Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg
Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg was an Austrian and Czech diplomat and statesman in the Habsburg monarchy. A proponent of enlightened absolutism, he held the office of State Chancellor for about four decades and was responsible for the foreign policies during the reigns of Maria Theresa, Joseph II, and Leopold II. In 1764, he was elevated to the noble rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichfürst).
Portrait by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1762. He wears the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Prince Kaunitz's Slavkov Castle
Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, c. 1750 – c. 52
Prince Kaunitz-Rietberg (part of the Maria Theresa Monument in Vienna)
Maria Theresa was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Galicia and Lodomeria, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and Holy Roman Empress.
Portrait by Martin van Meytens, 1759
Painting of three-year-old Maria Theresa within the gardens of Hofburg Palace
Archduchess Maria Theresa, by Andreas Möller
Maria Theresa in 1730, by Venetian painter, Rosalba Carriera.