A painting of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, starts proceedings. The 15-year-old princess can be seen high above the backdrop of the castle Possenhofen on Lake Starnberger See.
The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I received the portrait of his fiancée on Christmas day 1853. In August of that same year, he and Elisabeth "Sisi" had betrothed to Bad Ischl, where they met on Franz Joseph's birthday.
The painting was in his possession until the death of Franz Joseph in 1916. After this, his heirs from the House of Habsburg brought it to auction at Dorotheum, where it will go under the hammer on 25th April. Check out the video below for the story behind this incredible piece.
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Like his two siblings, Carl Franz and Katharina, the Austrian painter Franz Xaver Gruber devoted his artistic talents to painting flowers. His still life with poppies and butterflies was a great success at the Paris World Exhibition of 1855, earning him the nickname Distelgruber, that's ''great thistle'' to you and me.
In this work Maarten de Vos, depicts an episode of Greek mythology described by the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses. The musical instruments indicate that the muses are in competition with each other.
Apollonio di Giovanni's monumental work shows the battle between Gaus Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompey Magnus during the Roman Civil War (49-45 BC) the battle in which Ceaser appointed himself a dictator for life.
Both Old Masters and 19th century painters who have depicted the dreamy cityscapes of Venice will be featured in Dorotheum's auctions. Amongst them is the 18th century Italian master, Francesco Guardi, who has depicted St. Mark's square with his free brush-work, typical of his style.
100 years after Guardi, Duesseldorf landscape painter Oswald Achenbach devoted himself to capturing the beauty of the Santa Maria della Salute church, which stands at the entrance of the Grand Canal. The baroque church was erected in the 17th century as a reward for the redemption of the plague, which claimed the lives of a third of the population of Venice.
Carlo Canelli chose to portray what viewers would see of St. Mark's Square from under the colonnades of the Doge's Palace. This kind of representation was absolutely unique to Veduta paintings of Venice.
Left: MEISSEN - cover vase with the portrait of Louis XV, H: 83 cm, mid 19th century.
From masters of art to masters of porcelain, pieces by the famous Meissen factory with be featured in the sale, such as these 19th century examples based on designs by Meissner Meister Johann Joachim Kändler from around 1740 and 1760.
Top: White gold ring with three diamonds (approx. 7.57 ct)
Right: WG ring with Kashmir sapphire (2.60 ct) and diamonds (approx. 0.10 ct)
And if it's something sparkly you're after, check out a few of our favourite pieces of jewellery coming up for sale on 27th April.