"Musen auf dem Pegasus, Wiener Staatsoper"

gelatin silver print on baryta

signed (ink) on recto, titled and dated (ink) on verso

Austrian photographer Christine de Grancy achieved fame primarily through her many years of work as a stage photographer at the Burgtheater. She also took numerous photographs in Tunisia, Tibet, Niger, and Western Sahara. In addition to her work for magazines such as Stern and Vogue, she also published several books.
De Grancy was also known for her photographs of Vienna, which were captured in the book Über der Welt und den Zeiten (Above the World and Time), published in 2021. Her “images of gods” captured the city's numerous statues, which she tracked down on “excursions to Habsburg Disney Land,” as Mercedes Echerer recounts from a conversation with the photographer. De Grancy also had a close connection to the universal artist André Heller, with whom she published several books. At an exhibition opening at Vienna's WestLicht several years ago, he praised her “un-Austrian curiosity about the world.”¹

On the two pedestals above the loggia on the façade of the Vienna State Opera facing the Ring, there is a Pegasus ridden by the goddess Muse. Both sculptures were created by the sculptor Ernst Julius Hähnel (1811–1891). Two Pegasus figures originally created for this location by Vinzenz Pilz, who also created the quadrigas on the roof of the Parliament building, proved to be too monumental, were removed in April 1870, and sold to Philadelphia in the United States.²
(Christoph Fuchs, translated by deepL)

 

Notes

1
Der Standard, "Österreichische Fotografin Christine de Grancy 82-jährig gestorben", 21.3.2025, https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000262402/214sterreichische-fotografin-christine-de-grancy-82-j228hrig-gestorben (accessed 3.2.2026)

2
Wien Geschichte Wiki, https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Staatsoper_(Geb%C3%A4ude) (accessed 3.2.2026)