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| Marcello Bacciarelli, 1766. |
Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (Maria Christina Johanna Josepha Antonia; 13 May 1742, Vienna - 24 June 1798, Vienna), the fifth child and fourth (but second surviving) daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Always called Marie or Mimi at the Viennese court and by her family, she was Maria Theresa's favorite child, and their mother's preference for her caused great resentment among her siblings, bad feelings that only increased with time. Highly intelligent and artistically gifted, she was given an excellent education - a fairly rare attention given to a royal princess at the time - and she was fluent in several languages.
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| Johan Zoffany, 1776. |
In 1760, at the age of eighteen, she developed an intense romantic attachment to her new sister-in-law, Princess Isabella of Parma. That same year, Prince Albert of Saxony had visited Vienna, becoming close friends with both Maria Christina and Isabella. When the latter died, three years later, she was heartbroken. But she and Albert soon fell in love. His relatively weak royal position made their marriage unlikely, but such was Maria Christina's influence over her mother, that they were allowed to marry in 1766.
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| Martin van Meytens (copy?), circa 1765. |
The princess received a rich dowry: the Silesian Duchy of Teschen - in addition to being made Field Marshal and Statthalter of Hungary, Albert would now be titled Duke of Saxe-Teschen - the towns of Mannersdorf, Ungarisch Altenburg, and other properties, and the richly renovated castle in Pressburg, where the couple would live; their household included about one-hundred and twenty people. That she was allowed to make a love match and that the new couple was so lavishly provided for, further alienated her brothers and sisters. The following year she had a daughter who only lived one day, and she contracted puerperal fever and was left unable to have further children; the couple later adopted a nephew in order to have an heir.
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| Unknown artist, after Roslin, circa 1778. |
They established a luxurious court in Pressburg, hosting many festivities, with frequent visits home to Vienna. And they made themselves popular with the Hungarian nobility and citizens, and devoted themselves to their common interest in art, making Pressburg a cultural center during their time there; it was here that they began their acquisition of drawings and engravings, a passion which eventually led to the formation of the famous Albertina Art Collection.
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| Austrian School, circa 1766. |
In 1780, it had been decided by Maria Theresa that the couple be appointed joint governors of the Austrian Netherlands, but the Empress died in November, during their preparations of the couple's journey. Her successor, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, had a very poor relationship with his sister, jealous like all their siblings had been of her privileged position and intimate relationship with their mother. He confirmed the appointment but refused his sister the financial resources corresponding to the couple's position. They were also unable to play an independent political role, and were therefore reduced to being little more than a symbolic presence.
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| Johann Georg Weikert, 1778. |
The Austrian Netherlands, however, was a hotbed of social tensions and the Emperor, who lacked a clear understanding of the situation there, imposed drastic reforms, ignoring any calls for caution from the Duke and Duchess of Teschen. Further radical reforms led to violent riots. The couple tried to resist the Emperor's reckless and inflammatory decrees, but were constantly overruled. Then during the summer of 1789, inspired by the beginning of the French Revolution, outright rebellion arose in the Austrian Netherlands, and in November the couple was forced to flee Brussels.
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| Daniel Schmiddely (?), circa 1766. |
Two months later the Austrian Netherlands declared itself independent as the United Belgian States, and a month after that, Emperor Joseph II died and was succeeded by his younger brother Leopold II, with whom Maria Christina had a better relationship. In the meantime, continuing political conflict put the new Belgian republic on the edge of civil war. And in December 1790, the Austrians reconquered Brussels without a fight, and six months later the Duke and Duchess of Teschen returned to Brussels, reassuming their roles as joint governors.
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| Alexandre Roslin, 1778. |
However, in October 1792, the Austrian Netherlands was invaded by Revolutionary France, the French decisively defeating the Austrian troops. As a result, the couple was once again forced to flee. They eventually settled in Vienna, where the Duke lavished much attention on their art collection; they had been able to evacuate the collection from Brussles by sea, though one of the three ships on which the works were transported was destroyed in a storm.
Maria Christina, who appears to have been struggling with depression at this point, began to suffer from a stomach disease in 1797, and she died the following year at the age of fifty-six. After her death of his wife, the Duke commissioned an impressive white marble cenotaph in the Augustinian Church, the work of the famous neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. At his own death in 1822, he was also buried beside her, together with their daughter.
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Canova's cenotaph for Maria Christina in the Augustinian Church - part of the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna - completed in 1805.
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