Towards the end of the 19th century, the techniques of photographic art reproduction were perfected and photography from paintings developed as a new line of business. In this context, the imperial painting collection also aroused international interest. The impending transfer of the collection from Belvedere Palace to the newly built Museum am Ring was seized as an opportunity to have the Old Master paintings systematically photographed for the first time. The difficulty was to reproduce the colourfulness of the paintings in black and white photographs.