Kinderbildnis in blauem Kleid mit weisser Spitzenhaube. ??l auf Papier, unbekannter K??nstler vor 1770. Wien, Hofburg, Pr???sidentschaftskanzlei.
Birth of Archduchess Marie Theresia of Austria
Maria Theresia Elisabeth Philippine Luise Josepha Johanna, was born on 20th March 1762, at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
Maria was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, and his first wife Isabella of Parma.
When Maria was a little over a year old, her mother died a week after giving birth to her only sibling, Archduchess Marie Christine.
Marie Christine died a few moments after being born.
Her father was inconsolable and found refuge in little Maria Theresa, whom he referred to as his “second self”
Just a few months short of her eighth birthday, Maria Theresa became ill with pleurisy.
Her father did everything in his power to save his beloved little girl, and attended her bedside even at night.
Maria Theresa died on 23rd January 1770.
Her father was heartbroken.
In order to make the arrangements for the funeral, the emperor, with tears in his eyes, said~
‘I have lost, so to speak, my only consolation and pleasure’.
It is said that, even after her death, her father kept her dresses and shoes.
Excerpts from a letter from Joseph to his daughter’s governess, written a few hours after the child’s death;
“I have ceased to be a father.
It is more than I can bear.
Despite being resigned to it, I cannot stop myself thinking and saying every moment: ‘O my God, restore to me my daughter, restore her to me.
I hear her voice, I see her.
I was dazed when the terrible blow fell.
Only after I had got back to my room did I feel the full horror of it, and I shall go on feeling it all the rest of my life, since I shall miss her in everything…”
Archduchess Maria Theresa was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.
Her tomb consists of an effigy representing the young Archduchess sleeping on a bed, covered by a blanket, with her hands towards the sky in sign of prayer, and surrounded by the Holy Crown of Hungary, and the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor.
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