For the new presentation of the Rossacher Collection, a selection had to be made. The exhibition reflects the development of the collection itself. Rather than emphasizing celebrated artists, chronological order, or geographical context, it seeks to convey the fascination of artistic designs.

Its aim is to highlight the diversity of preparatory works—their spontaneity, their varying stages of completion, their seemingly unfinished character, and their intended function within the creative process.

Three short films explore key themes from a contemporary perspective:  Hand Signs (Barbara Musil), Sketch and Realization (Christian Schrenk), and the restoration of the relief Pope Leo the Great Meets Attila (Markus Weisheitinger-Herrmann). Together, they examine the creative process from different angles.

These records of an artist’s first ideas—the very birth of a work of art—are fascinating not only because of their apparent incompleteness, but also because they unite the sensuous qualities of paint, pen strokes, or modeled clay with intellectual conception. In a sense, they are the originals behind the finished originals.

They were created exclusively by the padrone, the master of a workshop. The final execution of the work was usually entrusted, for reasons of time, to assistants or journeymen.

Oil sketches and sculptural bozzetti of this kind were known as cose bellissime (“most beautiful things”) and were highly prized by contemporaries for their exceptional freshness and spontaneity. Over time, the prima idea developed into an artistic genre in its own right.

Preparatory works can be grouped according to their degree of completion or their intended purpose. Painters, sculptors, and architects generally began with drawings; accordingly, il disegno came to denote the fundamental artistic idea.

The initial idea sketch, or pensiero, was followed by the actual design—either an oil sketch or a sculptural bozzetto. The modello, a fully developed small-scale version of the final work, was then presented to the patron for approval.

The exhibition includes preparatory works for paintings, frescoes, engravings, and sculptures. In some cases, the finished works have been destroyed; in others, no completed version is currently known.

Sculptors—and occasionally painters as well—created small three-dimensional models of their artistic concepts in wax, clay, or wood. These models convey the creative process with particular immediacy. Their degree of finish ranges from roughly modeled forms to astonishingly meticulous detail.

Sometimes only individual elements, such as studies of arms or legs, were produced. As examples from the Rossacher Collection demonstrate, however, artists also created complete works in miniature. The use of clay allowed for rapid execution, and once fired, these models became remarkably durable. Like painted models, they also served as presentation pieces for the patron before the final work was executed.