Maria Theresa (1717-1780), Empress of Germany, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary

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Giuseppe Macpherson , Italian, 1726-c.1778

Title

Date1740s

MediumEnamel on copper

Dimensions

4.2 x 3.8 cm

SignedOn verso: Macpherson fecit 174[…]

Credit LinePresented, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, 1951

Object numberNGI.3624

DescriptionAn early enamel by Macpherson, this miniature is painted in a fairly free style with fine linear modelling and strong shadows. It depicts Maria Theresa, the elder daughter of the Emperor Charles VI, (1685-1740), whom she succeeded in 1740. Maria Theresa was Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Empress. This portrait shows her wearing a blue dress with gold embroidery and edged with a white lace border. Over her shoulders is placed an ermine edged coronation robe. She has blue eyes and wears a white powdered wig.
Macpherson's enamel miniature is based on a portrait by Jean Etienne Liotard (1702-1789). Liotard was in Vienna in 1743 and did several portraits of Maria Theresa and her family. He made a state pastel portrait of Maria Theresa at the time of her coronation in 1745. He then did other copies in pastel and miniature versions on enamel and on ivory. An engraving by Johann Christoph von Reinsperger (1747), a pupil of Liotard, is also thought to derive from it. An enamel version by Liotard, painted at Lyon in 1747, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Macpherson's enamel is similar to two watercolour on ivory portraits after Liotard in the Royal Collection, especially catalogue number 735 in pose and characterisation.

(Treasures to Hold: Irish and English Miniatures 1650-1850 from the National Gallery of Ireland Collection, Paul Caffrey, 2000)