Der Einzug der alliierten Monarchen in Wien 1814 - Kolorierte Lithographie von Franz Wolf nach einer Zeichnung von Johann Nepomuk Hoechle

After Napoleon Bonaparte had been defeated near Waterloo, the sovereigns of all European states met at a congress in Vienna in 1814. The aim of the meeting was to rearrange the political circumstances in Europe, and to restore the conditions of the time before the French Revolution. (Because of the demonstrative conservatism, the whole epoch today is called the era of "Restoration".) The Congress of Vienna had been accompanied by a big social and cultural side show, in which the residents of the city took part, too.

Numerous fine artists, who had been in Vienna at that time, took the chance to portrait the monarchs and statesmen who attended the congress and to paint the festive receptions and parades. (S.B.)