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 14,000. 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 (1731-1795). He had one surviving half-sister Sophie Christine, Princess von Nassau-Saarbrücken (1725-1795) from his father's previous marriage to Countess Sophie Charlotte von

Bothmer The House of Bothmer is the name of an ancient German noble comital family whose members occupied significant military and diplomatic positions in the Kingdom of Hanover, Kingdom of Bavaria and later within the German Empire. History The family wa ...

(1697-1748).

Biography

From 1769 to 1773, he studied politics and history in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He also traveled extensively to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, and Italy. While he was in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 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 a Roman politician, 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 ...

and

Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein Johann Friedrich ReiffensteinAlso spelled Reifstein and Reffenstein(born 22 November 1719, Neman (town), Ragnit, – died 6 October 1793, Rome) was a German cicerone for grand tourists, painter, antiquarian and agent for art collectors in Rome. ...

. 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. 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 sinc ...

in Erbach, and his ivory collection now belongs to the German Ivory Museum Erbach. 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 (1783-1833) ⚭ Count Friedrich II Magnus zu

Solms-Wildenfels Solms-Wildenfels was a minor county around Wildenfels in south-western Free State of Saxony, Saxony, Germany. The :de:Solms (Adelsgeschlecht), House of Solms had its origins at Solms, Hesse. History Solms-Wildenfels was a partition of Solms-Bar ...

(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 nobility 19th-century German nobility Counts in Germany German art collectors 18th-century art collectors 18th-century German philanthropists 19th-century art collectors People from Erbach im Odenwald House of Erbach