Supplementary material to: Jovanovic-Kruspel, S. & Boomgaarden, A. (2023): "Dekorationsmalereien im Naturhistorischen Museum Wien: Kunsthistorische und restauratorische Betrachtungen"

This article focuses on a part of the artistic decoration of the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHMW) that has received little attention so far, namely decoration paintings. The painters who executed these works largely elude art historical research, as they usually did not appear as independent artists but were grouped together as “room painters” in workshops and companies. The workshops employed at the NHMW also furnished other Ringstrasse buildings with their creations. Even though many motifs therefore resemble those of other buildings, special details were used time and again especially for the NHMW, which are in reference to the collections on display and therefore contribute to the idea of the “speaking” Gesamtkunstwerk. For the first time, art-historical research attempts an approximate attribution of the areas to individual workshops and the leading painters. Conservations carried out in 2021 on the wall paintings in the area of the small staircase will also provide for the first time more detailed information on the working technique, materiality and quality of these works.