Lot 8: ANTON EINSLE

ANTON EINSLE AUSTRIAN 1801 - 1871 EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH I, EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA, KING OF BOHEMIA, KING OF CROATIA AND APOSTOLIC KING OF HUNGARY signed and dated Ant. Einsle 851 lower right 250 by 185cm., 98½ by 72¾in.

Katrin Unterreiner, Kaiser Franz Joseph - Mythos und Wahrheit, Vienna, 2005, another version illustrated

Possibly:
Ferdinand II, King of The Two Sicilies (1810 – 1859)
His consort Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1816 – 1867)
Their daughter Princess Maria Pia of Naples-Sicily ( 1849 – 1882), married Duke Robert I of Parma (1848 – 1907)
Thence by descent to the present owners

In this striking portrait, the Emperor is depicted at the age of 21 in the third year of his reign. Dressed as an Austrian Feldmarschall, he wears the badge of the Golden Fleece around his neck, and the Russian Order of St George with its black and orange ribbon. Franz Joseph had received the latter medal for the suppression of the 1848-1849 uprisings, for which the Russian army had also leant him their support.

In 1851, the Emperor sought to increase his powers, culminating in the 'Sylvester patent', which abolished press freedom, basic civil rights, and public trials. The posture here - of an absolute monarch, with Louis XIV as precedent - reflects his status. The plans on the table next to him may be for the fortress at Cracow, which the Emperor had ordered in 1850.

The Emperor's other medals, from top to bottom, are the Military Order of Maria Theresa (his sash being another symbol of the Order), with the Royal Hungarian Order of St Stephen (left) and the Order of Leopold (right) below. In the lowest row are the Order of the Iron Crown, and to the right the Order of Franz Joseph.