Treasures of the Sea

Hans Makart · c. 1870–75

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

40.3 × 105.7 cm (15 7/8 × 41 5/8 in.); Framed: 82.9 × 148.6 cm (32 5/8 × 58 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Romanticism

Treasures of the Sea is a sumptuous allegory that showcases Hans Makart at the height of his powers — richly coloured, sensuously composed, and radiating the theatrical confidence that made him the most celebrated painter in Vienna during the 1870s. Makart studied under Karl von Piloty in Munich before returning to Austria, where he became the defining cultural force of the Ringstrasse era. His studio on the Gusshausstrasse was itself a spectacle — filled with exotic props, dried flowers, and textiles — and that appetite for visual abundance spills into every canvas he made. In Treasures of the Sea, reclining female figures are woven together with shells, pearls, and ocean bounty in a palette of deep amber, ivory, and sea-green, the whole composition humming with a Baroque warmth drawn directly from his study of Rubens and Titian. Makart's influence extended well beyond painting: in 1879 he designed and led the famous imperial pageant through Vienna celebrating Franz Joseph and Elisabeth's silver wedding anniversary, cementing his status as the city's chief visual impresario. A hand-painted oil reproduction on canvas preserves the layered glazing and tonal depth that make the original compelling — qualities that print or digital reproduction simply cannot replicate.