Mankind has always had a powerful fascination with the universe and the heavenly bodies. The exhibition CONSTELLATIO FELIX, curated by Claudia Schnitzer and Michael Hering, compares the imaginary world of the higher cosmic order which dominated pre-modern epochs with contemporary photography by Thomas Ruff. The title of the exhibition, which translates as ‘Fortunate Stellar Constellation’, was the theme of the Dresden Planets Festival of 1719, one of the greatest ‘cosmic events’ of eighteenth-century Europe, hosted by Augustus the Strong. This consisted of a series of stagings of Planet-God personifications which were intended to associate the aristocracy with the mythological realm of the gods, and in particular to assert the monarch’s divine power. The contemporary photographer Thomas Ruff’s work is concerned with a different, but complementary relationship between power and the cosmos; namely the limits of the visual power of imagination. His photographs, in particular the series Sterne, Cassini, m.a.r.s and jpegs, depict an altered reality of outer space. He modifies freely accessible data from NASA and enlarges details in his large-format photographs to give an impression of infinity. The eighteenth-century drawings and engravings used to illustrate the Dresden Planets Festival in the exhibition, and Ruff’s photographs, reflect complementary fantasies of outer space. Visitors are invited to compare the early modern view of the cosmos with today’s.

The theme of the 1719 Dresden Planets Festival, ‘Constellatio Felix’, specifically invoked the idea of a successful royal wedding as a work of the cosmic order and a fortunate stellar constellation. Since 1711 Augustus the Strong had planned the marriage of his son to an Archduchess, either Maria Josepha or Maria Amalia, the daughters of the deceased Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. The question of the Habsburg line of succession had not yet been clarified, and with this manoeuvre the chances of Augustus’ direct descendents becoming Emperor improved greatly. If the new Emperor Karl VI (Joseph’s brother) remained childless, the descendents of Augustus’ son, Friedrich August (II), would be heirs to the throne according to the Pactum mutuae successionis. For that reason, the wedding of Prince Friedrich August and Archduchess Maria Josepha was more than an alliance; it functioned as a political event of European dimensions. The motto ‘Constellatio Felix’ was a cryptogram or coded message for Augustus’ expectations of cosmic support.

He had only a year and a half to arrange the festivities. He ordered the reconstruction of the opera house, the Zwinger, the Taschenberg Palais, Dresden Castle and other edifices. He also instructed painters to draft a collection of pictures documenting the festivals in their entirety, starting with the marital couple’s official courtship in Vienna. This project of documentation continued well beyond the timeframe of the festival itself, occupying Augustus until his death in 1733, and was ultimately never completed. Drawings and engravings of the festivities were preserved and archived in the Kupferstich-Kabinett in the years following. These documents have been the basis of scholarship in art history, musicology, architecture and history since the nineteenth century. However, the sources were completely evaluated as a whole for the first time in the context of this exhibition and presented in the accompanying catalogue by Claudia Schnitzer. This book, which also includes textual documents and pictures of other early modern festivities, is a milestone for interdisciplinary research. Reproductions of engravings, drawings, coins, court documents and artwork communicate the concept, opulence, and aesthetics of the festival, depict the royal protagonists, the Master of Ceremonies, and artists who participated, as well as record the total costs involved. It would be very worthwhile to publish this catalogue in English.

For the exhibition 130 documents were chosen from the main corpus of material. The visitor route starts in the Sponsel-Saal of the Neues Grünes Gewölbe, behind the exhibit of the Green Diamond and a photographic image of crystals by Ruff. This position suits the topic of the first part of the exhibition: the royal wedding that gave rise to the festival. A pen-and-ink drawing by Raymond Leplat portrays the wedding ceremony on 20 August in Vienna. This is followed by further engravings and etchings by Gérard (II) Scotin, Quirijn Fonebonne and Antoine Aveline derived from drawings by Leplat which picture the entrance and procession of the Archduchess through Dresden Castle on 2 September. Documents describe her arrival at the castle courtyard, the formal reception in front of the Englische Treppe and the ceremonial procession through numerous precisely identified salons and audience chambers before the final reception in the state bedchamber. In addition to the documents and works on paper in this room, there is a suite of medals by Oluf Wif showing the personified gods and architectural landmarks featured in the Planets Festival, another medal of the Saturn Festival by Heinrich Paul Großkurt, and a filigree glyptic tobacco tin by Johann Christoph Hübner featuring an ivory plate illustrating the Saturn Festival illumination. This part of the exhibition also presents a pendant emblazoned with the portrait of Prince Friedrich August by Georg Friedrich Dinglinger, and two wedding chests made in Paris, probably by André-Charles Boulle.

