Nieder-Oesterreich Kloster Seisenstein.

Title

Nieder-Oesterreich Kloster Seisenstein.

Description

Very beautiful hand-colored view of the former Säusenstein Abbey (Kloster Seisenstein) near Ybbs an der Donau in Lower Austria. From "Zwey hundert vier und sechszig Donau-Ansichten", drawn by Jakob Alt (1789–1872).

ca. 1826

Artist

Kunike Adolf Friedrich (1777-1838)

Adolf Kunike was a student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1804. From 1808 to 1810 he studied history painting in Rome. In 1816 Kunike made contact with Alois Senefelder in Munich. In 1817 he opened his own lithographic institute in Vienna. Initially active as an artist herself, Kunike later limited herself to lithographic reproduction and the management of her own company, which became the foster home of artist's lithography, especially portraits and landscapes. He published series works, the most important of which are the two hundred and sixty Danube views according to the course of the Danube river from its origin to its outflow into the Black Sea ... which Kunike published in three editions in 1820, 1824, 1826. The majority of the pictures appearing in this work are by Jakob Alt.

Historical Description

Säusenstein Abbey, a former Cistercian monastery in Lower Austria, was founded in 1334 by Eberhard V von Wallsee. For centuries, it served as an important religious and economic centre of the region. The abbey was dissolved in 1789 during the monastic reforms of Emperor Joseph II. Following a turbulent history and periods of decline, the predominantly Baroque complex is now privately owned and undergoing gradual restoration.