Ferdinand Philipp von Lobkowicz (27 April 1724 – 11 January 1784) was a Bohemian nobleman, patron of the arts and musician. A member of the

Lobkowicz family The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is an important Bohemian noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest noble families of the region. Over the cent ...

, he was the 6th Prince of Lobkowicz.

Early life

Lobkowicz was born on 27 April 1724 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. He was the second son of Prince

Phillip Hyacinth von Lobkowicz Phillip Hyacinth von Lobkowicz (25 May 1680 – 21 December 1734) was the 4th Prince of Lobkowicz, Duke of Sagan, owner of the List of states in the Holy Roman Empire (S), Princely county of Störnstein and other possessions in the Upper Palatinat ...

(1680–1734) and, his second wife, Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Althann (1704–1757), a cousin of Count Gundaker Ludwig von Althann. His younger sister, Anne Maria Elisabeth von Lobkowicz, married the diplomat Count Anton Corfiz von Ulfeldt. His paternal grandparents were Ferdinand August von Lobkowicz and, his first wife, Claudia Franziska von Nassau-Hadamar (a daughter of Maurice Henry, Prince of Nassau-Hadamar and Ernestine Charlotte von Nassau-Siegen, herself the daughter of Count

John VIII of Nassau-Siegen John VIII, Count of Nassau-Siegen (''Jan'' or ''Johan''; Dillenburg, 29 September 1583 – Ronse, 27 July 1638) was a German nobleman and militarist of the 17th century. Life John VIII, Count of Nassau-Siegen, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden and ...

Career

Upon his father's death in 1737, his elder brother, Wenzel Ferdinand, succeeded as the 5th

Prince of Lobkowitz The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech language, Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German language, German) is an important Bohemian nobility, Bohemian noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the ...

. When his brother died, unmarried, two years later in 1739, the title passed to young Ferdinand. When the

First Silesian War The First Silesian War () was a war between Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia and Habsburg monarchy, Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. The ...

began in 1740, and the Prussians conquered Silesia, and with it the

Duchy of Sagan A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign d ...

, which was valuable to Lobkowitz, he supported the Prussians and

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

, which was likely a reason why, unlike his relatives, he never received the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

. In January 1750, he officially received Sagan as a fief from the

Prussian king The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

. From 1743 onwards, the now ruling prince was able to devote himself entirely to his extensive studies with a focus on music in Vienna, building on his father's work with the orchestra. Ferdinand, who was considered one of the best amateur violinists, was taught by

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of th ...

and

Franz Benda Franz Benda (; baptised 22 November 1709 – 7 March 1786) was a Bohemian violinist and composer, who worked for much of his life at the court of Frederick the Great. Life Benda was born in Old Benatek in Bohemia, the son of Jan Jiří Benda ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In 1745, he took Gluck on a trip to Italy and England. In 1746, he travelled to London again to buy breeding horses. There he saw paintings by

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...

, some of which he bought and brought back to Bohemia.

Life in Prague

In 1753, he acquired the Palais Lobkowicz on Vlašská street in Prague, on the outskirts of the old city. After acquiring the palace, Lobkowicz moved out of the older

Lobkowicz Palace The Lobkowicz Palace () is a part of the Prague Castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the only privately owned building in the Prague Castle complex and houses the Lobkowicz Collections and Museum. The palace was built in the second h ...

Hradčany Hradčany (; ), is the district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic surrounding Prague Castle. The castle is one of the biggest in the world at about in length and an average of about wide. Its history stretches back to the 9th century. St ...

. In 1927, his family sold the Vlašská Palace to the Czechoslovak state which used it as the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. It was sold in 1948 and used as the Chinese embassy, before being acquired by the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

in 1974, who use it as their embassy to this day.

Personal life

On 10 July 1769, he married Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano (1748–1828), a daughter of

Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano Louis Victor of Savoy, 4th Prince of Carignano (25 September 1721 – 16 December 1778) headed a cadet branch of the Italian dynasty which reigned over the Kingdom of Sardinia, being known as the Prince of Carignano from 1741 till his death. Upon ...

and Princess Christine of Hesse-Rotenburg (daughter of Ernst II Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg), in 1769. * Joseph Franz, 7th Prince of Lobkowitz (1772–1816), who married Maria Karolina von Schwarzenberg, a daughter of and Countess Maria Eleonore zu

Oettingen-Wallerstein The House of Oettingen was a high-ranking noble Franconian and Swabian family. It ruled various estates that composed the County of Oettingen between the 12th century and the beginning of the 19th century. In 1674 the house was raised to the rank ...

(a daughter of Count Philipp Karl von Oettingen-Wallerstein).Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz
Kulturfreunde Lobkowitz Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab, accessed 30 December 2014. The Prince of Lobkowicz died on 21 December 1734 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and was succeeded by his only son, Joseph Franz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobkowitz, Ferdinand Philipp Von 1724 births 1784 deaths Ferdinand Philipp Nobility from Prague 18th-century musicians from Bohemia Czech patrons of music Dukes of Żagań