Lot 146: JAKOB MICHEL

PORTRAIT OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES VI, FULL-LENGTH, WEARING ARMOUR AND A RED AND GOLD CLOAK AND WITH HIS HAND RESTING ON THE IMPERIAL CROWN
signed and dated lower right: Jacob Michel pinx/ A. 1712

247 by 153 cm.; 97 1/2 by 60 1/2 in.

oil on canvas, unlined

Charles VI (1685?1740), or Karl VI in German, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia (as Karel II) and Hungary-Croatia (as Károly III.) from 1711 to 1740. From 1703 to 1711 he was an active claimant to the throne of Spain as Charles III, leading to the War of the Spanish Succession.

Very little is known about the life of the German painter Jakob Michel, but he was certainly active at the Imperial Court at the beginning of the 18th Century. He also painted portraits of Charles' father Emperor Leopold I, and his wife Éléonore of Neuburg.