The Lower Belvedere is just as magnificent as the Upper Belvedere, and often hosts temporary exhibitions that are far more interesting than the permanent collection. In 2015, for example, the curators had amassed a ton of information on the Congress of Vienna. Jacques-Louis David’s gobsmacking portrait of Napoleon Crossing the Alps (the version owned by the Belvedere) took pride of place.
The Lower Belvedere is where surviving members of the French royal family were housed after they fled from the Revolution. Like today’s tourists, they would have wandered through the Golden Cabinet, the Hall of the Grotesques, and the Marble Gallery. It would be interesting to ask them what they thought of the ceiling fresco on the Marble Hall. That’s the one that shows Prince Eugene, in the nude, being elevated to the status of a god.
