Portrait Of Joseph II In Bust

Joseph II of Austria (1741-1790) was the elder brother of Queen Marie Antoinette. Appointed co-regent in 1765 by his mother, the austere Empress Maria Theresa, he became Emperor upon her death in 1780. An admirer and rival of the Prussian King Frederick II, a hard worker, he imposed multiple reforms on a complex and feudal Austrian Empire with the aim of unifying the peoples of the Empire, enriching the State and pursuing a policy of territorial expansion. In doing so, he offended the sensibilities of the Nobility and the Clergy, those of the powerful States of Hungary and the Austrian Netherlands. Widowed twice, solitary, ill and misanthropic, he died prematurely, leaving his brother Leopold a modernized but disorganized Empire. We must pay tribute to the Hungarian-born historian François Fejtö for having rehabilitated the person and work of Joseph II in a remarkable biography. Long before him, Prince de Ligne, who had known Joseph II intimately, wrote a long letter to Catherine II after his death, beginning with these words: "He is no more, madame; he is no more, the prince who did honour to man, the man who did the most honour to princes." And Eleanor of Liechtenstein, Joseph II's great impossible love, wrote to her sister: "He has often irritated us; but what movement, what life, enthusiasm, love of justice has he not awakened in all of us." Many portraits were produced during Joseph II's lifetime. Our miniature is one of them: the portrait is faithful to the descriptions we have of the emperor, with his stiff figure, his premature baldness and his blue eyes. Joseph II appears as Grand Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa. The Order was created by the Empress in 1757, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, and remained the highest Austrian military decoration until 1918. Details: - Gouache. - On the reverse, probably ceremonial fragments of the Emperor of the Romans.