Ladislaus
Laurids Gallée

Laurids Gallée is an Austrian product designer based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He is a graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven, where he first started experimenting with materials and researching the history of applied arts. His work combines an understanding of craftsmanship and his interest in drawing and illustration. His designs, a mixture of intricate patterns and symbolic representations of objects, often draw inspiration from folkloric tales and stories.

Ladislaus is the modern counterpart to the Brussels tapestries hanging in Schloss Hollenegg. The 17th-century tapestries depict episodes from the life of Moses and the Flight from Egypt – a story of travel from west to east. Tapestries were important because they were easier to transport than paintings - they could be rolled up like carpets - allowing the nobility to carry them as they travelled. They also helped to keep the large rooms of castles warm. Laurids Gallée chose to represent a leopard falling from the sky. You can find the same animal, together with his owner, Ladislaus von Frauenberg, the last Count of Haag, in the Winter Dining Room of Schloss Hollenegg. What you see is a copy of a painting by Hans Mielich which is part of the Liechtenstein Princely Collection. The portrait was executed not long after Ladislaus had returned in 1556 from Ferrara. He had travelled to the Este household to arrange marriage, but the project proved a fiasco: his new mother-in-law had her daughter abducted to a convent and attempted to poison the Count for his wealth. Ladislaus returned to Haag humiliated but with the leopard as a gift from his brother-in-law. The exotic animal was like a dog, always by his side. How exactly the animal travelled to a European court is unknown – he might as well have fallen from the sky!