Project Details

Portrait of Emperor Joseph II

Description

Story Hubert Maurer (1738–1818) was a German painter, graphic artist, and art professor. He began as a student of the Bavarian court painter, Johann Georg Winter (1707–1770). He continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, where one of his most famous instructors was Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783), famous for his “character heads,” a collection of busts with faces contorted in extreme facial expressions. From 1772 to 1776, he was one of the first group of German painters to receive a pension that enabled them to study in Rome, where he was able to work with Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779). Since 1785, he was a councilor and Professor at the Vienna Academy’s elementary drawing school. He also produced teaching materials, such as studies of the Old Masters of the Italian Renaissance, which marked the beginning of Classicism at the Academy. Joseph II (1741–1790), was the Holy Roman Emperor (1765–1790), at first co-ruler with his mother, Maria Theresa (1717–1780) of the Austrian Habsburg dominions. Joseph II is one of the best-known representatives of Enlightened Absolutism. As a monarch, he was indebted to the ideas of Enlightenment rationalism, seeking to introduce administrative, legal, economic, and ecclesiastical reforms. For the University of Vienna, no longer under the influence of the church, Joseph tried to find the best scholars and scientists. Under Maria Theresa, the physician Gerard van Swieten (1700–1772) organized a public health service system, and during Joseph’s reign, the General Hospital in Vienna was considered one of the best equipped in Europe. He also ordered the abolition of serfdom, established religious equality before the law by the Edict of Toleration (1781), and granted freedom of the press. This portrait depicts the Holy Roman Emperor in the way he is often painted by many painters. Joseph II has a white wig on his head. He is wearing a white coat with a gold hem and a red and white sash. His gaze is fixed on the viewer. Current Condition Watercolor retouches made in the past are loosening and the condition will continue to deteriorate. The proposal is: remove improper retouches, and add new retouching and varnishing. Disclaimer The NFTs represent digital receipts confirming and acknowledging your donation. They do not hold any intrinsic value, and therefore cannot be sold or traded. The NFTs and the physical work are two separate entities. The NFTs do not represent ownership of the physical work.