Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria (stillborn 1748)

Last updated

Maria Carolina of Austria
Maria Carolina (1748).2.jpg
Extract from a mural by Franz Anton Maulbertsch in the Hofburg (Innsbruck), representing the four daughters of Maria Theresa who died in childhood
Born(1748-09-17)17 September 1748
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died17 September 1748(1748-09-17) (aged 0)
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Burial
Imperial Crypt, Vienna
House Habsburg-Lorraine
Father Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother Maria Theresa
Three floating children (by Martin van Meytens, 1748). Van Meytens was commissioned in 1748 by Empress Maria Theresa to produce a posthumous painting of her three daughters who had died in infancy. From left to right: Maria Carolina (1740-1741), Maria Carolina (1748) and Maria Elisabeth (1737-1740) Drei-schwebende-Kinder.jpg
Three floating children (by Martin van Meytens, 1748). Van Meytens was commissioned in 1748 by Empress Maria Theresa to produce a posthumous painting of her three daughters who had died in infancy. From left to right: Maria Carolina (1740–1741), Maria Carolina (1748) and Maria Elisabeth (1737–1740)

Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria (born and died 17 September 1748) was the tenth child and the seventh daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Contents

Biography

Maria Carolina was the second of the children of Maria Theresa to bear the name: her elder sister with the same name had died in 1741 at the age of one year old. [1] The second Maria Carolina also died in infancy. Particularly traumatic was the fact that she died during the birth, necessitating an emergency baptism. The baby failed to turn in the womb and so presented feet first for birth. As it became evident that the child would not survive, the surrounding women began weeping and the sacrament on the altar was hurriedly prepared for worship. It was considered of the utmost importance that the child would be baptized while still living, since according to traditional Catholic belief unbaptized infants would spend eternity in limbo. Maria Theresa’s physician Gerard van Swieten assured her that the infant was still living when baptized, but many at court doubted this. The baby’s body was placed in the Summer Room in Schönbrunn Palace (like other newborn children), so that the members of the court might assure themselves that she was a normal child and not malformed, but was not formally displayed. The baby was buried in the Imperial Crypt. [2]

Maria Theresa continued to treasure the memory of her tenth child. In 1748, she commissioned the painter Martin van Meytens to paint the three daughters who had died in infancy. Maria Carolina appears in the center of the picture, flanked by her namesake and the eldest daughter Maria Elisabeth. After the sudden death in 1765 of Maria Theresa’s husband Francis I, she commissioned from Franz Anton Maulbertsch a mural in the "Giant Hall" of the Hofburg in Innsbruck. The mural shows her four daughters who died in childhood, crowned with floral wreathes and sitting on clouds: in the foreground is Johanna Gabriele, who died in 1762 from smallpox at the age of twelve, behind her Maria Elisabeth (the firstborn) at the age of three years, then Maria Carolina, who died shortly after her first birthday, and in the far background, only visible as a shadowy putto (cherub), the second Maria Carolina, who did not live an hour. [3]

The name Maria Carolina was given again in 1752 to Maria Theresa's thirteenth child. The third Maria Carolina of Austria became Queen of Naples and Sicily.

Ancestry

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Theresa</span> Ruler of Habsburg dominions from 1740 to 1780

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen</span> Duchess of Teschen

Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen, was the fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Married in 1766 to Prince Albert of Saxony, the couple received the Duchy of Teschen, and she was appointed Governor of the Austrian Netherlands jointly with her husband during 1781–1789 and 1791–1792. After two expulsions from the Netherlands, she lived with her husband in Vienna until her death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Saxony</span> Queen of Saxony in 1827

Maria Theresa of Austria was born an Archduchess of Austria and a Princess of Tuscany. She was later Queen of Saxony as the second wife and consort of King Anthony of Saxony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Anna of Austria</span> Queen of Portugal from 1708 to 1750

Maria Anna of Austria was Queen of Portugal as the wife of King John V of Portugal. She served as the regent of Portugal from 1742 until 1750 during the illness of her husband. She was born an Archduchess of Austria as the daughter of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Clementina of Austria</span> Princess of Salerno

