Antique collection in the Erbach Palace Franz Graf zu Erbach-Erbach (29 October 1754 – 8 March 1823) was a German nobleman and art collector.

Early life

Franz was born in

Erbach im Odenwald Erbach () is a town and the district seat of the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of around 13,000. Geography Location The town lies in the ''Mittelgebirge'' Odenwald at elevations between 200 and 560 m in t ...

in 1754 as the only son of Count Georg Wilhelm von Erbach-Erbach-Reichenberg (1686-1757) and his second wife Countess Leopoldine zu

Salm-Grumbach Salm is the name of several historic countships and principalities in present Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. History Origins The County of Salm arose in the tenth century in Vielsalm, in the Ardennes region of present Belgium. It was ...

(1731-1795). He had one survining half-sister Sophie Christine, Princess von Nassau-Saarbrücken (1725-1795) from his fathers previous marriage to Countess Sophie Charlotte von

Bothmer Bothmer is the name of an ancient German noble comital family and may refer to: * Dietrich von Bothmer (1918–2009), German-born art historian * Felix Graf von Bothmer (1852–1937), German general * Hans Caspar von Bothmer Johann Caspar Graf ...

(1697-1748).

Biography

From 1769 to 1773, he studied politics and history in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He also traveled extensively to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, and Italy. While he was in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he met several people that would become influential in his life, among them

Ennio Quirino Visconti Ennio Quirino Visconti (November 1, 1751 – February 7, 1818) was an Italian antiquarian and art historian, papal Prefect of Antiquities, and the leading expert of his day in the field of ancient Roman sculpture. His son, Pietro Ercole Visconti, e ...

and Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein. As the Count of Erbach, he paid special attention to agriculture, trade, and transportation. Through the influences of Reiffenstein and Visconti, Franz started his own art collection. This collection is now housed by the

Erbach Palace image:20206021 Erbach-3.tif, Main building image:SchlossErbach2-2.jpg, The palace in 1623 image:Schloss Erbach Bergfried.jpg, The keep of the palace image:Erbach odenwald schloss 4.jpg, The archives building Erbach Palace is a palace in Erbach im O ...

. Franz dedicated his completed art catalogue to Reiffenstein. He was also the pioneer of

ivory carving Ivory carving is the carving of ivory, that is to say animal tooth or tusk, generally by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually. Objects carved in ivory are often called "ivories". Humans have ornamentally carved ivory since ...

in Erbach, and his ivory collection now belongs to the

German Ivory Museum Erbach The German Ivory Museum Erbach (''Deutsches Elfenbeinmuseum Erbach'') is a museum in Erbach im Odenwald, Germany. It was founded in 1966, but the collection was started by Count Francis I in the late 18th century. The city of Erbach then develope ...

. He died at Erbach in 1823.

Marriages and issue

He married firstly Charlotte Luise Polyxena, Countess zu Leiningen (1755-1785) and had children: * Charlotte Auguste Wilhelmine (1777-1846) ⚭ Prince Carl I von Isenburg-Birstein (1766-1820) * Marianne Luise Friederike Karoline (1778-1797), died unmarried * Karoline Luise Wilhelmine (1779-1825) ⚭ Count Joseph Karl zu Ortenburg-Tambach (1780-1836) * Luise Charlotte Polyxena (1781-1830) ⚭ Count Friedrich Christoph von Degenfeld-Schonburg (1769-1848) * Karl zu Erbach-Erbach (1782-1832) ⚭ Countess Anna Sophie zu Erbach-Fürstenau (1796-1845) * Auguste Karoline ⚭ Count Friedrich I Magnus zu Solms-Wildenfels (1777-1857) * Franz Georg Friedrich Christian Eginhard (1785-1854), adopted as Count von Wartenberg by his stepmothers brother, the last reigning Count, Ludwig Kolb von Wartenberg (1752-1818) After the death of his first wife, Franz married again, to her first cousin, Countess Luise Polyxena Charlotte Kolb von Wartenberg (1755-1844), widow of his cousin Count Friedrich August zu Erbach-Fürstenau (1754-1784) and daughter of Count Friedrich Karl Kolb von Wartenberg (1725-1784) and his wife, Countess Karoline Polyxene zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg (1728-1782). This marriage remained childless.

Literature

* L. Ferdinand Dieffenbach: ''Graf Franz zu Erbach-Erbach. Ein Lebens- und Culturbild aus dem Ende des XVIII. und dem Anfange des XIX. Jahrhunderts''. Darmstadt 1879 * Wolfgang Glüber: ''Franz I. und der Rittersaal im Schloss zu Erbach''. In: ''Kunst in Hessen und am Mittelrhein''. NF 2, 2006, S. 35-62 * Brita von Götz-Mohr: ''„Amico optimo“. Franz Graf zu Erbach-Erbach (1754–1823), Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein (1719–1793) und die Antikensammlungen in Erbach im Odenwald''. 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Franz of Erbach-Erbach 1754 births 1823 deaths 18th-century German people 19th-century German people Counts of Germany German art collectors 18th-century art collectors 19th-century art collectors People from Erbach im Odenwald House of Erbach