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Ferdinand Philipp von Lobkowicz

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Phillip Hyacinth von Lobkowicz
Prince of Lobkowicz
Portrait of Prince Lobkowicz by Martin van Meytens
Born(1724-04-27)27 April 1724
Prague, Bohemia
Died11 January 1784(1784-01-11) (aged 59)
Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Spouse
Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano
(m. 1769; died 1784)
IssueJoseph Franz von Lobkowitz
HouseLobkowicz
FatherPhillip Hyacinth von Lobkowicz
MotherMaria Wilhelmine von Althann

Ferdinand Philipp Joseph, 6th Prince of Lobkowicz (27 April 1724 – 11 January 1784) was a patron of the arts and musician who was the 6th Prince of Lobkowicz.

Early life

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Lobkowicz was born on 27 April 1724 in Prague. He was the second son of Prince Phillip Hyacinth von Lobkowicz (1680–1734) and, his second wife, Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Althann (1704–1757), a cousin of Count Gundaker Ludwig von Althann. His younger sister, Anne Maria Elisabeth von Lobkowicz, married the diplomat Count Anton Corfiz von Ulfeldt.[1]

His paternal grandparents were Ferdinand August von Lobkowicz and, his first wife, Claudia Franziska von Nassau-Hadamar (a daughter of Maurice Henry, Prince of Nassau-Hadamar and Ernestine Charlotte von Nassau-Siegen, herself the daughter of Count John VIII of Nassau-Siegen).[2]

Career

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Palais Lobkowitz (on the left) in Vienna; painting by Canaletto, about 1760

Upon his father's death in 1737, his elder brother, Wenzel Ferdinand, succeeded as the 5th Prince of Lobkowitz. When his brother died, unmarried, two years later in 1739, the title passed to young Ferdinand.[3]

When the First Silesian War began in 1740, and the Prussians conquered Silesia, and with it the Duchy of Sagan, which was valuable to Lobkowitz, he supported the Prussians and Frederick the Great, which was likely a reason why, unlike his relatives, he never received the Order of the Golden Fleece. In January 1750, he officially received Sagan as a fief from the Prussian king.

From 1743 onwards, the now ruling prince was able to devote himself entirely to his extensive studies with a focus on music in Vienna, building on his father's work with the orchestra. Ferdinand, who was considered one of the best amateur violinists, was taught by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Franz Benda in Berlin. In 1745, he took Gluck on a trip to Italy and England. In 1746, he travelled to London again to buy breeding horses. There he saw paintings by Canaletto, some of which he bought and brought back to Bohemia.[4]

Life in Prague

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Palais Lobkowicz, Prague

In 1753, he acquired the Palais Lobkowicz on Vlašská street in Prague, on the outskirts of the old city. It is sometimes called the Kvasejovic Palace after its original builder, Count Kvasejovic, who had it constructed in the early 1700s, but sold it shortly thereafter due to financial difficulties. After acquiring the palace, Lobkowicz moved out of the older Lobkowicz Palace on the Hradčany. In 1927, his family sold the Vlašská Palace to the new Czechoslovakian state which used it as the Ministry of Education. It was sold in 1948 and used as the Chinese embassy, before being acquired by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1974, who use it as their embassy to this day.[3]

Personal life

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On 10 July 1769, he married Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano (1748–1828), a daughter of Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano and Princess Christine of Hesse-Rotenburg (daughter of Ernst II Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg), in 1769.[5]

The Prince of Lobkowicz died on 21 December 1734 in Vienna and was succeeded by his only son, Joseph Franz.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Franz, Günther; Bosl, Karl; Hofmann, Hanns Hubert (21 February 2014). S–Z. Register zum Gesamtwerk (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 2952. ISBN 978-3-11-158143-9. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  2. ^ Mang, Karl; Feller, Barbara; Mayr, Friedrich (1991). Lobkowitzplatz 2: Geschichte eines Hauses (in German). Böhlau. p. 36. ISBN 978-3-205-05481-8. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Lobkowicz Princes: Survivors of the Great Bohemian Purge". dukesandprinces.org. Dukes and Princes. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  4. ^ Flotzinger, Rudolf (2004). Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3045-7.
  5. ^ a b Steinforth, Dirk H.; Rozier, Charles C. (17 May 2021). Britain and its Neighbours: Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Routledge. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-000-36537-5. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  6. ^ Hofstaat, Österreich-Ungarn (1898). Handbuch des Allerhöchsten Hofes und des Hofstaates seiner K. u. K. Apostolischen Majestät: für das Jahr ... (in German). Verlag d. K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. p. 107. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  7. ^ Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz Kulturfreunde Lobkowitz Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab, accessed 30 December 2014.