Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany, facing left in white coat with orange collar and black stock, white frilled cravat, wearing the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the jewel of the Grand Ducal Tuscan Order of St Stephen, high-piled powdered w

Ferdinand (1769-1824), second son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and his wife Princess Marie Louise of Spain (see following lot), was the younger brother of the future Emperor Francis I of Austria (see lot 159). He succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1791. His reign was overshadowed by the invasion of the French Revolutionary troops: In 1799 he had to leave Florence and fled to Vienna. From 1803 to 1805, he became Elector of Salzburg but was equally expelled. In 1807, he was compensated with the ephemeral Grand Duchy of Wrzburg which he also had to leave in 1814. His homeland of Tuscany was finally returned to him after the Congress of Vienna. From his marriage with his first cousin Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Naples, he had six children, and his second marriage with Princess Maria of Saxony remained without descent.