Chantry Fine Art has been in business for over twenty years selling at major antiques fairs including the NEC. We specialise in fine arts, miniatures, water colours and oils. Billing Antiques is a subsidiary of Chantry Fine Art

RARE MINIATURES

CHILDREN OF FRANCIS II OF AUSTRIA, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR

MARIA ANNE (1804-1858)

ATTRIBUTED TO

JOHN EUGENE DE GERRAND, AUSTRIAN COURT PAINTER

This small but historic selection of miniatures is of four of the 12 children of Francis II the Holy Roman Emperor (Francis I of Austria from 1804)

They are attributed to the Court painter John Eugene de Gerrand and date from circa 1807.

All are in ink and watercolour on card within simple reeded wooden frames circa 1900.  All are in fine condition, with slight natural ageing.

Francis II was married four times.     His first wife, Elizabeth of Wurttenberg, died in childbirth, no children survived.    His second wife, Maria Theresa of the Two Sicilies, produced 12 children, of whom 7 survived.    The miniatures feature 4 of these.     She also died in childbirth in 1807.

He married his third wife, Maria of Austria - Este in 1808.   She died in 1816, leaving no children.

His married his fourth wife, a widow, Karoline of Bavaria, in 1816.    She survived him, but with no children.

Interestingly, his second wife was a double first cousin, which may account for the high infant mortality and the short lives of many of the children.

This miniature is of Archduchess Maria Anne.

Sadly, she was born handicapped and lived her entire life in a single apartment in the Imperial Palace Vienna.    She died in 1858 and is buried in the Imperial Crypt.     Her heart is buried in the Augustinian church in Vienna.

Size 2 1/2" x 2" (7cm x 5cm)

(stock 5565)