From the palace end of Schönbrunn's vast formal gardens, the eye travels down the grand central axis — past symmetrical parterres where a handful of Viennese stroll in their Sunday best — to the thundering Baroque extravagance of the Neptunbrunnen fountain, and then up the steep wooded hillside to the triumphant arcade of the Gloriette, Vienna's beloved hilltop belvedere built in 1775 to celebrate the Habsburg victory at the Battle of Kolín. This real-photo postcard captures the full theatrical sweep of one of Europe's greatest palace gardens, and the detail crop reveals the extraordinary sculptural complexity of the Neptune fountain's sea-gods and rearing horses. The image dates to the early 1940s — Schönbrunn was already a public park by then, having been opened to Viennese citizens after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918 — and the scene radiates a peaceful normalcy remarkable for its wartime context. Published by Donauland, Wien III, card no. 1128, unused and in excellent condition.