Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen

Biography

Early years

The fifth child and fourth (but second surviving) daughter, Maria Christina was born on the 25th birthday of her mother, on 13 May 1742 in Vienna, Austria. The next day she was baptized in the Hofburg with the names Maria Christina Johanna Josepha Antonia; Christina was named after her grandmother Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, however, she was always called Marie or Mimi at the Viennese court and by her family. She was Maria Theresa's favourite child, as can be seen in the letters that the Empress wrote to her. Little is known about her early childhood. In a letter dated 22 March 1747 the Prussian ambassador in Vienna, Count Otto Christoph von Podewils, described the then five-year-old Maria Christina as pretty and witty.

The Archduchess, capricious and spirited in her youth, received a particularly loving education from her parents. That notorious preference that Maria Christina received from her mother caused the intense jealousy of her brothers and sisters, who avoided her and criticized her prominent position within the family more and more vehemently. The dislike of her siblings increased later in life, since Maria Theresa increasingly used her to exercise influence over the other members of the family.

Maria Christina got along very badly with her governess, Princess Maria Karoline von Trautson-Falkenstein. However, the Empress only agreed to change her governess in 1756, when she appointed the widowed Countess Maria Anna Vasquez (née Kokorzowa) to the position. Maria Christina's relationship with Vasquez was much better, and a few years later Countess Vasquez was even named Obersthofmeisterin of Maria Christina's household.

Beautiful, highly intelligent but also artistically gifted, Maria Christina enjoyed a conscientious education. The Jesuit Father Lachner taught her several languages and history. The Archduchess learned, among other things, perfect Italian and French, which, according to Podewils, she particularly liked to speak, as well as quite good English. She also proved to be a talented painter very early. In Schönbrunn Palace her drawings of the imperial family were exhibited which attest to her great artistic talent. She painted some family members including herself and also some copies of genre paintings by Dutch and French masters. One particular portrait made by Maria Christina in gouache about 1762 showed the Imperial family celebrating Saint Nicholas: there the Emperor is shown reading the newspaper and the Empress serving the coffee, while her three youngest siblings (Ferdinand, Maria Antonia and Maximilian) were with their gifts.

The 17-year-old Maria Christina had a romance with Louis Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, but a marriage between them displeased the Empress, who believed that the third son of the Duke of Württemberg was not of enough rank for an Archduchess. In early January 1760 Princes Albert and Clemens of Saxony arrived at the Imperial Court and both were warmly received by the Emperor and Empress. Prince Albert met the lovely Archduchess on the occasion of a concert, in which she participated, and soon he developed a great affection for her, as he recalled in his memoirs. At the end of January 1760, Albert and Clemens returned from Vienna.

In the following years, Maria Christina developed an intense love affair with Princess Isabella of Parma, who married the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor on 6 October 1760. Among other things, the two young women often played together. The beautiful, educated, and very sensitive Isabella, who detested the court ceremonial and her position as wife of the Habsburg heir, wanted a more sensual destiny; however, despite these inner feelings, she appeared to be cheerful and satisfied with her fate. While her husband loved her very deeply, she was reserved towards him. In contrast, for Maria Christina, she had a heartfelt affection, expressed in about 200 letters between them, usually written in French. They spent so much time together that they were compared to Orpheus and Eurydice. Isabel and Mimi were united not only by a shared interest in music and art but also by a deep mutual love.

Maria Christina made a formal description of Isabella, in which she portrayed her as amiable, kind, and generous, but she also did not overlook her weaknesses. The early demise of her sister-in-law (who was more and more inclined to melancholy and a growing obsession with death) on 27 November 1763 following childbirth complications, left Maria Christina heartbroken.

Marriage

In December 1763, Prince Albert of Saxony returned to Vienna to express his condolences to the Imperial family for Isabella of Parma's death. He had become a good friend of the late Isabella after her marriage with the future Joseph II and, as he noted in his diary, also developed a close relationship with Maria Christina. In 1764 the Saxon prince met the Archduchess, firstly in Vienna in the spring and later more often in Pressburg, at that time capital of Hungary. After these visits, Maria Christina fell deeply in love with Albert, who, despite his affection for the Archduchess, did not believe that he could win her hand in marriage because of his relatively weak and politically unstable position for the imperial standards. But then he was invited to Vienna to study a new service regulation for the cavalry, to participate in hunts and amusements of the Imperial court, and received the invitation of Maria Christina to give free rein to his feelings for her but not yet publicly.

