
Pfalz-Neuburg und Brandenburg-Preußen und waren die Erbberechtigten.
Die nordöstlichen Teile (Kleve mit Mark und Ravenstein) fielen an Brandenburg, die südwestlichen Teile (Berg, Jülich) mit der Residenzstadt Düsseldorf an Pfalz-Neuburg.
Der Pfalz-Neuburgische Erbe, Wolfgang Wilhelm (1578-1653), Sohn von Phillip Ludwig (Pfalz-Neuburg) und Anna (Jülich-Kleve-Berg), residierte fortan in Düsseldorf, wo er heimlich zum Katholizismus konvertierte. Diese Konvertierung sollte noch einigen Einfluss auf die später entstandene Kunstsammlung haben, denn in den benachbarten katholischen südlichen Niederlanden lebte niemand geringeres als Peter Paul Rubens und die katholischen Niederlande waren aus strategischen Gründen ziemlich scharf darauf, dass das Territorium Jülich-Berg katholisch wurde.
Der katholisch gewordene Wolfgang Wilhelm holte schließlich auch den gegenreformatorischen Orden der Jesuiten nach Düsseldorf und ließ 1616 die Jesuitenkirche St. Andreas in der Altstadt errichten.
Vorbild dafür war die Hofkirche in Pfalz-Neuburg, die ehemals evangelisch war, aber natürlich von Wolfgang Wilhelm auch zu einer barocken Jesuitenkirche umgestaltet wurde.
Willst du Genaueres über die Verbindung von Düsseldorf nach Pfalz-Neuburg wissen? Klick hier.
1609 - The Jülich-Klevian succession dispute
Back to the Renaissance: Nothing lasts forever and so the end of the Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg came faster than expected, because the son of Wilhelm the Rich, who had just had the castle rebuilt, Johann Wilhelm, was childless and thus the last of the dynasty.
Once again the time had come for an inheritance dispute.
Brandenburg-Prussia and Palatinate-Neuburg were the beneficiaries.
The north-eastern parts (Kleve, Mark, Ravenstein) went to Brandenburg, the south-western parts (Berg, Jülich) to Pfalz Neuburg.
Düsseldorf had suddenly become part of a southern German principality and now belonged to Palatinate-Neuburg, a branch of the Wittelsbach family. It was over with the great Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg in the north-west of the empire, which had attracted so much attention among the European nobility .
The heir Wolfgang Wilhelm
of Palatinate-Neuburg
and the Church of St. Andrew
The southern German heir Wolfgang Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg brought the Jesuits to Düsseldorf as a Counter-Reformation order in 1616 and the baroque St. Andrew's Church was built as a monastery church. Their interior decoration corresponds to the model of the court church in Neuburg.
St. Andreas, barocke Kirche des ehemaligen Jesuitenklosters, erbaut von Wolfgang Wilhelm, einem überzeugten Anhänger der Gegenreformation. Vorbild für diese Kirche war die Residenzkirche in Pfalz-Neuburg.
Inside the church, the royal box can still be seen today, which is on the ground floor next to the choir. In the photo it is behind the arched lattice window.
A mausoleum was later added behind the apse, in which Jan Wellems sarcophagus is located.
The lodge and the mausoleum cannot be visited very often.
Guided tours of the church and mausoleum always take place on the first Wednesday of the month from 4 p.m.
The princely box in the court church of St. Andreas
A mausoleum was later added behind the apse, which now houses Jan Wellem's sarcophagus. The lodge and the mausoleum cannot often be visited. Guided tours with the church and mausoleum always take place on the first Wednesday of the month from 4 p.m.
Jan Wellem's portrait on his bronze sarcophagus in the mausoleum
Der Beginn der Kunstsammlung
Wolfgang Wilhelm sammelte gern Kunst und er konnte einige Gemälde von Rubens bekommen. Aber wie konnte ein Regent eines unbedeutenden, kleinen, süddeutschen Herzogtums Rubens für sich gewinnen? Der Grund lag wie damals üblich im Streit der Konfessionen. Rubens lebte in den Spanischen Niederlanden und Wolfgang Wilhelm holte sich bei den Katholiken Unterstützung in seiner Erbschaftsangelegenheit von Jülich-Kleve und Berg. Die Unterstützung war ihm sicher, denn in Brüssel war man an einem katholischen Nachbarn am Niederrhein wegen der strategischen Bedeutung interessiert. Die Kontakte nach Brüssel waren intensiv, woraus sich die Bilderproduktion von Rubens für Pfalz-Neuburg erklärt, die als Unterstützung gegenreformatorischer Bewegungen gesehen werden kann. (Willst du mehr Hintergründe zu der strategischen Verbindung der Spanischen Niederlande mit Pfalz-Neuburg wissen? Klick hier.)
