Portrait of Queen Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria (1717-1780), half length, wearing a jewelled dress, a red lined cape, a diamond tiara and a miniature portrait of her husband the Emperor Joseph I of Austria on a brooch, her hand resting on a golden and sapphire sceptre and crown

Maria-Theresa was the daughter of the Emperor Charles VI. In 1736 she married Francis of Lorraine and in 1740 she succeeded her father as Queen of Hungary and Archduchess of Austria. She became empress of the Holy Roman Empire through her husband, Joseph I in 1745. She was survived by ten children including her daughter Marie-Antoinette, later Queen of France.