10.1 The Emergence of a Collector
Josef Karel Eduard Hoser (1770–1848) was born in Ploschkowice in northern Bohemia [1].1 The vicar of Schwaden, the small village where Hoser had been living since he was five years old, arranged for him to become a choirboy in Prague in 1782. In the capital, Joseph Karl von Altmann, councillor of the Duke of Zweibrücken, noticed him, took him into his house, provided for his education and enabled him to study. The later art collector studied philosophy, law and finally medicine in Prague. In 1798 he received a doctor’s degree in medicine. When the physician of the epileptic Archduke Karl von Österreich-Teschen (1771–1847) was looking for an assistant and successor, he asked Hoser to take on this responsibility. From April 1800 to November 1823, Hoser served as personal physician of Archduke Karl and accompanied him on his campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1830 returned into the service of the archducal family, until, after repeated requests to retire, he was finally released in 1844.
Hoser also had a keen interest in the natural sciences. He was intensely engaged in mineralogy and geography: he devoted himself to the exploration of the Giant Mountains in northern Bohemia about which he wrote the first geographic overview.2 The title vignette was created after a drawing by Hoser himself. The list of his academic degrees, titles and memberships in scientific and cultural associations fills 19 lines in the preface to the posthumously published autobiography.3 In his free time he made study trips throughout Europe.
These biographical details are not irrelevant for Hoser’s development into a connoisseur. Archduke Karl was the adopted son and heir of Duke Albert Kasimir von Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822), the man who assembled a world-famous graphic collection that later bore his name, the Albertina. After the latter’s death, Archduke Karl inherited this collection, allowing his physician to study it. Hoser befriended Franz Rechberger (1771–1841), who headed the Albertina from 1822 onwards and was its director between 1827 and 1841 [2].4 Rechberger gave Hoser an important impulse to start collecting art systematically and provided expert advice.5
1
František Šír printed by František Šír
Portrait of Josef Karl Eduard Hoser (1770-1848), dated 1848
Strahov (Czechia), Strahovský Klášter
2
Adam von Bartsch
Portrait of Franz Rechberger (1771-1841), c. 1800-1810
Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, inv./cat.nr. 34597
Notes
1 On his life see the posthumously published autobiography of Hoser: Weitenweber 1848. Further: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich 9 (1863), pp. 337–340 [25 March 2019]: Frimmel 1991. Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 2 (1959), pp. 432–433: [25 March 2019]. Vlnas 1995. Seifertová 1996.
2 Hoser 1805.
3 Weitenweber 1848, pp. III–IV.
4 Hoser 1846, pp. 136–138 with biography.
5 Hoser 1846, p. XXI.