150 · 67 · Rosalba Carriera Archduchess Maria Theresa of Habsburg 1730 Pastel on paper mounted on canvas, 45 × 34.5 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. P 153 Acquired after 1742 from estate of Empress Wilhelmine Amalie; Fixed to backing board: Three Kings token (type 1bw/o t) It was only through comparisons with other portraits of the Habsburg princess that Maria Theresa could be identified as the subject of this portrait. Since we know it was painted during Carriera’s stay in Vienna in 1730, the future sovereign must have been thirteen years old at the time. It was not uncommon for young members of princely or imperial families to assume dynastic and social obligations at an early age; children were therefore often portrayed as more mature than their years and with all the trappings of adulthood. Indeed, three years earlier, the painter Andreas Möller had portrayed the then eleven-year-old Maria Theresa in no less adult manner (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, 1727, inv. no. 2115; second version in Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden, 1727, inv. no. S 442). Maria Theresa’s snowy complexion and powdered hair contrast with the dark background. The pink erminetrimmed cloak skims her shoulders. She is shown wearing a posy of delicate flowers in her hair, large pearl earrings, and a diamond clasp and chain on her cloak and stomacher. Maria Theresa was the eldest daughter of Emperor Charles VI and his wife Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. In 1740, after the death of her father, she took over the affairs of state. RE Literature: Riedel, Wenzel 1765, p. 239, note; Sani 1988, pp. 310f., no. 264; Henning, Marx 2007, pp. 70–73; Sani 2007, pp. 268–270, no. 295; exh. cat. Dresden 2018, p. 182, no. 40; Jeffares online edition, J.21.0747. · 68 · Rosalba Carriera Empress Wilhelmine Amalie, Wife of Emperor Joseph I 1730 Pastel on paper, 65.5 × 51.5 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. P 20 Acquired after 1742 from estate of Empress Wilhelmine Amalie Fixed to backing board: Three Kings token (type 1a w/o t) After the death of her husband Emperor Joseph I in 1711, Empress Wilhelmine Amalie only ever allowed herself to be portrayed as a widow. Dressed in her quietly sumptuous mourning attire, consisting of a black veil over her hair and shoulder, a black dress and an ermine-trimmed cloak, the dowager empress is set against an undefined dark background in a composition dominated by the contrast of light and dark. Attesting to the high rank of the sitter are not only the large diamonds and teardrop pearls adorning the neckline and sleeves of her dress but also a strikingly large brooch pinned to her stomacher. Carriera used the pastel medium to render the sensuous softness of skin and fur with the same bravura · 67 ·
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