Kuriere, Kunstagenden und Mäzene

• Theresa Häusl
• Thurn und Taxis Studies – New Series, Volume 17
• Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2024
• 472 p.
• 48 p. illustrated section, 90 text illustrations
• Hard cover

The rapid career of the Thurn and Taxis within the ambit of the Habsburgs has been adequately researched. And yet analysing the strategies of image creation and artistic patronage opens up new perspectives on their social rise. The expansion of the Habsburg territories, the explosion in the use of writing, the internationalisation of the transfer of knowledge, the competitive pressure on the emerging art market - all this made the rapid transport of news a highly valued currency for securing power, with which the postmaster dynasty traded. In this way, it became an integral part of the extensive networks of the scholars and powerful of its time, as can be reconstructed in an exciting way using previously unpublished sources and images.

Theresa Häusl, Dr phil., born 1986, studied Art history, English language and literature and Cultural Heritage Conservation at the Universities of Regensburg and Udine. She works as an archivist and collection curator in Munich.