Lot 151: Josef Kreutzinger (Vienna 1757-1829)

Josef Kreutzinger (Vienna 1757-1829)
Portrait of Archduke Josef Franz Leopold of Austria (1799-1807), half-length, in a blue coat, seated at a table, his left hand resting on an open book
with the Imperial inventory number 'PE33' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
18½ x 15 5/8 in. (47 x 39.7 cm.)

By descent to Emperor Franz Josef I (1830-1916).
with Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, 1981.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
Josef Franz Leopold was the second son of Emperor Franz II of Austria (1768-1835), by his second wife and double first cousin, Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies (1772-1807), daughter of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies; both were grandchildren of Empress Maria Theresa and shared all of their grandparents in common. They had twelve children, of whom Josef Franz Leopold was one of five not to reach adulthood. He died, aged eight, in 1807, the same year as his mother. In the present portrait, he is presumably around six years old; Kreutzinger depicts the young Archduke with a book, a symbol of his transition from babyhood to childhood. The simple, muted background serves to highlight the young boy's fragility within the space, as he sits, small and impeccable on his large red silk damask-upholstered chair. He was buried in the Imperial crypt in Vienna, the Kapuzinergruft, and his heart was interred in the Augustinerkirche, Vienna.

Kreutzinger was an official portrait painter to the Austrian Imperial family. Christie's sold a larger group portrait by the artist of Emperor Franz II with Maria-Theresa and six of their children, including Josef Franz Leopold, c.1806, at Christie's, Paris, 22 June 2005, lot 16.