11.06.2018

The empress´ visual imagery

Maria Theresa is one of Austria`s most iconic figures in history. This was due to a carefully crafted image of the monarch whose likeness appeared on a large number of objects - from the coins in purses to large-scale painted portraits. OeAW art historian Werner Telesko has examined the "programme of imagery" under Maria Theresa`s reign in a recently completed project that surveyed comprehensively the pictorial construction of Habsburg´s only female ruler.

Schule des Martin van Meytens, Franz I. Stephan und Maria Theresia mit elf ihrer Kinder, 1764/1765 (@ Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien)