Prints from the Collection of Tommaso degli Obizzi at Konopiště

The study focuses on a hitherto neglected part of the Konopiste collections – graphic prints, many of which can be traced back to the collection of the Marquis of Padua, collector Tommaso degli Obizzi (1750–1803). Thanks to three preserved inventories from 1803, 1811, and 1859–61, and their comparison with the extant Konopiste collection, it has been possible to document the Obizzi provenance of approximately 70 prints. The study analyses the collecting activities of Tommaso degli Obizzi, who, unlike many of his contemporaries, focused more on individual prints – especially those by Albrecht Dürer and his circle – than on systematically compiled albums. It also traces the subsequent fate of the collection: its acquisition by the Dukes of Modena, its transfer from Catajo Castle to Modena and then to Vienna, from where part of the collection was later moved by Franz Ferdinand d'Este to Konopiste Castle. The study not only reconstructs the provenance of specific works but also highlights the significance of the graphic collection within the broader context of aristocratic collecting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The results open up new avenues for further research into this extensive collection.