2.
Blue House (1st Floor)
Landing & Rooms
The Blue House
The Reichensteinerhof
Stair Landing – 1st Floor
The stair landing on the first floor (Treppenvorplatz) is accessible from the large exterior flight of stairs leading from the courtyard, giving it a function comparable to that of the vestibule on the ground floor.
Above the double door leading to the large reception room at the front of the building, one can admire a painting by the French artist Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1701–1772).
It depicts the allegory of sculpture: a reclining woman accompanied by three famous ancient sculptures:
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the torso of the Belvedere,
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the head of the Apollo Belvedere,
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and the head of Antinous.
This painting, created in 1732 or 1736, is part of a set of four overdoors from the collection of the Duke of Saint-Aignan, the French ambassador to Rome.
His collection was dispersed at an auction in 1776.
The other two overdoors feature oil portraits: one of the founder of the firm, Hans Franz Sarasin, and the other, likely his wife, Anna Elisabeth Burckhardt.
Between the doors stands a fluted clock case, painted white, topped with a gilded element depicting Chronos at rest, holding a sickle and an hourglass.
This work embodies the themes of the transience of time, Vanitas, and Enlightenment thinking (one might think of Goethe, Schiller, etc.).
Dining Room
The large central salon served as the dining room.
The walls are structured by stucco pilasters, adorned with composite capitals, which support an overhanging ceiling cornice (verkröpftes Deckengesims).
Between the pilasters extend basket-handle arches (korbbogige Arkaden), each with a decorated keystone.
This decoration was executed in stucco by Johann Martin Frohweis, based on a design by Werenfels, of which a washed perspective view still exists.
Bedroom
In the adjoining southern room, formerly a bedroom decorated with Aubusson tapestries, a marquetry parquet floor with a diamond pattern, made from various types of wood, has been preserved.
As overdoor decorations, there are three historical paintings by the artist Georg Melchior Kraus, two of which date from 1771.
These works depict historical scenes recounted by Livy, featuring female figures:
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The Death of Verginia
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Alexander and the Women of Darius
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The Death of Sophonisba
Period furniture still present includes:
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A console table with an overmantel mirror between the windows
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A clock in a gilded case
The opposite room has been significantly altered (currently used as a non-accessible office).
The other rooms on this floor have been modified by the installation of an elevator and sanitary blocks.
The second floor follows a nearly identical layout to the first.
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Credit:
Ms. Sarah Hummel-Smit, architect specialized in historic monuments and heritage conservation