Archduke Charles of Austria, facing right in the white uniform of the Third Infantry Regiment, wearing the breast-stars of the Order of the Teutonic Knights and of the Imperial Austrian Order of Maria-Theresia, his sword and black tricorn hat beside him, his left hand resting on a map; tree and landscape with the Hradshin in the background

Archduke Charles of Austria (1771-1847), the third son of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, was adopted by his childless aunt Maria Christina and her husband Albert of Saxe-Teschen after the death of his father in 1792. A brilliant military commander, he could not avoid conflicts with his elder brother, Roman Emperor Francis II. The present miniature was painted between 1801 and 1804 when the Charles was High-master of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, a period he intermittently spent in Bohemia, suspended from his commando. Reinstated as a field marshal in 1805, he successfully commanded the Austrian forces against Napoleon whom he defeated at the Battle of Aspern in 1809. After that year, he retired from military sevices. He married young Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg in 1815, had six children with her and profitted from the huge fortune left by his adoptive parents Saxe-Teschen, including the Albertina Collection.