Hildebrandt, Johann Lukas von (1668-1745). Italo-Austrian architect.

A practical architect rather than theorist, Hildebrandt moved from his

birthplace Genoa to a Roman training with the Engineering Corps in military

and civil architecture in the 1690s and went on to appointment as Engineer

to the Viennese Imperial Court in 1700. He held several important offices

but in his earlier years failed to make as much an impression at court as his

chief rival the Court Architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Though

he inherited the position from Erlach upon the latter’s death in 1723, the

appointment of Erlach’s son as the new Court Engineer ensured the

continuation of the rivalry. In addition to his Viennese commitments

Hildebrandt travelled widely across central Europe owing to his frequent

involvement in several projects at once. He was ennobled in 1720 and,

though achieving rather more than normal distinction as an architect, was

mercurial in character (especially in the matter of the Erlachs) and had

occasional monetary difficulties. He also had epilepsy and, later in life,

failing eyesight. Though retaining his honourable title of Chief Court

Architect, Hildebrandt was in the years approaching his death considerably

less able to participate in activities the title would suggest. In his first known

undertaking of significance, what is now the Schwarzenberg palace in

Vienna, begun in 1697, Hildebrandt made good use of his military training

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to the extent that he used the full range of open ground available to him on

site. Both Hildebrandt’s original plan and Erlach’s minor revisions to it in

1716 owed something to a palace by Guarini in Turin, which Hildebrandt

had studied first-hand. Guarini also influenced Hildebrandt in the design of

churches in Austria and Bohemia. The period after 1713, when Hildebrandt

was obliged to concede the office of the head of the Imperial Works to

Erlach, is often delineated as his mature phase. His work here is, to begin

with, usefully seen in contrast to that of Erlach (senior). While Erlach’s

austere formalism in design may be seen as reflecting the spirit of court

officialdom and power, Hildebrandt’s work can be seen as closer to the

ordinary citizens of Vienna. This is evident in the proportion of the private

houses he built to his public and ecclesiastical commissions. The key here

was Hildebrandt’s sharing of the concerns of some of his contemporaries,

such as *Neumann and Prandtauer, for the effect of an interior as the end

result of a thoughtful blending of architectural and decorative elements. One

of the features of his work this gave rise to was his striking treatment of

walls, which were no longer merely structural but combined horizontal

planning with drama, especially in the use of lighting. Hildebrandt thus ably

transplanted his experiences and procedures from the private sphere to

public buildings. They helped him conceive and execute staircases, a typical

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preoccupation of Baroque architecture, in innovative ways. His legacy to

official Viennese architecture alone makes him preeminent as a figure whose

work reached broad and imaginative standards.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

B. Grimschitz, Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt 2 vols., 1959.

510 words incl. bibliography