Emperor of vegetation: The Louvre celebrates the inventions of the Prague court and must simultaneously reinvent itself

He was less interested in Imperial Diets and power games than in his art collection. This long-serving King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, and Holy Roman Emperor was by no means a brilliant politician. His shyness and melancholy—today one would call him prone to depression—even led to his being ousted from his offices. However, Rudolf II (1552–1612) is remembered as a great figure in cultural life.

Born in Vienna and raised in Madrid, the Habsburg monarch resided in Prague, where he gathered astronomers and artists around him. These included the Dane Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler from Württemberg, and the Flemish artists Joris Hoefnagel and Roelant Savery, who became known for their depictions of nature. Rudolf II promoted the observation and classification of natural phenomena and thus initiated a golden age of science and art.

At that time, the exploration of nature was carried out using new, revolutionary instruments such as sundials and armillary spheres ("world machines") made of gilded brass. But also with meticulously executed drawings and watercolors, such as those of a goldfinch or a hollyhock. These are the exhibits that now open an exhibition at the Louvre in Paris, dedicated to the experience of nature at the Rudolfine court. It was created in cooperation with the Národní Gallery in Prague, but also includes loans from Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, and Vienna.

With nearly 100 exhibits, the exhibition explores how the Vltava metropolis, in an atmosphere of intellectual tolerance and mutually beneficial exchange, became a stimulating melting pot for new ways of observing, measuring, recording, and seeing. This golden age began in 1583, when Rudolf moved into the castle in Prague's Lesser Town.

The interdisciplinary and cosmopolitan dialogue is represented by epochal books in display cases and free-standing sculptures by the Dutch sculptor Adriaen de Vries. Added to this are bowls made of precious stones such as jasper, amber, or agate, and "commessi": stone carvings designed by the Italians Ottavio and Giovanni Ambrogio Miseroni and Giovanni Castrucci.

The Dutch artists Paulus van Vianen and Pieter Stevens created drawings of rugged cliffs or woodland in forests, while Hans Hoffmann, who probably came from Nuremberg, devoted himself to a cute animal among the grasses: it is reminiscent of Albrecht Dürer's famous "Hare" and represents an only slightly reinterpreted replica. Hoffmann's "Stag Beetle" is also considered a homage to the master who died fifty years earlier and who excelled in depictions of nature.

The most prominent artist represented in the exhibition is the Milanese Giuseppe Arcimboldo. His portraits of Rudolf, composed of various vegetables, fruits, and ears of corn, symbolize spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They depict the emperor as Vertumnus, the god of the seasons and vegetation. This centerpiece of the exhibition is on loan from the Swedish Skokloster Castle near Uppsala. Many works from Rudolf's collection, destroyed during the siege of Prague in 1648 at the end of the Thirty Years' War, ended up in Scandinavia.

Another highlight is Arcimboldo's self-portrait, a pen and ink drawing in which he appears in the manner of a nobleman, without any ingredients such as fruit and thus without any alienation.

The presentation of these exquisite treasures meets the highest scientific standards. This allows the Louvre, which is primarily visited for its permanent collection, to also hold its own as a venue for important temporary exhibitions. However, with almost nine million admissions annually, the Louvre has long been a victim of overtourism.

The museum's visitor management system is threatening to collapse. There are problems managing visitor flows and dealing with structural wear and tear. The cloakrooms, elevators, and restrooms are overloaded. While there is currently no talk of cutting back on the exhibition program, they cannot be completely ruled out in the near future. The discussions, which have so far been conducted internally, have now become the talk of the town, even a national affair.

After Laurence de Cars, the museum's director, put her concerns on paper and the confidential report was leaked to the press, President Emmanuel Macron rushed to support the flagship of France's national museums - under the motto "Nouvelle Renaissance du Louvre".

The fact is that this almost incomprehensible building, consisting of numerous wings, stairwells, courtyards, and floors, is visited at varying rates. In some areas, visitors are almost alone, or in the presence of a manageable number of other visitors. The exhibition on art at the Prague Court is also a veritable haven of peace within the enormous Parisian museum. Other rooms, however, feel like being at a Christmas market. There, the crowds are unbearably crowded, and the attendants protect themselves with earplugs.

This applies particularly to the path leading to the "Mona Lisa" gallery, and to the gallery itself, but also to the surrounding area, including the Grande Galerie. The crowds begin at the entrance area beneath the glass pyramid designed by Chinese architect Ieoh Ming Pei. But they are self-inflicted. The decision to use the pyramid as the sole entrance, thereby making it a one-way street, and to offer only one exit through a shopping arcade, is a mistake.

Eliminating this bottleneck is now a top priority and will require significant investment in structural interventions. A new entrance on the east façade with its colonnade, flanked by a historic fortress moat, as well as new rooms that will be built from the ground beneath the large inner courtyard, are under discussion.

Not only financial and structural hurdles must be overcome. Art historians fear that connections might be obscured, for example, by isolating the "Mona Lisa." And conservationists point out that the Louvre was a fortress and a palace before it became a museum. Accordingly, it boasts floor coverings and ceiling paintings that document individual construction phases and often have the status of works of art in their own right.

The Louvre must reinvent itself, in a sense, to remain a premier address in the global museum landscape. Important to its reputation are not only star works of art like the "Mona Lisa," but also special exhibitions like the one on Rudolf Steiner's Prague of Art and Science.

«L'Expérience de la nature. Les arts à Prague à la cour de Rodolphe II”, Louvre, Paris, until June 30th. Catalog 32 euros.