Maria Theresa as widow.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 21 cm, unsigned, attributed on verso.

Original gilt orn. frame.

The Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780) wearing the black clothes of a widow. Her husband, Francis of Lorraine, whom she had married in 1736, had died in 1765. Maria Theresa was the eldest daughter of the Emperor Charles VI. The portrait is based upon the official state portrait made by Joseph Ducreux (1735-1802), who was summoned to Vienna to paint Marie-Antoinette, Maria Theresa's daughter, in 1769 (in the context of the marriage negotiations with Louis XVI). The original portrait is now in the collection of the Vienna Academy. Popularity of the portrait is also proven by a miniature portrait after the same painting, now in the British Royal Collection (inv. RCIN 420706).
Prov. F. Fierez Sale, Brussels 28/04/1948 (mentioned on label verso). - Jean Jadot (1917-2010), Belgian historian of the Austrian Low Countries and honorary president of the "Société royale de numismatique de Belgique".