Traditional Art

Francis II (12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor from 1792 to 1806, and the first Emperor of Austria as Francis I from 1804 to 1835. He was also King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, and served as the first president of the German Confederation following its establishment in 1815. Francis was born in Florence as the eldest son of future Emperor Leopold II and Maria Luisa of Spain. Leopold became Holy Roman Emperor in 1790 but died two years later, and Francis succeeded him. The Holy Roman Empire immediately became embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars, the first of which ended in Austrian defeat and the loss of the left bank of the Rhine to France. In 1806, after Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine, Francis abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, which in effect marked the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1813, Francis turned against Napoleon and finally defeated him in the War of the Sixth Coalition, forcing him to abdicate. Francis died in 1835 at the age of 67 and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I. This oil portrait on canvas, painted in 1815 by Joseph Kreutzinger, depicts Francis wearing Austrian military uniform with the insignia of various orders. The painting hangs in the Neue Galerie of the Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz, Austria.

Credit: Joseph Kreutzinger