Prejudice, misunderstanding, class relations and arrogance, and last but not least all-conquering love – these are the threads from which Jane Austen's probably most famous novel Pride and Prejudice is woven. The so-called “novel of manners” describes the social conventions of a hierarchically ordered society in detailed observation.

There are numerous analogies between Austen's novels and the often unspoken conventions and judgments implied in the self-definition and interplay of the fine and the applied arts. The exhibition Pride and Prejudice at Heiligenkreuzerhof is conceived as a poetic narrative that places works of fine art on equal footing with those of the applied arts in order to explore the interstices of the disciplines.