Maria Christina had a strong influence over her mother, who approved of her relationship with Albert, but the lovers were forced to keep their relationship secret because the Emperor wanted her to marry her first cousin, Prince Benedetto of Savoy, Duke of Chablais (son of Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, younger sister of Francis I). The Empress advised her impatient daughter to appear calm and cautious with regard to her liaison with Albert, and to rely on her; Maria Theresa promised to arrange the match with Albert.

In July 1765, the Imperial family travelled to Innsbruck for the wedding of Archduke Leopold, Grand Prince of Tuscany, with Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain; Albert also participated in the celebrations. Since the Duke of Chablais was also present, Maria Christina and her beloved had to proceed more carefully. One month after Leopold's marriage, the Emperor suddenly died (18 August) from either a stroke or heart attack. The Imperial family was badly affected by this death, including Maria Christina, whose marriage plans were now no longer a hindrance since her mother had long been on her side. In consequence, she was the only daughter of Maria Theresa who didn't marry for political reasons; however, out of respect for the Emperor's death, a period of mourning had to be observed first before her wedding could take place.

The wedding preparations began as early as November 1765. Maria Theresa was worried that the young couple could not live comfortably. In December, Albert was appointed Field Marshal and Statthalter of Hungary; these posts forced him and his future wife to live in Pressburg. The local castle was renovated at a cost of 1.3 million florins, and the Dowager Empress took care of even the furniture and tableware. In Laxenburg castle complex Maria Christina and Albert received the Grünnehaus. When the couple came to Vienna later, they were allowed to stay in the Hofburg Palace. Finally, Maria Christina received a rich dowry: the Silesian Duchy of Teschen (whereupon Albert became entitled as Duke of Saxe-Teschen); the towns of Mannersdorf, Ungarisch Altenburg, and other lordships; and the amount of ƒ100,000. The household of the couple included about 120 people. These gifts received by Maria Christina caused the displeasure and envy of her brothers and sisters.

Issue

Maria Christina gave birth to a daughter named Princess Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Nepomucena of Saxony, on 16 May 1767, but the child lived only one day, dying on 17 May 1767. Maria Christina developed puerperal fever, while in mid-June Albert fell ill with smallpox; however, they were both able to recover.

Since Maria Christina was unable to have any more children due to her difficult childbirth, in 1790 she persuaded her brother Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to let her and her husband adopt one of his youngest sons, Archduke Charles, in order to have an heir.

Life in Hungary and trip to Italy

In Pressburg, Maria Christina and her husband were able to host a luxurious court life with frequent parties and visits home to Vienna. They soon succeeded in obtaining the affection of the Hungarian nobility and citizens, and devoted themselves to their common interest in art, which made Pressburg a cultural center during their time there; it was here that they began their acquisition of drawings and engravings, which was to become the famous Albertina Art Collection.

From December 1775 to July 1776, Maria Christina and Albert made an extended trip to Italy to visit her siblings Leopold (in Florence), Maria Carolina (in Naples), Maria Amalia (in Parma) and Ferdinand (in Milan), after which she reported to their mother about their lives. Furthermore, the couple paid a visit to Pope Pius VI. However, Maria Christina's weak health and sadness increased, as Albert was in active military service in 1777–1778 during the War of the Bavarian Succession.

Governor of the Austrian Netherlands

After the death of Charles Alexander of Lorraine on 4 July 1780 Maria Christina and Albert were, according to Maria Theresa's will, appointed as joint governors of the Austrian Netherlands. But the Dowager Empress died on 29 November, during the preparations of the couple's journey. Joseph II now assumed sole sovereignty as Holy Roman Emperor; he had a bad relationship with his sister and had been jealous of her privileged position and intimate relationship with their mother. In order to get her out of Vienna, he confirmed her and her husband's appointment as governors but reduced their income. On 3 June 1781, Maria Christina and Albert left Vienna and were greeted in Tienen by Georg Adam, Prince of Starhemberg, and designated Minister Plenipotentiary of the Austrian Netherlands on 9 July; the next day (10 July), they made their official entrance into Brussels, taking their residence there.

The Emperor did not allow his sister the financial resources corresponding to her position. Maria Christina complained to her brother Leopold and criticized how she had been treated in the division of Maria Theresa's inheritance. She and her husband were also unable to play an independent political role but were limited to be symbolic figureheads. Even before the appointment of her sister and brother-in-law, Joseph II (who for seven weeks strictly controlled the Austrian Netherlands) found the administration and internal conditions to be negative and decided to carry out profound reforms. He discussed his plans with his ministers and leading officials, and the joint governors were only to execute the orders and sign the decrees issued by the Emperor through the advisers he appointed to them. Without any real power, Maria Christina and Albert limited themselves to receiving foreign guests and enjoying hunting. Between 1782 and 1784, they had the Palace of Laeken constructed for their summer residence, where they completed their famous Albertine art collection.