The second part of the exhibition, in the rooms of the Kupferstich-Kabinett, presents the highlights of the festival itself in drawings and engravings, which give an insight into the details of the staged events, performers, costumes, ceremonials, locations and their intended effect. In keeping with Neoplatonic ideas, planet imagery illustrated cosmic harmony and rulers’ ability to emulate it on Earth. Each of the seven planets known at the time functioned in mythology as god of a specific day (Luna (the Moon) for Monday, Mars for Tuesday, Mercury for Wednesday, Jupiter for Thursday, Venus for Friday, Saturn for Saturday and Apollo (the Sun) for Sunday). Hence why the pictures are exhibited according to day, complete with information about the corresponding metallurgical elements (silver for Luna, iron for Mars, quicksilver for Mercury, tin for Jupiter, copper for Venus, lead for Saturn and gold for Apollo). In the opening ‘Sunday’ section there are etchings and engravings by Johann August Corvinus derived from Leplat und Anna Maria Werner illustrating the Festival of Apollo (10 September 1719), held in the Holländisches Palais and surrounding garden. Among the images on display is one illustrating the serenade La Gara degli Dei performed by the court conductor Johann David Heinichen, which shows singers costumed as gods welcoming the bridal couple and announcing the entertainments. To this is added a drawing by Leplat depicting a banquet in the Holländisches Palais, as well as an engraving by Corvinus (possibly derived from Mattäus Daniel Pöppelmann) and a drawing by Leplat or Pöppelmann illustrating the highlight of the Festival of Apollo: The fireworks representing Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, the symbol of the highest Habsburg chivalric order and therefore an homage to the bride.

The Mars Festival (12 September 1719) is illustrated in drawings by Carl Heinrich Jacob Fehling (or Benedikt Reynard) depicting a martial tournament at the Altmarkt. Courtiers took part in Renaissance chivalric games, such as jousting, using the armoury of Augustus’ predecessors. Fehling also drew the highlights of the Jupiter Festival (15 September 1719), celebrated in the Zwinger with a carousel of the four elements. The figure of Jupiter made a dramatic entrance in a ‘Theatre-Machine’ representing cosmic chaos, singing an aria claiming that Maria Josepha’s presence would end all chaos. After this, quadrilles representing Air, Water, Earth and Fire appeared. The highlight was the horse ballet in 16 formations, which was led by Augustus the Strong himself; aerial-view drawings by Fehling of two of the formations are on display. Either Zacharias Longuelune or Fehling drew the pictures of the Festival of Diana that took place on 18 September 1719. The day before, Augustus celebrated the so-called Turkish Festival, its centerpiece being the motif of the crescent. In doing so, the king was able to better integrate the Festival of Diana, whose sickle attribute was closely associated with the symbol of the crescent moon, into his planet theme. The three drawings by Fehling on display show a parade of Janissaries, a banquet in the Turkish Palais and target shooting by torchlight in the Turkish garden. The day after, at the Festival of Diana, the lunar goddess was honoured with a water hunt on the Elbe and the serenade Diana su l’Elba by Heinichen. The drawings show gondolas and boats in the Venetian style, evidence of Augustus’ predilection for all things Italian.

Two days later, on 20 September 1719, to celebrate the Festival of Mercury, a large fair was installed in the Zwinger presenting various kinds of Saxon handicraft and trade. Seven engravings and etchings by Andrea Zucchi (drawings by Fehling) give an impression of the entertainments on offer: market stands, elements of the ceremonial game Nationenwirtschaft (literally ‘economy of nations’), a commedia dell’arte performance, a lottery and an illumination. Possibly because Mercury was the messenger god, this section is juxtaposed with a photograph by Ruff of a rocket, symbolizing a modern messenger god looking for life in the wider universe. The Festival of Venus (23 September 1719), in honour of the bride, was celebrated in the Großer Garten and its Palais with Damenringrennen (ladies racing in coaches), a performance of the opéra-ballet Les quatre Saisons by Johann Christoph Schmidt in an outdoor, ‘natural’ theatre, a banquet, a ball in the so-called Venus Temple and an illumination. Fehling’s drawings illustrated these events in a remarkable fashion, and the mood they create is intensified by Ruff’s photographs. The final festival, that of Saturn (26 September 1719), was also documented in drawings by Fehling (the basis for two engravings by Zucchi). Augustus the Strong staged this event in the Plauenschen Grund valley, thereby showing off the richness of Saxony’s silver resources. The entertainments included a hunt, a commedia dell’arte performance, a banquet, a parade of miners (both real miners and courtiers dressed up as such) and, as ever, an illumination.

The concept of this fascinating exhibition, presented in a highly enjoyable atmosphere with subdued lighting and meditative music, is clear. The comparison of Baroque and modern art is an inspiring way to explore the universal theme of imaginative fantasies of outer space. Taken together, the contemporary photographs and eighteenth-century engravings (or drawings) on display in this exhibition reveal how their original subjects (be they buildings, figures or planets) were, and continue to be, abstracted in their visual representations by means of various evolving artistic and technical methods. It seems it is the fascination with the unplumbed vastness of the universe, to a large extent still out of reach today, that was the motivation behind Ruff’s oversized, surreal images – a motivation shared by his eighteenth-century artistic predecessors, whose Baroque flamboyance is likewise surreal in its own way. Both Ruff’s photographs and the drawings and engravings commissioned to mark the Dresden Planets Festival almost 300 years earlier impressively convey the human craving for cosmic harmony on earth.