Back

Portrait of Ruler

unknown

Basic information

ID: Ж-192
Author: unknown
Name: Portrait of Ruler
Technique: oil painting
Material: duplicated canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 79 x 66

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: the Wybranowski collection
Exposition: Potocki Palace

Information about author

Author: unknown
Country

Object description

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery received the painting from the Wybranowski collection as a "Portrait of Ruler". However, the waist-up depiction of a man in armour and an ermine mantle adorned with a blue ribbon across the shoulder indicates the royal lineage of the portrayed person. He is turned in three-quarters, gazing at the viewer with a slight smile. The detailed facial features of the individual indicate that it is Francis I Stephen. Francis I Stephen (1708–1765) was the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Emperor, and the founder of the Lorraine branch of the German Habsburgs. He was born in the Ducal Palace of Nancy. Through his paternal grandmother, Eleanore, the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III, they were related to the Habsburgs. Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg intended to marry his daughter Maria Theresa to Francis I Stephen's elder brother Clement. Still, he died of smallpox, and Francis inherited the throne. On 12 February 1736, Francis and Maria Theresa married and moved to Florence for a short time. The couple had sixteen children. In 1745, Maria Theresa succeeded Charles VI to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire and made her husband regent of the inherited possessions. The painting is likely a copy of a ceremonial portrait of Francis I Stephen from the late eighteenth century.

Portrayed person