Archduchess Maria Clementina Franziska Josepha of Austria was Princess of Salerno by marriage to the Sicilian prince Leopold, Prince of Salerno. She was born an archduchess of Austria as the daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Isabella of Parma</span> 18th-century archduchess of Austria

Isabella of Bourbon-Parma was a princess of Parma and infanta of Spain from the House of Bourbon-Parma as the daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma and Louise-Élisabeth of France. She became an archduchess of Austria and crown princess of Bohemia and Hungary in 1760 by her marriage to Archduke Joseph of Austria, the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1762–1770)</span>

Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria was a daughter of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and his first wife, Isabella of Parma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (born 1738)</span> Noblewoman and abbess (1738–1789)

Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria was the second child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. As a child, and for a time the eldest surviving child, she was heiress presumptive, but she suffered from ill health and physical disability, and did not marry. In 1766 she became abbess of the Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies in Prague. Soon thereafter she moved to Klagenfurt and remained there for the rest of her life. Her palace in Klagenfurt, the Mariannengasse, now houses the Episcopal Palace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily</span> Holy Roman Empress (1792–1806) and Empress of Austria (1804–1807)

Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily was the first Empress of Austria and last Holy Roman Empress as the spouse of Francis II. She was born a Princess of Naples as the eldest daughter of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Maria Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria</span> Crown Princess of Saxony

Archduchess Marie Carolina Ferdinanda of Austria was Crown Princess of Saxony as the wife of Frederick Augustus, Crown Prince of Saxony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Johanna Gabriela of Austria</span> Austrian archduchess

Archduchess Maria Johanna of Austria was an Archduchess of Austria as the eleventh child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. She was originally meant to marry Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, however, the marriage plans were never finalised due to Maria Johanna's death due to smallpox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Marie Anne of Austria</span> Archduchess of Austria (1804–1858)

Marie Anne of Austria was an Archduchess of Austria as the daughter of Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor and his second wife, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. She never married or had any children due to her being intellectually disabled with a severe facial deformity and having to spend the rest of her life in Hetzendorf Palace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria</span> Duchess of Calabria

Maria Clementina of Austria was an Austrian archduchess and the tenth child and third daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Luisa of Spain. In 1797 she married her double first cousin Prince Francis, Duke of Calabria, heir to the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. She was modest, well educated and kind, becoming popular in her adoptive country. Afflicted with frail health, she died of tuberculosis, age twenty four. Her only surviving child was Princess Caroline, Duchess of Berry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger</span> German historian (born 1955)

Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger FBA is a German historian. She mainly researches the early modern period and has held the chair for early modern history at the University of Münster. Stollberg-Rilinger is one of the leading representatives of research that examines the constitutional history of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis of symbolic-ritual forms of communication. Her work on rituals, symbolic communication and ceremonial influenced research on the exercise of power in the pre-modern era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (born 1743)</span> Austrian archduchess, Abbess of the Convent for Noble Ladies in Innsbrück

Maria Elisabeth of Austria was an archduchess of Austria and princess of Tuscany, Bohemia, and Hungary as the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She was an abbess of the Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies in Innsbruck from 1780 until 1806.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Maria Carolina of Savoy</span> Electoral Princess of Saxony

Maria Carolina of Savoy was a Princess of Savoy from her birth. She was the youngest daughter of the future Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and married in 1781 to the Electoral Prince of Saxony. She died of smallpox aged eighteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (born 1737)</span> Archduchess of Austria (1737–1740)

Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria was the eldest child and daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria (born 1740)</span> Daughter of Maria Theresa (1740–1741)

Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria was the third child and daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Anna of Naples and Sicily</span>

Princess Maria Anna of Naples and Sicily was a member of the Spanish Royal Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Maria Isabella of Naples and Sicily</span>

Princess Maria Isabella of Naples and Sicily was a member of the House of Bourbon. She was the youngest child and daughter of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and his wife, Maria Carolina of Austria.

References

  1. ↑ Stollberg-Rilinger 2017, p. 120.
  2. ↑ Stollberg-Rilinger 2017, p. 306-310.
  3. ↑ Stollberg-Rilinger 2017, p. 310.
  4. ↑ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 1.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.