(Breslau 1717–1766 Vienna)
Portrait of Empress Maria Theresia,
oil on canvas, 256 x 165 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Victor and Martha Thonet, Lehenhof near Scheibbs, Austria, 1925–1937;
thence by descent to the present owners

We are grateful to Georg Lechner for suggesting the attribution to Franz Anton Palko for the present painting.

The present painting, a hitherto unpublished work, can be compared to Franz Anton Palko’s large-scale likenesses of the baronial Suttner family of Kirchstetten, Lower Austria – a series that ranks among the most significant portraits produced in Austria during the 18th century. Similarities are noticeable in the colour scheme and in the contrasts, as well as in the delicately and slightly mannered drapery of the costumes. The portrait of the empress is also closely related to a group portrait of the imperial family at the Valtice Palace/Czechia (the oil sketch which is preserved by the Moravian Gallery in Brno). Franz Anton Palko started out as a painter in the service of Count Imre Esterházy, archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary, in Bratislava. After the latter’s death, Palko moved to Brno and, in 1759, went to Vienna. For his portrayals, he harked back to Rigaud, whose type of courtly portraiture he remained committed to throughout his career.