In the Austrian Netherlands, however, strong social tensions prevailed. The property was largely owned by the members of the upper two estates, the nobility enjoyed a clear preference in the tax and judiciary systems, there were great shortcomings in the administration, trade hindered economic development and foreign trade suffered through the barrier of the Scheldt for the carriage of goods. Joseph II's plans to trade portions of Bavarian territory for portions of the Austrian Netherlands or the 1784–1785 forced lifting of the Scheldt barrier for navigation, failed. Instead, the Prince of Starhemberg was replaced in 1783 as Minister Plenipotentiary by Count Ludovico di Barbiano di Belgiojoso, who made himself immensely unpopular. The Emperor, who lacked a clear understanding of the situation of the Austrian Netherlands, imposed drastic reforms especially in the field of education, which caused a lot of resistance and the loss of the Catholic Church's position in November 1781, and in March 1783 different monasteries were abolished. He also proposed at the administrative level the introduction of a centralized administration.

Last years and death

Maria Christina no longer exercised any political influence. After a stay in Münster during the winter of 1792-1793 she moved with the seriously ill Albert to his hometown Dresden. They lived harmoniously, but without their previous warm relationship, and therefore no longer had such an elaborate court. At the beginning of 1794 they learned that the Emperor would now give them financial support. After their permanent move to Vienna, Maria Christina and her husband lived in the palace of Count Emanuel Silva-Tarouca. In the future, Albert was mainly concerned in his art collection. After the rise of Napoleon, Maria Christina was deeply shocked when she knew about the military clashes and the signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio (18 October 1797) between Napoleon and Francis II.

In 1797 Maria Christina, who had become melancholic, began to suffer from a stomach disease. She went to bathing in Teplitz in July 1797 and had a short-term improvement in her health, but soon suffered again with great pain. Due to the restructuring of the Augustinerbastei, she and her husband rented the Palais Kaunitz and moved there. After a new short recovery, Maria Christina became more and more sick in the middle of June 1798; after writing to Albert a farewell letter in which she mentioned her deep and lifelong love for him, she died the following day on 24 June 1798 aged 56. She was buried in the Tuscan Vault of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Her heart was buried separately and is located in the Herzgruft, behind the Loreto Chapel in the Augustinian Church within the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna.

After the death of his wife, the deeply saddened Albert built an impressive cenotaph for Maria Christina in the Augustinian church. In the ornaments of this tomb, a work of the famous neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova, was notably seen that not a single Christian symbol is displayed but several Freemasons motifs are shown. The flat pyramid wall contains a medallion of Maria Christina's and figures in Carrara marble. It bears the inscription Uxori Optimae Albertus, implying a dedication from Albert to his excellent wife. In a book published in 1805 by Van de Vivere, which deals with the tomb of Canova and is also available in a German translation of the same year, it is clearly shown that the grave monument has arisen out of the Christian thought, although the impact of Enlightenment is noticeable. With the language of allegory Canova created mourning symbols and figures which were used in antiquity and in the early Christian period. After his death in 1822, Albert was buried next to her and their daughter.

Arms

The personal coat of arms of the Duchess of Teschen impales Consort's shield, the arms of King Augustus II of Poland – Quarterly, I and IV gules, a eagle argent, armed, beaked, langued, liée, and crowned Or (for Poland); II and III Gules, a knight armed cap-à-pie mounted on a horse salient argent, brandishing a sword proper and maintaining a shield azure charged with a cross of Lorraine Or (for Lithuania); overall and inescutcheon barry sable and Or, a crancelin vert (for Saxony); - enté en point azure an eagle or (for Teschen) (her husband's shield) to the dexter (viewer's left) with her brother's shield, the arms of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II – Quarterly, I barry of eight, gules and argent, impaling gules a patriarchal cross argent on a trimount vert (for Hungary); II gules a lion rampant argent, queue fourchée crossed in saltire, armed, langued, and crowned Or (for Bohemia); III bendy of six Or and azure, a bordure gules (for Burgundy); IV Or, in annulo six torteaux, the torteau in chief replaced by a roundel azure charged with three fleurs-de-lis Or (for the Medici family); overall and inescutcheon gules a fess argent (for Austria) impaling Or a bend gules three alerions argent (for Lorraine); - enté en point azure an eagle or (for Teschen).