Jan Wellem comes to Düsseldorf
In 1679 Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz became Duke of Jülich-Berg and in 1690 he became Elector of the Palatinate. He stuck to Düsseldorf as the royal seat, as Heidelberg, the previous residence of the Palatinate electors, and the entire Palatinate had been systematically destroyed by the French in the Palatinate Wars of Succession.
So he needed an exile - Düsseldorf came in handy.
During this time, Heidelberg Castle, the residence of the Electors of the Palatinate, was blown up by the French, making it the epitome of 'romantic' ruin for future generations, but the then electors were certainly not from the French blowing up their residence so impressed.
If you want to know exactly how Heidelberg Castle was blown up, click here for an animation.
Düsseldorf becomes a Baroque Art City
The Palatinate Elector Jan Wellem went to Düsseldorf and lived an elaborate court life there.
He expanded the palace and brought Düsseldorf some representative buildings such as an imposing baroque opera house in 1696, which in turn prompted Handel to stay in Düsseldorf several times.
In 1691 he married Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici from Florence, daughter of Cosimo III. de 'Medici.
The two enjoyed their art and gathered one of the most important picture galleries in Europe. In addition to this collection of paintings, which marked the beginning of Düsseldorf's reputation as a city of art, there was another collection at Schloss Bensberg, the hunting lodge that the two built in Oberbergischen.
The Düsseldorf Gallery was one of the most important Art Collections in the world
Jan Frans van Douven, 1708, portrait of Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz and Anna Maria Luise de 'Medici
License: public domain
The original file can be found here
Anna Maria Luise came from Florence, where art has played a major role in the self-image of the mighty for centuries. It's an expensive hobby, but money was certainly the least of the problems in the Medici family. Jan Wellem had already inherited a small set of paintings from his father that could be expanded. The picture above shows the couple, painted by Jan Frans van Douven, a Dutch portrait painter who, as a cabinet painter, had one of the highest positions at the court in Düsseldorf. He was later sent through Europe as an art agent to purchase art treasures to expand the collection. Jan Wellem's credo when collecting was basically: Better to buy a really good, expensive work of art than several smaller, insignificant ones. No savings were made, there was no spill - it was padded! And so the collection became precious, world-famous and was considered a "grandiose picture treasure", a "art treasure of European standing". 46 paintings by Peter Paul Rubens alone were in the picture gallery. In addition 21 works by Anthony van Dyck, by Jan
Brueghel the Elder Ä. as well as Italian painters such as Annibale Carracci , Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci .
Impressions from the collection
Today the gallery would be one of the greatest collections in the world on a par with all the outstanding collections of paintings in Europe. The focus of the collection was on Italian, Dutch and Flemish painting from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Peter Paul Rubens: Rubens und Isabella Brant in der Geißblattlaube, today: Pinakothek München, © gemeinfrei
Peter Paul Rubens: Der Raub der Töchter des Leukippos, 1618, today: Pinakothek München, © gemeinfrei
Peter Paul Rubens Venus und Adonis, 1610, today: Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, ©: gemeinfrei
Guido Reni, Himmelfahrt, 1642,
today: Alte Pinakothek München, ©: gemeinfrei
Adriaen von der Werff, Sarah führt Hagar zu Abraham, 1699, today: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Staatsgalerie im Neuen Schloss Schleißheim, ©: gemeinfrei
Raffael, Die heilige Familie, 1507, today: Alte Pinakothek München, ©: gemeinfrei
Adriaen van der Werff: "Hommage an die Künste - Allegorie auf das Kurfürstenpaar der Pfalz als Gönner,
today: Nationalmuseum Warschau, ©: gemeinfrei
A building for the collection
This collection did not hang in the castle, but in a specially constructed public gallery building, one of the very first museums. This museum building went back to the initiative of Jan Frans van Douven, the cabinet painter and art agent at the court.
From 1709 to 1714 Jan Wellem had the building connected to the castle built so that he and his wife could enter it directly.
The lock on the picture below is marked in orange, the gallery building in green. It was a three-wing, two-story complex. The south side of the gallery (on the picture the central wing) is supposed to be part of the masonry of the old town hall today.
