In its new display, the Alte Galerie in Schloss Eggenberg reveals the splendor and misery of a fascinating epoch. Referred to as the early modern period, the centuries between 1500 and 1800 mark the transition from the Christian worldview of the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment on the eve of the Modern Age: as old certainties dwindled, the search for new ways toward the future was fraught with conflict. The epoch is often associated with Renaissance and Baroque splendor. Yet on closer inspection, this dazzling façade also reveals a blood-soaked litany of endless wars and bitter distress. As if guided by the unsteady hand of the goddess Fortuna, the dual countenance of this epoch is marked by religious struggle, by death and by the enjoyment of life, by hunger and abundance. This new presentation of the art treasures of the Alte Galerie—enriched by precious loans from the Kaiserschild Foundation—gives an overview of a fascinating age. They enable us to recognize the ups and downs that have shaped our past and continue to resonate right up to the present.