"Green hats among gray rocks" (J. W. Goethe, Italian Journey)

Karl von Lutterotti

An aristocrat tracing national costume

It started with a bang. A bullet, fired during the battle at the bridge over the Inn in Innsbruck on April 12th 1809. An avalanche of hooting Tyrolean farmers rushed from the mountains and drove the Bavarians out of the town. This runaway bullet hit neither a Bavarian nor a farmer but the leg of a 16 year old youth sitting on the window sill and watching the battle with wide open eyes.
It was the leg of the young aristocrate Karl von Lutterotti. Pane and fright were soon over. What remained were a lifelong limping and a burning enthusiasm for the country and its freedom-loving farmers. He was specially fascinated by the variety of dialects and costumes.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had already noticed the same-coloured green Tyrolean hats and mountain pastures and their contrast to the gray rocks. What Goethe realized in a sudden inspiration, Lutterotti recorded in patient work.
Let this extraordinary aristocrat take us by the hand and lead us on a fascinating journey from Kufstein to Ala tracing Tyrolean national costume.
The exhibition Green hats among gray rocks presents new aspects of rural costumes from the Napoleonic Period (1796-1814) to the Vormärz (1848). 15 examples of contemporary clothing are shown. Previously unpublished coloured drawings by Lutterotti and other representations will bring new life to the examples and illustrate the Tyrolean landscape of traditional costume.