City map of Düsseldorf from 1809, signed by Guffroi, died by W. Breitenstein
The electoral gallery in Düsseldorf - facade height and cross section of the wings. Engraving by Philipp Gottfried Pintz in 1776 on behalf of Christian von Mechel
License:
The original file can be found here.
Andreas Achenbach: The old academy in Düsseldorf, 1831, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
License: public domain, the original file can be found here.
In the painting below you can see the south wing of the residence. It is the building with the arched window on the right side of the picture. On the left you can see the gallery building, which is angled to the castle. The gallery's southeast wing is in the sunlight, a shaded courtyard behind is surrounded by the three wings of the gallery.
The old guardhouse is in front of the gallery in the painting's foreground.
Since 1821 the art academy had moved in the southern part of the residence and the gallery. The northern part of the residencee had been destroyed by French revolutionary troops.
What happened to the collection?
Johann Wilhelm died in 1716. He is buried in the St. Andreas church. The royal crypt and royal lodge can be visited. His wife Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici left Düsseldorf a year later and went back to Florence. The two had a childless but happy marriage in harmony, sharing interests like their love for music, art and hunting.
Maybe Anna Maria Luisa went back to Italy because not much remained after her husband's death.
Should she have continued their life's work? Replacing her husband in the centre of their artist friends, always coming up with new ideas for representation and implementing them?
In the end, she was just the wife of the elector.
The great time in Düsseldorf was just over.
His wife Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici left Düsseldorf a year later and went back to Florence. The two had a childless but happy marriage in harmony with interests, their love of music, art and hunting.
Perhaps Anna Maria Luisa went back to Italy because there wasn't much left after her husband's death.
Should she have carried on her life's work together with the artist friends whose focus was on her husband and with whom he was constantly concocting new ideas such as the construction of the gallery building, thinking up and implementing further ideas? In the end she was just the wife of an elector by marriage.
The good times in Düsseldorf were simply over.
She took part of the art collection to Florence. After her death in 1743, her personal property as well as the property of the Medici went to the city of Florence according to their last will, on the condition that they must never leave the city. The big painting of her and her husband with the dimensions of at least 240 cm x 180 cm, painted by Jan van Douven (1708, portrait of Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz and Anna Maria Luise de 'Medici) hangs today in the Uffizi in the Vasari corridor. If you know about the history of the two, you will discover a number of clues in Düsseldorf, such as here at the Hotel De 'Medici.
After her death in 1743 her personal possessions and the Medici belonged to the city of Florence according to her last will, provided that they were never allowed to leave the city. Several paintings from the Düsseldorf art collection are in Florence since then. The large painting of her and her husband with the dimensions of 240 cm x 180 cm by Jan van Douven is displayed in the Uffizi in the Vasari corridor today.
The lion's share of the Düsseldorf collection went to Munich.
After the unification of Bavaria with the Palatinate and after the cession of the Duchy of Berg to Napoleon, the extensive Düsseldorf collection came to Munich via Mannheim in 1806, as if it were owned by the Bavarian crown.
The question of the ownership was very differently seen in Düsseldorf and efforts were made to recover the collection that was seen to be owned by the Duchy of Berg.
Ultimately, the chance would have been there after the Prussian-Austrian War when Bavaria lost against Prussia.The return of the collection was required as a condition for a peace agreement. Prussia ultimately preferred other concessions from Bavaria and the collection remained in Munich. There it forms the core of the Alte Pinakothek today.
Animosity between Munich and Düsseldorf untill today?
One might get the impression that Munich doesn't like to discuss the origin of the paintings. It is well known that the relationship between Prussia and Bavaria is not a good one.
The exhibition "Himmlisch, Herrlich, Höfisch" was shown in Düsseldorf in 2009 in occassion of the 350th birthday of Jan Wellem. It should be a temporaryly reunion of the old collection but only a little and less signifanct contribution was sent from Bavaria.
Would the insurance costs have been too high? No, rather not, as other masterpieces and complete precious collections have been sent around the world before.
More than a dozen works were sent from the Uffizi Gallery, the Galleria Palatina and the Palazzo Pitti. Also the Los Angeles Getty Foundation, the Hamburger Kunsthalle participated ... and just - rather shabby - Munich, which became owner of at least 760 paintings after Johann Wilhelm's death.
Is anything left from the collection in Düsseldorf today?
Yes, leftovers of the collection can be seen in the Kunstpalast Museum in the Ehrenhof. But not only the leftovers of the Gemäldegalerie make the museum worth visiting but also all the other departments.
The reason why some works of art remained in Düsseldorf, especially the Rubens paintings, is the format. The Ascension has a size of 429 cm x 284 cm. You can hardly transport that. On the other hand you can also take pictures out of the frame and roll them up. Venus and Adonis could have been removed easily with a format of 276 cm x 183 cm. Well they remained in Düsseldorf.
Jan Frans van Douven, equestrian portrait of the Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz
Peter Paul Rubens, Venus and Adonis
Nicolas de Pigage and the catalog of the gallery
There is a catalog of the collection made by Nicolas de Pigage in 1778. The catalog doen not only provide a list of all paintings and short biographies of the painters, but also engravings with views of the premises, the hanging of the paintings, elevations and floor plans of the building by Christian von Mechel.
It is kept in the Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf and can also be seen online.
http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/content/titleinfo/157354
Nicolas de Pigage was also the architect of Schloss Benrath (Benrath Palace), which was built during the reign of Carl Theodor.
The electoral picture gallery at Düsseldorf: paintings in the fifth gallery. Engraving by MGE Eichler, 1776, after PP Rubens.
License:
The original file can be found here.
A few more questions
One can only speculate why Jan Wellem's brother left Düsseldorf and returned to the Palatinate: Well, there was the long electoral tradition that existed in the Palatinate, the Berg Territory came under Napoleonic reign which brought uncertainties, then the name of the House of Wittelsbach is associated with Bavaria - all these reasons were closer to Jan Wellem's brother than the Lower Rhine with its medieval and Hanseatic-commercial orientation to the north and northwest (Westphalia, Hanseatic League, Netherlands, Flanders - this was just another world). In addition Jan Wellem's courtly representation caused high debts and the Jülich-Berg estates did not want to provide any further funds. Perhaps this shows a less sensual attitude, perhaps more ascetic than the mentality in feudal and Catholic areas. It would explain the early start of industrialization in the Bergische Land. Strictly speaking Jan Wellem's time in Düsseldorf was a kind of exile because of the constant threat from the French in the Palatinate. The residence on the Lower Rhine was just an iteration solution.
It is worth asking where Jan Wellem and Anna Luisa got all the money from for their lifestyle. You also have to keep in mind that they also built Schloss Bensberg as a hunting lodge. This castle above the Königsforst is a fairly large property.
The Duchy of Berg and the Electorate of Palatinate and Palatinate Neuburg are not such powerful and rich heavyweights as the Bourbons or the Habsburgs.
After all, Jan Wellem was married to a de 'Medici. Maybe that's where the money came from. Whenever a Medici women married the dowry was a cultural prime. Where would France be without the cultural import that the Medici women brought? But Jan Wellem also went into debt and left his brother a lot of it.
When Jan Wellem's brother died in 1742, the legacy fell to Carl Theodor, a relative from the Palatinate line of the Wittelsbach family, who had a better relationship to Düsseldorf. Under his reign a lot of buildings were set up, the city expanded with quarters like Carlstadt, the Hofgarten, Jägerhof Palace and Benrath Palace.
Schloss Benrath
The Courtyard Garden
Schloss Jägerhof am Hofgarten
Carlstadt
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St. Maximilian Church, Carlstadt
Palais Nesselrode, historic city palace, Carlstadt
Orangery Street with Maximilian Church, Carlstadt
Johann Wilhem of the Palatinate
Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici
The two paintings hang in Benrath Palace and were painted by Frans Bartholomeus Douven, one of Jan Frans van Douven's many children.
After so much cultivated stuff ...
- Nightcap in the Old Town -
Off to the old town after all the history and culture. Okay, that's where we have been looking around all the time, but going to old town in Düsseldorf means going to the pubs and breweries.
Altbier in Uerigen, the herb liqueur Killepitsch in Et Kabüffke are a must in Düsseldorf. Have a Frikadelle mit Löwenself (meatball with strong mustard) with your Altbier.
Beyond internationality, luxury and Königsallee Düsseldorf is really down to earth.
If you still don't have enough of electors: Jan Wellem is said of having carousings with his artist friends in the En de Canon wine bar on Zollstrasse. It is said that he had a regular place there, an armchair only for him. (However, after a renovation this restaurant no longer has any charm that would suggest anything historical ... it has become a place with an anywhere atmosphere now - too bad!)
The sculptor Grupello, the painter and art agent van Douven, the elector - they seemed to be good friends. Grupello, Jan Wellem and Anna Maria Luisa were also godparents for some of van Douven's ten children. It may be a lot of interpretation but it seems as if they had a good time somewhere in between collecting art, lavish lifestyle, hunting, living artistic visions with friends, etc.
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